On the following morning Dockwrath breakfasted by appointment with Mr. Mason—promising, however, that he would return to his friends whom he left behind him, and introduce them into the court in proper time. As I have before hinted, Mr. Mason’s confidence in Dockwrath had gone on increasing day by day since they had first met each other at Groby Park, till he now wished that he had altogether taken the advice of the Hamworth attorney and put this matter entirely into his hands. By degrees Joseph Mason had learned to understand and thoroughly to appreciate the strong points in his own case; and now he was so fully convinced of the truth of those surmises which Dockwrath had been the first to make, that no amount of contrary evidence could have shaken him. And why had not Round and Crook found this out when the matter was before investigated? Why had they prevented him from appealing to the Lord Chancellor when, through their own carelessness, the matter had gone against him in the inferior court? And why did they now, even in these latter days, when they were driven to reopen the case by the clearness of the evidence submitted to them—why did they even now wound his ears, irritate his temper, and oppose the warmest feelings of his heart by expressing pity for this wicked criminal, whom it was their bounden duty to prosecute to the very utmost? Was it not by their fault that Orley Farm had been lost to him for the last twenty years? And yet young Round had told him, with the utmost composure, that it would be useless for him to look for any of those moneys which should have accrued to him during all those years! After what had passed, young Round should have been anxious to grind Lucius Mason into powder, and make money of his very bones! Must he not think, when he considered all these things, that Round and Crook had been wilfully dishonest to him, and that their interest had been on the side of Lady Mason? He did so think at last, under the beneficent tutelage of his new adviser, and had it been possible would have taken the case out of the hands of Round and Crook even during the week before the trial.
“We mustn’t do it now,” Dockwrath had said, in his triumph. “If we did, the whole thing would be delayed. But they shall be so watched that they shall not be able to throw the thing over. I’ve got them in a vice, Mr. Mason; and I’ll hold them so tight that they must convict her whether they will or no.”
And the nature and extent of Mr. Dockwrath’s reward had been already settled. When Lucius Mason should be expelled from Orley Farm with ignominy, he, Dockwrath, should become the tenant. The very rent was settled with the understanding that it should be remitted for the first year. It would be pleasant to him to have back his two fields in this way;—his two fields, and something else beyond! It may be remembered that Lucius Mason had once gone to his office insulting him. It would now be his turn to visit Lucius Mason at his domicile. He was disposed to think that such visit would be made by him with more effect than had attended that other.
“Well, sir, we’re all right,” he said, as he shook hands with Mr. Mason of Groby; “there’s no screw loose that I can find.”
“And will that man be able to speak?” Mr. Mason was alluding to John Kenneby.
“I think he will, as corroborating the woman Bolster. That’s all we shall want. We shall put up the woman first; that is, after I have done. I don’t think they’ll make much of her, Mr. Mason.”
“They can’t make her say that she signed two deeds if she is willing to tell the truth. There’s no danger, you think, that she’s been tampered with—that she has taken money.”
“No, no; there’s been nothing of that.”
“They’d do anything, you know,” said Mr. Mason. “Think of such a man as Solomon Aram! He’s been used to it all his life, you know.”
“They could not do it, Mr. Mason; I’ve been too sharp on them. And I tell you what—they know it now. There isn’t one of them that doesn’t know we shall get a verdict.” And then for a few minutes there was silence between the two friends.
“I’ll tell you what, Dockwrath,” said Mr. Mason, after a while; “I’ve so set my heart upon this—upon getting justice at last—that I do think it would kill me if I were to be beaten. I do, indeed. I’ve known this, you know, all my life; and think what I’ve felt! For twenty-two years, Dockwrath! By ⸻! in all that I have read I don’t think I ever heard of such a hardship! That she should have robbed me for two-and-twenty years!—And now they say that she will be imprisoned for twelve months!”
“She’ll get more than that, Mr. Mason.”
“I know what would have been done to her thirty years ago, when the country
