Medler, wondering a
little at Mr. Nowell's philosophical manner of looking at the question.
"Sir," exclaimed Percival indignantly, "do you imagine me capable of
speculating upon the untimely death of my only child?"
The lawyer shrugged his shoulders doubtfully. In the course of his varied
experience he had found men and women capable of very queer things when
their pecuniary interests were at stake; and he had not a most exalted
opinion of Mr. Nowell's virtue--he knew too many secrets connected with
his early career.
"Remember, if ever by any strange chance you should come into this
property, you have me to thank for getting your name into the will, and
for giving your daughter only a life interest. She would have had every
penny left to her without reserve, if I hadn't fought for your interests
as hard as ever I fought for anything in the whole course of my
professional career."
"You're a good fellow, Medler; and if ever fortune should favour me,
which hardly seems on the cards, I sha'n't forget what I promised you the
other day. I daresay you did the best you could for me, though it doesn't
amount to much when it's done."
Long after Percival Nowell had left him, Mr. Medler sat idle at his desk
meditating upon his interview with that gentleman.
"I can't half understand his coolness," he said to himself; "I expected
him to be as savage as a bear when he found that the old man had left him
nothing.
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