we must now return to philadelphia, and pay a visit to the office of mr. balch. we shall find that gentleman in company with mr. walters: both look anxious, and are poring over a letter which is outspread before them.
"it was like a thunder-clap to me," said mr. balch: "the idea of there being another heir never entered my brain—i didn't even know he had a living relative."
"when did you get the letter?" asked walters.
"only this morning, and i sent for you immediately! let us read it again—we'll make another attempt to decipher this incomprehensible name. confound the fellow! why couldn't he write so that some one besides himself could read it! we must stumble through it," said he, as he again began the letter as follows:—
"dear sir,—immediately on receipt of your favour, i called upon mr. thurston, to take the necessary steps for securing the property of your late client. to my great surprise, i found that another claimant had started up, and already taken the preliminary measures to entering upon possession. this gentleman, mr.——
"now, what would you call that name, walters?—to me it looks like
stimmens, or stunners, or something of the kind!"
"never mind the name," exclaimed walters—"skip that—let me hear the rest of the letter; we shall find out who he is soon enough, in all conscience."
"well, then," resumed mr. balch—"this gentleman, mr.——, is a resident in your city; and he will, no doubt, take an early opportunity of calling on you, in reference to the matter. it is my opinion, that without a will in their favour, these children cannot oppose his claim successfully, if he can prove his consanguinity to mr. garie. his lawyer here showed me a copy of the letters and papers which are to be used as evidence, and, i must say, they are entirely without flaw. he proves himself, undoubtedly, to be the first cousin of mr. garie. you are, no doubt, aware that these children being the offspring of a slave-woman, cannot inherit, in this state (except under certain circumstances), the property of a white father. i am, therefore, very much afraid that they are entirely at his mercy."
"well, then," said walters, when mr. balch finished reading the letter, "it is clear there is an heir, and his claim must be well sustained, if such a man as beckley, the first lawyer in the state, does not hesitate to endorse it; and as all the property (with the exception of a few thousands in my hands) lies in georgia, i'm afraid the poor children will come off badly, unless this new heir prove to be a man of generosity—at all events, it seems we are completely at his mercy."
"we must hope for the best," rejoined mr. balch. "if he has any heart, he certainly will make some provision for them. the disappearance of that will is to me most unaccountable! i am confident it was at his house. it seemed so singular that none of his papers should be missing, except that—there were a great many others, deeds, mortgages, &c. scattered over the floor, but no will!"
the gentlemen were thus conversing, when they heard a tap at the door.
"come in!" cried mr. balch; and, in answer to the request, in walked mr.
george stevens.
mr. walters and mr. balch bowed very stiffly, and the latter inquired what had procured him the honour of a visit.
"i have called upon you in reference to the property of the late mr. garie." "oh! you are acting in behalf of this new claimant, i suppose?" rejoined mr. balch.
"sir!" said mr. stevens, looking as though he did not thoroughly understand him.
"i said," repeated mr. balch, "that i presumed you called in behalf of this new-found heir to mr. garie's property."
mr. stevens looked at him for a moment, then drawing himself up, exclaimed,
"i am the heir!"
"you!—you the heir!" cried both the gentlemen, almost simultaneously.
"yes, i am the heir!" coolly repeated mr. stevens, with an assured look. "i am the first cousin of mr. garie!"
"you his first cousin?—it is impossible!" said walters.
"you'll discover it is not only possible, but true—i am, as i said, mr.
garie's first cousin!"
"if you are that, you are more," said walters, fiercely—"you're his murderer!" at this charge mr. stevens turned deathly pale. "yes," continued walters; "you either murdered him, or instigated others to do so! it was you who directed the rioters against both him and me—i have proof of what i say and can produce it. now your motive is clear as day—you wanted his money, and destroyed him to obtain it! his blood is on your hands!" hissed walters through his clenched teeth.
in the excitement consequent upon such a charge, mr. stevens, unnoticed by himself, had overturned a bottle of red ink, and its contents had slightly stained his hands. when walters charged him with having mr. garie's blood upon them, he involuntarily looked down and saw his hands stained with red. an expression of intense horror flitted over his face when he observed it; but quickly regaining his composure, he replied, "it's only a little ink."
"yes, i know that is ink," rejoined walters, scornfully; "look at him,
balch," he continued, "he doesn't dare to look either of us in the face."
"it's false," exclaimed stevens, with an effort to appear courageous; "it's as false as hell, and any man that charges me with it is a liar."
the words had scarcely passed his lips, when walters sprang upon him with the ferocity of a tiger, and seizing him by the throat, shook and whirled him about as though he were a plaything.
