The appointment of Miss Nellie Blisland as custodian of Miss Yard's bank account met with his entire approval. He had watched this young lady carefully, and could assure Mr. Hunter that Miss Yard's interests would be perfectly safe in her hands.
As Mr. Hunter prowled and sniffed through these elegant sentences, he discovered nothing of a suspicious nature. On the contrary, Mr. George Drake appeared to him a very obvious gentleman indeed. He wrote to Percy, requesting another interview, and when the tomato merchant arrived Mr. Hunter spread George's letter before him and asked him what he thought about it.
"Nothing until I've heard your opinion," replied the cautious Percy.
"You have the advantage of knowing Mr. Drake."
"What sort of a man is he?" asked Mr. Hunter.
"As this is a privileged communication, he's the most useless, good-for-nothing chap in the country," replied Percy; and he went on to narrate the tragical history of his cousin's deception and indolence.
"Then he is, in your opinion, unscrupulous?"
"That's right. If he wants Miss Yard to buy the furniture, it's because he hopes to benefit by it."
"Naturally," said the lawyer. "There's nothing unscrupulous in that. Under the will of Mrs. Drake he becomes possessed of a certain amount of property; and, being a poor man, he is anxious to convert this property, or a portion of it, into cash. There is apparently no opening for fraud but, should one exist, you may be quite sure I shall discover it in the course of negotiations."
"First of all I should like to know whether he has written to you?"
"I had a note from him, offering me a pair of silver candlesticks. It appears he found a scrap of paper left by my aunt, expressing a wish that I should have them, as they were given her as a wedding present by my mother. I don't want them just now, as I live in lodgings, so I wrote back and said they had better stay in the house until Miss Yard dies."
"It would have been the easiest thing in the world to have destroyed that piece of paper. Yet Mr. Drake has communicated its contents to you," said Mr. Hunter, putting on his eyeglasses and again searching the letter for any possible stratagem or pitfall.
"I don't say George is altogether bad. I suppose he can respect his aunt's memory to a certain extent," replied Percy.