Pickering looked impatiently from one to the other
of us.
"You seem to have the guns, the ammunition and the
numbers on your side," he observed dryly.
"The sheriff may wait within call," said Larry, and
at a word from Pickering the man left the room.
"Now, Mr. Pickering,"-Larry spoke slowly,-"as
my friend has explained the case to me, the assets of
his grandfather's estate are all accounted for,-the land
hereabouts, this house, the ten thousand dollars in securities
and a somewhat vague claim against a lady
known as Sister Theresa, who conducts St. Agatha's
School. Is that correct?"
"I don't ask you to take my word for it, sir," rejoined
Pickering hotly. "I have filed an inventory of the
estate, so far as found, with the proper authorities."
"Certainly. But I merely wish to be sure of my facts
for the purpose of this interview, to save me the trouble
of going to the records. And, moreover, I am somewhat
unfamiliar with your procedure in this country. I am
a member, sir, of the Irish Bar. Pardon me, but I repeat
my question."
"I have made oath-that, I trust, is sufficient even
for a member of the Irish Bar."
"Quite so, Mr. Pickering," said Larry, nodding his
head gravely.
He was not, to be sure, a presentable member of any
bar, for a smudge detracted considerably from the appearance
of one side of his face, his clothes were rumpled
and covered with black dust, and his hands were
black. But I had rarely seen him so calm. He recrossed
his legs, peered into the bowl of his pipe for a moment,
then asked, as quietly as though he were soliciting an
opinion of the weather: "Will you tell me, Mr. Pickering, whether you yourself
are a debtor of John Marshall Glenarm's estate?"
Pickering's face grew white and his eyes stared, and
when he tried suddenly to speak his jaw twitched. The
room was so still that the breaking of a blazing log on
the andirons was a pleasant relief. We stood, the three
of us, with our eyes on Pickering, and in my own case
I must say that my heart was pounding my ribs at an
uncomfortable speed, for I knew Larry was not sparring
for time.
The blood rushed into Pickering's face and he turned
toward Larry stormily.
"This is unwarrantable and infamous! My relations
with Mr. Glenarm are none of your business. When
you remember that after being deserted by his own flesh
and blood he appealed to me, going so far as to intrust
all his affairs to my care at his death, your reflection
is an outrageous insult. I am not accountable to you
or any one else!"
"Really, there's a good deal in all that," said Larry.
"We don't pretend to any judicial functions. We are
perfectly willing to submit the whole business and all
my client's acts to the authorities."