"stop, stop! walters," cried mr. balch, endeavouring to loose his hold upon the throat of mr. stevens, who was already purple in the face; "let him go, this violence can benefit neither party. loose your hold." at this remonstrance, walters dashed stevens from him into the farthest corner of the room, exclaiming, "now, go and prosecute me if you dare, and i'll tell for what i chastised you; prosecute me for an assault, if you think you can risk the consequences."
mr. balch assisted him from the floor and placed him in a chair, where he sat holding his side, and panting for breath. when he was able to speak, he exclaimed, with a look of concentrated malignity, "remember, we'll be even some day; i never received a blow and forgot it afterwards, bear that in mind."
"this will never do, gentlemen," said mr. balch, soothingly: "this conduct is unworthy of you. you are unreasonable both of you. when you have cooled down we will discuss the matter as we should."
"you'll discuss it alone then," said stevens, rising, and walking to the door: "and when you have any further communication to make, you must come to me."
"stop, stop, don't go," cried mr. balch, following him out at the door, which they closed behind them; "don't go away in a passion, mr. stevens. you and walters are both too hasty. come in here and sit down," said he, opening the door of a small adjoining room, "wait here one moment, i'll come back to you."
"this will never do, walters," said he, as he re-entered his office; "the fellow has the upper hand of us, and we must humour him; we should suppress our own feelings for the children's sake. you are as well aware as i am of the necessity of some compromise—we are in his power for the present, and must act as circumstances compel us to."
"i can't discuss the matter with him," interrupted walters, "he's an unmitigated scoundrel. i couldn't command my temper in his presence for five minutes. if you can arrange anything with him at all advantageous to the children, i shall be satisfied, it will be more than i expect; only bear in mind, that what i have in my hands belonging to garie we must retain, he knows nothing of that."
"very well," rejoined mr. balch, "depend upon it i'll do my best;" and closing the door, he went back to mr. stevens.
"now, mr. stevens," said he, drawing up a chair, "we will talk over this matter dispassionately, and try and arrive at some amicable arrangement: be kind enough to inform me what your claims are."
"mr. balch, you are a gentleman," began mr. stevens, "and therefore i'm willing to discuss the matter thoroughly with you. you'll find me disposed to do a great deal for these children: but i wish it distinctly understood at the beginning, that whatever i may give them, i bestow as a favour. i concede nothing to them as a right, legally they have not the slightest claim upon me; of that you, who are an excellent lawyer, must be well aware."
"we won't discuss that point at present, mr. stevens. i believe you intimated you would be kind enough to say upon what evidence you purposed sustaining your claims?"
"well, to come to the point, then," said stevens; "the deceased mr. garie was, as i before said, my first cousin. his father and my mother were brother and sister. my mother married in opposition to her parents' desires; they cut her off from the family, and for years there was no communication between them. at my father's death, my mother made overtures for a reconciliation, which were contemptuously rejected, at length she died. i was brought up in ignorance of who my grandparents were; and only a few months since, on the death of my father's sister, did i make the discovery. here," said he, extending the packet of letters which, the reader will remember once agitated, him so strangely, "here are the letters that passed between my mother and her father."
mr. balch took up one and read:—
"savannah, 18—
"madam,—permit me to return this letter (wherein you declare yourself the loving and repentant daughter of bernard garie) and at the same time inform you, that by your own. acts you have deprived yourself of all claim to that relation. in opposition to my wishes, and in open defiance of my express commands, you chose to unite your fortune with one in every respect your inferior. if that union has not resulted as happily as you expected, you must sustain yourself by the reflection that you are the author of your own misfortunes and alone to blame for your present miserable condition.—respectfully yours,
"bernard garie."
mr. balch read, one after another, letters of a similar purport—in fact, a long correspondence between bernard garie and the mother of mr. stevens. when he had finished, the latter remarked, "in addition to those, i can produce my mother's certificate of baptism, her marriage certificate, and every necessary proof of my being her son. if that does not suffice to make a strong case, i am at a loss to imagine what will."
mr. balch pondered a few moments, and then inquired, looking steadily at
mr. stevens, "how long have you known of this relationship?"
"oh, i've known it these three years."
"three years! why, my dear sir, only a few moments ago you said a few months."
"oh, did i?" said mr. stevens, very much confused; "i meant, or should have said, three years."
"then, of course you were aware that mr. garie was your cousin when he took the house beside you?"
"oh, yes—that is—yes—yes; i was aware of it."
"and did you make any overtures of a social character?" asked mr. balch.
"well, yes—that is to say, my wife did."
"where were you the night of the murder?"
mr. stevens turned pale at this question, and replied, hesitatingly, "why, at home, of course."
