What Came Afterwards CHAPTER 11.

The scene described in the last chapter, took place nearly three months after Edwin Guyton's first interview with Doctor Hofland in regard to his father. Larobe had proved himself a more skillful strategist than either Edwin or his lawyer, Glastonbury, had anticipated, holding off his assailants, now by a bold, and threatening front, and now deceiving them by feigned movements, day after day, and week after week, all the while endeavoring to entrap Edwin into some false position, where he could cripple or destroy him at a single blow. Not once, after his first interview with Edwin, did he betray to that individual the smallest sign of apprehension, concern, or concession. To be forewarned — is to be forearmed.

At the second interview, he was self-possessed, and very reticent. He listened, coldly and patiently, to all the young man had to say, leading him on by casual questions, made in a tone that was almost indifferent, and getting deeper and deeper into his thoughts and purposes, while he closely veiled his own.

The threatened suit was, in the mind of Edwin, only a last resort. All he wanted was money, and the shortest way to that end was the way in which he meant to walk. The foul play to his father, of which he was only in possession of dark hints, notwithstanding his pretense of knowing so much, might go unavenged, so long as he could clutch a fair portion of the devised estate. The longest and most doubtful way to reach the object of his desire, was through the courts. In the beginning, it had seemed the surest, and, probably, the only way; but the alarm and anxiety betrayed by Larobe at the first interview, left a strong conviction on his mind, that the lawyer would, to avoid the perils and disgrace of a suit, yield to almost any demand he chose to make. He felt certain that he had him in his power; and began to count over, in imagination, his thousands of dollars, as already in possession.

But, his second interview with Larobe, dashed, with a chill, the young man's rosy anticipations, and removed to an uncertain distance that fruition on which he had just seemed entering.

"I understand," he said, rising to withdraw, after an hour's unsatisfactory skirmishing with the lawyer, "that you wave all arrangements, and mean to accept the perils of a suit?"

"I did not say so." The tones of Larobe were almost indifferent.

"So I read the meaning of what you have said tonight, and, accepting that meaning, I shall proceed to act accordingly."

Something like a suppressed cough in the room adjoining, reached at this moment the ears of Edwin Guyton, and, glancing towards the adjacent door, he saw that it stood ajar. He did not observe the wary, almost anxious look fixed on him by the lawyer, as his attention was turned for an instant on this door.

"I cannot limit your actions, of course," evasively answered Larobe. "All I can do, is to govern my own."

There followed a silence of nearly half a minute, when, no further remark being offered by the lawyer, Guyton commenced crossing the room, with the purpose of retiring. His hand was on the door.

"Edwin," said Larobe.

The young man turned partly around.

"Take a word of advice in this matter."

"Say on."

"You are a little too eager — are trying to move too fast." There was just a shade of irony, or sarcasm, in the lawyer's voice.

Guyton stood still, looking at him, but not venturing a reply.

"And may get thrown from the track. So, I counsel prudence."

"When the devil offers good advice," said Guyton, stung by something like contempt in Larobe's manner, "we may safely assume that he is altogether unselfish, and has our good at heart!"

Larobe only shrugged his shoulders.

"Good evening."

"Good evening, Edwin. If you wish another interview before commencing your suit, feel free to call. As I have already said, I am still your friend. It will be for you to set me over to the enemy's side; and it is but fair to warn you, that, as an enemy, I am never scrupulous. You are treading on dangerous ground, as your own lawyer, if he is honest, will tell you. An attempt to extort money, under threat, is a crime in law; and you will be a sharp man if you get through without punishment."

"Justin Larobe!" said the young man, flashing out in sudden anger, "I know the length and breadth, even to the thousandth part of an inch, of your friendship for me — it is that of the wolf for the lamb! You cannot, under any provocation, be more my enemy than you are today!"

"Be it so, if you will. Only take heed that, in provoking me to strike — you are altogether at mercy of the blow."

"I will take heed," said Edwin, and, opening the door, be passed out, painfully aware that in this second interview with the lawyer, he had gained nothing, and probably lost all his first seeming advantage.

"You must not call on him again — at least not for some weeks," said Glastonbury, to whose office Guyton went immediately after his conference with Larobe.

"Not for weeks!" Even the interval of weeks, before getting to where he could lay his hands on the money which had seemed so near his grasp, appeared a long time to the eager young man.

"As before said," answered Glastonbury, "this is a business in which we will have to make progress slowly. Every inch of the ground we take must be well considered, lest it prove unsafe. There is not a man in the city, against whom an affair of this kind might not be more safely conducted. It is evident, that he has recovered from his first surprise, and now stands on guard."

For over two weeks, no sign of invitation or approach on either side was apparent. Twice Larobe and Edwin had met in the street, passing with a cool nod of recognition. Both were but acting, however; and both on the alert. Towards the end of the third week, a note came from Larobe, asking for an interview in the evening at his rooms in the City Hotel. At this meeting, the lawyer gained what he desired — information as to the progress Edwin was making towards the initiation of the threatened suit. Nothing had really been done, and he was, thus far, satisfied; he was, also, becoming assured that nothing would be done, so long as there was any hope of driving him, through fear, to the payment of the sum Edwin had demanded. This payment he had, from the first, resolved to make, rather than risk the consequences of a legal search into all the circumstances of Adam Guyton's illness, and removal to the insane asylum. But he was not the man to yield anything without a struggle. Moreover, in the very fact of this yielding, was an admission that wronghad been done; an admission that placed him in the power of Edwin, and he was too unprincipled and unscrupulous himself to have any faith in another's pledges or promises. How was he to be in safety, after buying off with money this dangerous foe. What guarantee could he have that the contract would remain unbroken? Is the tiger rendered docile by a single draught of blood?

