It was late in August before she
was able to bear this journey; and in this mild refuge for invalids she
remained throughout the winter.
Even during that trying time, when it seemed more than doubtful whether
she could live to profit by her grandfather's bequest, her interests had
been carefully watched by Gilbert Fenton. It was tolerably evident to his
mind that Mr. Medler had been a tacit accomplice in Percival Nowell's
fraud; or, at any rate, that he had enabled the pretended Mrs. Holbrook
to obtain a large sum of ready money with greater ease than she could
have done had he, as executor, been scrupulously careful to obtain her
identification from some more trustworthy person than he knew Percival
Nowell to be.
Whether these suspicions of Gilbert's were correct, whether the lawyer
had been actually deceived, or had willingly lent himself to the
furtherance of Nowell's design, must remain, unascertained; as well as
the amount of profit which Mr. Medler may have secured to himself by the
transaction. The law held him liable for the whole of the moneys thus
paid over in fraud or error; but the law could do very little against a
man whose sole earthly possessions appeared to be comprised by the
worm-eaten desks and shabby chairs and tables in his dingy offices. The
poor consolation remained of making an attempt to get him struck off "the
Rolls;" but when the City firm of solicitors in whose hands Gilbert had
placed Mrs.
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