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Page 28
If Pratt had looked more closely at her just then, he would have taken
warning from the sudden flash of hatred and resentment which swept
across Mrs. Mallathorpe's face--it would have told him that he was
dealing with a dangerous woman who would use her wits to circumvent and
beat him--if not now, then later. But he was moving the gas bracket over
the mantelpiece, and he did not see.
"Very well--but I had no intention of touching it," said Mrs.
Mallathorpe. "All I want is to see it--and read it."
She obediently followed out Pratt's instructions, and standing in front
of her he produced the will, unfolded it, and held it at a convenient
distance before her eyes. He watched her closely, as she read it, and he
saw her grow very pale.
"Take your time--read it over two or three times," he said quietly. "Get
it well into your mind, Mrs. Mallathorpe."
She nodded her head at last, and Pratt stepped back, folded up the will,
and turning to a heavy box which lay open on the table, placed it
within, under lock and key. And that done, he turned back and took a
chair, close to his visitor.
"Safe there, Mrs. Mallathorpe," he said with a glance that was both
reassuring and cunning. "But only for the night. I keep a few securities
of my own at one of the banks in the town--never mind which--and that
will shall be deposited with them tomorrow morning."
Mrs. Mallathorpe shook her head.
"No!" she said. "Because--you'll come to terms with me."
Pratt shook his head, too, and he laughed.
"Of course I shall come to terms with you," he answered. "But they'll be
my terms--and they don't include any giving up of that document. That's
flat, Mrs. Mallathorpe!"
"Not if I make it worth your while?" she asked. "Listen!--you don't know
what ready money I can command. Ready money, I tell you--cash down, on
the spot!"
"I've a pretty good notion," responded Pratt. "It's generally understood
in the town that your son's a mere figure-head, and that you're the real
boss of the whole show. I know that you're at the mill four times a
week, and that the managers are under your thumb. I know that you manage
everything connected with the estate. So, of course, I know you've lots
of ready money at your disposal."
"And I know that you don't earn more than four or five pounds a week, at
the outside," said Mrs. Mallathorpe quietly. "Come, now--just think what
a nice, convenient thing it would be to a young man of your age to
have--a capital. Capital! It would be the making of you. You could go
right away--to London, say, and start out on whatever you liked. Be
sensible--sell me that paper--and be done with the whole thing."
"No!" replied Pratt.
Mrs. Mallathorpe looked at him for a full moment. She was a shrewd judge
of character, and she felt that Pratt was one of those men who are hard
to stir from a position once adopted. But she had to make her
effort--and she made it in what she thought the most effective way.
"I'll give you five thousand pounds--cash--for it," she said. "Meet me
with it tomorrow--anywhere you like in the town--any time you like--and
I'll hand you the money--in notes."
"No!" said Pratt. "No!"
Once more she looked at him. And Pratt looked back--and smiled.
"When I say no, I mean no," he went on. "And I never meant 'No' more
firmly than I do now."
"I don't believe you," she answered, affecting a doubt which she
certainly did not feel. "You're only holding out for more money."
"If I were holding out for more money, Mrs. Mallathorpe," replied Pratt,
"if I meant to sell you that will for cash payment, I should have stated
my terms to you last night. I should have said precisely how much I
wanted--and I shouldn't have budged from the amount. Mrs.
Mallathorpe!--it's no good. I've got my own schemes, and my own
ideas--and I'm going to carry 'em out. I want you to appoint me steward
to your property, your affairs, for life."
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