"you were at home, and saw the house of your cousins assaulted, and made no effort to succour them or their children. the next morning you are one of the coroner's inquest, and hurry through the proceedings, never once saying a word of your relationship to them, nor yet making any inquiry respecting the fate of the children. it is very singular."
"i don't see what this cross-questioning is to amount to; it has nothing to do with my claim as heir."
"we are coming to that," rejoined mr. balch. "this, as i said, is very singular; and when i couple it with some other circumstances that have come to my knowledge, it is more than singular—it is suspicious. here are a number of houses assaulted by a mob. two or three days before the assault takes place, a list in your handwriting, and which is headed, 'places to be attacked,' is found, under circumstances that leave no doubt that it came directly from you. well, the same mob that attacks these places—marked out by you—traverse a long distance to reach the house of your next-door neighbour. they break into it, and kill him; and you, who are aware at the time that he is your own cousin, do not attempt to interpose to prevent it, although it can be proved that you were all-powerful with the marauders. no! you allow him to be destroyed without an effort to save him, and immediately claim his property. now, mr. stevens, people disposed to be suspicions—seeing how much you were to be the gainer by his removal, and knowing you had some connection with this mob—might not scruple to say that you instigated the attack by which he lost his life; and i put it to you—now don't you think that, if it was any one else, you would say that the thing looked suspicious?"
mr. stevens winced at this, but made no effort to reply.
mr. balch continued, "what i was going to remark is simply this. as we are in possession of these facts, and able to prove them by competent witnesses, we should not be willing to remain perfectly silent respecting it, unless you made what we regarded as a suitable provision for the children."
"i'm willing, as i said before, to do something; but don't flatter yourself i'll do any more than i originally intended from any fear of disclosures from you. i'm not to be frightened," said mr. stevens.
"i'm not at all disposed to attempt to frighten you: however, you know how far a mere statement of these facts would go towards rendering your position in society more agreeable. a person who has been arrested on suspicion of murder is apt to be shunned and distrusted. it can't be helped; people are so very squeamish—they will draw back, you know, under such circumstances."
"i don't see how such a suspicion can attach itself to me," rejoined
stevens, sharply.
"oh, well, we won't discuss that any further: let me hear what you will do for the children."
mr. balch saw, from the nervous and embarrassed manner of mr. stevens, that the indirect threat of exposing him had had considerable effect; and his downcast looks and agitation rather strengthened in his mind the suspicions that had been excited by the disclosures of mr. walters.
after a few moments' silence, mr. stevens said, "i'll settle three thousand dollars on each of the children. now i think that is treating them liberally."
"liberally!" exclaimed balch, in a tone of contempt—"liberally! you acquire by the death of their father property worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and you offer these children, who are the rightful heirs, three thousand dollars! that, sir, won't suffice." "i think it should, then," rejoined stevens. "by the laws of georgia these children, instead of being his heirs, are my slaves. their mother was a slave before them, and they were born slaves; and if they were in savannah, i could sell them both to-morrow. on the whole, i think i've made you a very fair offer, and i'd advise you to think of it."
"no, mr. stevens; i shall accept no such paltry sum. if you wish a quick and peaceful possession of what you are pleased to regard as your rights, you must tender something more advantageous, or i shall feel compelled to bring this thing into court, even at the risk of loss; and there, you know, we should be obliged to make a clear statement of everything connected with this business. it might be advantageous to us to bring the thing fully before the court and public—but i'm exceedingly doubtful whether it would advance your interest."
stevens winced at this, and asked, "what would you consider a fair offer?"
"i should consider all a just offer, half a fair one, and a quarter as little as you could have the conscience to expect us to take."
"i don't see any use in this chaffering, mr. balch," said stephens; "you can't expect me to give you any such sums as you propose. name a sum that you can reasonably expect to get."
"well," said mr. balch, rising, "you must give us fifteen thousand dollars, and you should think yourself well off then. we could commence a suit, and put you to nearly that expense to defend it; to say nothing of the notoriety that the circumstance would occasion you. both walters and i are willing to spend both money and time in defence of these children's rights; i assure you they are not friendless."
"i'll give twelve thousand, and not a cent more, if i'm hung for it," said
mr. stevens, almost involuntarily.
"who spoke of hanging?" asked mr. balch.
"oh!" rejoined stevens, "that is only my emphatic way of speaking." "of course, you meant figuratively," said mr. balch, in a tone of irony; mentally adding, "as i hope you may be one day literally."
mr. stevens looked flushed and angry, but mr. balch continued, without appearing to notice him, and said: "i'll speak to walters. should he acquiesce in your proposal, i am willing to accept it; however, i cannot definitely decide without consulting him. to-morrow i will inform you of the result."
