Suppose Mr. Saffron, having this liking for me, this confidence in me,
living here with me alone, except for servants; being, as one might say,
exposed to my influence; suppose he took it into his head to make a will
in my favor, to leave me all his money. It's quite a considerable sum,
so far as our Wednesday doings enable me to judge. Suppose that
happened, how should I stand in your opinion, Dr. Arkroyd? But wait a
moment still. Suppose that my career has not been very, well,
resplendent; that my army record is only so-so; that I've devoted myself
to him with remarkable assiduity, as in fact I have; that I might be
called, quite plausibly, an adventurer. Well, propounding that will, how
should I stand before the world and, if necessary (he shrugged his
shoulders), the Court?"
Mary sat silent for a moment or two. Beaumaroy knelt down by the fire,
rearranged the logs of wood which were smouldering there, and put on a
couple more. From that position, looking into the grate, he added,
"And the change of doctors? It was he, of course, who insisted on it,
but I can see a clever lawyer using that against me too.
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