'As well as if it were yesterday,' said the attorney.
'Then you must recollect how thoroughly you were convinced that your client had not a leg to stand upon.'
'It was I that insisted that he should not carry it before the Chancellor. Crook had the general management of those cases then, and would have gone on; but I said, no, I would not see my client's money wasted in such a wild-goose chase. In the first place the property was not worth it; and in the next place there was nothing to impugn the will. If I remember right it all turned on whether an old man who had signed as witness was well enough to write his name.'
'That was the point.'
'And I think it was shown that he had himself signed a receipt on that very day—or the day after, or the day before. It was something of that kind.'
'Exactly; those were the facts. As regards the result of a new trial, no sane man, I fancy, could have any doubt. You know as well as any one living how great is the strength of twenty years of possession———'
'It would be very strong on her side, certainly.'
'He would not have a chance; of course not. But, Mr. Round, he might make that poor woman so wretched that death would be a relief to her. Now it may be possible that something looking like fresh evidence may have been discovered; something of this kind probably has been found, or this man would not be moving; he would not have gone to the expense of a journey to Yorkshire had he not got hold of some new story.'
'He has something in his head; you may be sure of that.'
'Don't let your son be run away with by this, or advise your client to incur the terrible expense of a new trial, without knowing what you are about. I tell you fairly that I do dread such a trial on this poor lady's account. Reflect what it would be, Mr. Round, to any lady of your own family.'
'I don't think Mrs. Round would mind it much; that is, if she were sure of her case.'
'She is a strong-minded woman; but poor Lady Mason———.'
'She was strong-minded enough too, if I remember right, at the last trial. I shall never forget how composed she was when old Bennett tried to shake her evidence, Do you remember how bothered he was?'
'He was an excellent lawyer,—was Bennett. There are few better men at the bar now-a-days.'
'You wouldn't have found him down here, Mr. Furnival, listening to a German lecture three hours' long. I don't know how it is, but I think we all used to work harder in those days than the young men do now.' And then these eulogists of past days went back to