Two or three more weeks were allowed to go by, in a mutual wariness. Then Larobe received a communication from Mr. Glastonbury, Edwin's lawyer, in which he was notified, in formal manner, that he had been instructed to bring suit for the purpose of breaking the will of Adam Guyton. This brought the two lawyers into communication, and they spent several weeks of skillful maneuvering, each trying to get such a position as would be impregnable in defense, or possess superior advantage in assault. So much was involved on both sides, that great circumspection was demanded. Enough, however, was gained by Glastonbury, to assure him that Larobe would scarcely risk the suit. But there weredifficulties in the way of a compromise, almost insuperable. What were the guarantees for future immunity? What surety could be given, that similar attacks would not come from other members of Adam Guyton's family, even if Edwin were, ever after, to remain quiet?

The one position taken by Larobe, in his interviews with Glastonbury, was, that the movement against him on the part of Edwin Guyton, was simply for the purpose of extorting money; and that his only cause of hesitation in the matter grew out of an unwillingness to be dragged into court on such gross charges as were assumed, and put on the defensive against bribed witnesses whose false statements might not only have weight with a public too apt to believe the worst, but with a prejudiced jury also.

"But, in avoiding one danger," he said, "I am not disposed to risk another and greater."

"It is for you to make the choice," replied Glastonbury. "My client has become impatient of delay, and insists that proceedings at once begin."

"He may find himself check-mated in the third or fourth move," said Larobe. "I have not been passive for nearly three months."

"It is for you to conduct your own side of the game, and I doubt not it will be skillfully played," answered Glastonbury, his lip twitching, and lifting back over the canine teeth, in a way peculiar to himself.

"I have secured evidence already, and shall meet you with a counter suit."

"Ah?"

"Yes. Your client has been several times in my rooms, blustering and threatening. All that he said might not favor your side materially, if produced in court. Nevertheless, I have it, word for word, written out, and by a witness who will take the stand. I did not choose to be alone, you see."

Larobe's small brown eyes looked forth keenly from their deep coverts, and scanned the face of Glastonbury. There was no change in its expression; but the upper lip twitched oftener, with its nervous motion, showing the fangs, first on one side and then on the other.

"And prove what?"

"An attempt to extort money," replied Larobe. "An open demand for a certain sum, as blackmail; so giving me immunity against prosecution for an alleged crime. There are two points here, as you will perceive; two criminal offences punishable under the law. An attempt to extort money by threat, and the compounding of felony."

Glastonbury simply answered, and without apparent change of feeling, though he saw that Larobe had gained an advantage over his client.

"Edwin Guyton has little to lose, and all to gain in this matter; you have nothing to gain and much to lose. Let the case go as it will, should it come into court, you cannot escape without serious damage. We are prepared with evidence that will show darkly against you, Mr. Larobe. It is possible that you may have testimony running parallel, which will complement ours, and give a different signification to many things now veiled in mystery. I trust, for your sake, that it may be so. But, I would not advise you to accept all the risks. Settle it with the young man, if it is within range of possibility. He is, at the present time, believe me, in possession of facts concerning some things in your past life, that make him a dangerous enemy!"

Whatever impression this had on Justin Larobe, he was skillful enough at concealment to hide from even as keen an observer as Glastonbury, and the two men closed the interview and separated, neither satisfied in regard to the other.

"You have well-near ruined your case!" was the salutation received by Edwin Guyton, when next he appeared in Glastonbury's office. The lawyer's upper lip moved nervously, and his eyes looked sternly at his client.

"Ruined my case! How?" Edwin's face paled.

"I warned you, over and over again, to be prudent in what you said to Larobe."

"And I have always been prudent," replied the young man.

"As prudent as though a third party, your enemy, were present?"

"Not so guarded as that. Why should I have been?"

"A third party was present."

"What?"

"A third party, concealed, and noting down, for evidence, every word to which you gave utterance."

"How do you know?"

"I have it from Larobe himself; and he is now preparing to set off our suit with one crime — for the two crimes of attempting to extort money by threat, and for compounding a felony."

Edwin's face grew paler still.

"Then he will abide our movement against him?" he said.

"I am not sure; but it looks that way. I told you, in the beginning, that we had an antagonist to deal with of the most wary and determined character, and one who would seek an advantage against you, and press it to the death when gained. If, as he alleges, he is in possession of evidence going to show that you threatened him with this suit, unless he paid you a certain sum of money — your chances of gaining it are not good; and you may be so thrown at disadvantage as to be visited by serious legal consequences. I'm afraid you are further away from your object today, than you were two months ago."

There was a silence between the two men for three or four minutes. Then Glastonbury said —

"Other heirs are living?"

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

"My sister Frances may be in the city. I am not certain, however."

"No matter. We can use her name; and that, I think, will be our tower of strength."

"I do not understand you," said Edwin, looking perplexed.

"Larobe does not, I think, really mean to risk a suit; but, with his present advantage, he will hold us off indefinitely. We do not want a suit either. For, if prosecuted to the end, and successful, years must elapse before anything can be realized, and then so many other claimants to the estate may come in, that our share will hardly be worth fighting for. If, however, Larobe is satisfied that we mean to bring the suit in your sister's name, against whom he can threaten nothing, my opinion is, that he will yield."

Edwin did not see much to hope for in this view of the case. Delays had already wearied him. He saw in Larobe, an antagonist so skillful, so guarded, so wary, that victory seemed more and more doubtful every day. Nearly three months had elapsed, and he saw himself farther off from the end he sought to achieve, than in the beginning. It was while in this state of mind, that he determined, without consulting his lawyer, to have an interview with his step-mother, Mrs. Larobe, now living separate from her husband, and try what was to be done with her. His success, in that interview, is known to the reader.

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