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Page 92
"No--no!" she exclaimed. "No handling of anything--yet! You keep your
hands off! You were ready enough to bargain with Pratt--now you'll have
to bargain with me. But I'm not such a fool as he was--I'll take cash
down, and be done with it."
Mrs. Mallathorpe rested her trembling hands on the table and bent
forward across it.
"Is it--is it--really--the will?" she whispered hoarsely.
Instead of replying in words, Esther, taking care to keep at a safe
distance behind the table, and with the door only a yard or two in her
rear, drew out the documents one by one and held them up.
"The will!" she said. "Your letter to Pratt. The power of attorney. Two
papers that he brought for you to sign. That's the lot! And now, as I
said, we'll bargain."
"Where is--he?" asked Mrs. Mallathorpe. "How--how did you get them? Does
he know--did he give them up?"
"If you want to know, he's safe and sound asleep in one of the rooms in
the old part of the house," answered Esther. "I drugged him. There's
something afoot--something gone wrong with his schemes--at Barford, and
he came here on his way--elsewhere. And so--I took the chance. Now
then--what are you going to give me?"
Mrs. Mallathorpe, whose nervous agitation was becoming more and more
marked, wrung her hands.
"I've nothing to give!" she cried. "You know very well he's had the
management of everything--I don't know how things are----"
"Stuff!" exclaimed Esther. "I know better than that. You've a lot of
ready money in that desk there--you know you drew a lot out of the bank
some time ago, and it's there now. You kept it for a contingency--the
contingency's here. And--you've your rings--the diamond and ruby
rings--I know what they're worth! Come on, now--I mean to have the whole
lot, so it's no use hesitating."
Mrs. Mallathorpe looked at the maid's bold and resolute eyes--and then
at the papers. And she glanced from eyes and papers to a bright fire
which burned in the grate close by.
"You'll give everything up?" she asked nervously.
"Put those bank-notes that you've got in your desk, and those rings that
are in your jewel-case, on the table between us," answered Esther, "and
I'll hand over these papers on the instant! I'm not going to be such a
fool as to keep them--not I! Come on, now!--isn't this the chance you've
wanted?"
Mrs. Mallathorpe drew a small bunch of keys from her gown, and went over
to the desk which Esther had pointed to. Within a minute she was back
again at the table, a roll of bank notes in one hand, half a dozen
magnificent rings in the other. She put both hands halfway across and
unclasped them. And Esther Mawson, with a light laugh, threw the papers
over the table, and hastily swept their price into her handbag.
Mrs. Mallathorpe's nerves suddenly became steady. With a deep sigh she
caught up the various documents and looked them quickly and thoroughly
over. Then she tore them into fragments and flung the fragments in the
fire--and as they blazed up, she turned and looked at Esther Mawson in a
way which made Esther shrink a little. But she was already at the
door--and she opened it and walked out and down the stair.
She was half-way across the hall beneath, where the butler and one of
the footmen were idly talking, when a sharp cry from above made her then
look up. Mrs. Mallathorpe, suddenly restored to life and energy, was
leaning over the balustrade.
"Stop that woman, you men!" she said. "Seize her! Fasten her up!--lock
the door wherever you put her! She's stolen my rings, and a lot of money
out of my desk! And telephone instantly to Barford, and tell them to
send the police here--at once!"
CHAPTER XXVIII
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