“But how can I do that?”
“Let us begin with motive. What reason had he for backing you as claimant to the Laningham title and fortune? What was his plan?”
“That, at first, he was somewhat reluctant to reveal, but it gradually came forth that land was his object. Once my claim to the Laningham title had been recognized, it was his intention to strip the Laningham holdings one by one from the new Lord Laningham.”
“And how did he intend to do this?” Sir John put the question quite directly. There was naught of skepticism or mockery in his tone.
“Oh, by legal means, you may be sure of it,” said the other. “Sir Patrick is, after all, the Solicitor-General. As he had finally arranged it, the only laws broken would have been broken by me in gaining the title. The rest — the sale of lands and houses — was to be handled in full accordance with the law. Yet it was to be done at prices so low as to be legal theft.”
“What were you to be left?”
“Very little, in fact. In money, no more than the proceeds of the sales, such as they were, and perhaps a house — though not the Laningham castle; that he intended to give as a gift to the King as a residence for the Prince of Wales when the son reached his majority.”
“Ha! He would give the house, would he? How generous of him!” (I knew Sir John well enough to read the signs: He had begun to bristle.) “But tell me, Mr. Mobley, what would have happened if you had gained the title and simply refused to complete all or part of your side of the bargain? As it was, after all, the arrangement was not so favorable to you.”
“It did not take me long to understand that. I have participated in a good many matters of business in the colonies, enough certainly to know that in an arrangement such as this, it was I who took all the risks — and very grave risks they were. I should be better rewarded. I called this to his attention in a rather joking manner by asking if it were not to his advantage if we, between us, negotiated a contract. Then said he to me, ‘There is no need. We have a spoken contract between us.’ And said I to him, ‘What if I should break the contract?’ ‘You will not,’ said he, ‘for in coming to London you accepted the terms, and should you fail to execute them, I shall activate the enforcement clause.’ I then asked him what was the enforcement clause, and he said to me, ‘The enforcement clause is Mr. Bolt, and he will kill you.’”
“And did you then behave yourself? Or did you test the limits of that ‘spoken contract’?”
“No, I was perhaps bolder than I ought to have been. If you will recall, sir, I welcomed the opportunity to visit London, for it would at least give me a chance to visit my family in Southwark. We had left Baltimore in a great rush, yet I did have time to write my mother and father to inform them that I was coming. They must have known that I was in London, yet I was not permitted to visit them.”
‘’Not permitted?” echoed Sir John. “How, then, were you prevented?”
“I was near a prisoner in Sir Patrick Spenser’s residence in Grosvenor Square. While it was not specifically said that I might not leave unaccompanied, each time I sought to do so, Mr. Bolt was there to insist on coming along with me wherever I wished to go. Since I had no intention of bringing this rough, bearded pirate of a man into my family circle, I simply kept quiet about my wish, Sir Patrick insisted, in any case, that there was much work to be done, much to be learned about Lawrence Paltrow — and of course there was, particularly in the area of natural science, which, I was assured, Mr. Paltrow had known very well. I was expected to teach myself during a few short weeks in London all he had learned in years at Oxford. It became at last a bit too much for me, and I insisted upon a holiday from my studies. It was to take the form of a visit to the Drury Lane and attendance at one of Mr. Garricks productions of Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra it was.”
‘’Ah, yes,” said Sir John, ever the enthusiast of Shakespeare, ‘’an excellent play and a good lesson in history.”
‘’So it is,” agreed the other quite as eagerly. ‘’Would I could have seen it through to the end! “
‘’You left? But how could you?”
‘’It was only by escaping at intermission that I was able to elude Eli Bolt. He, indifferent to the tenderer passions of the play, had fallen asleep. I managed to get past him and into the crowd without waking him. I saw my chance and took it. Knowing my way well through the theater from earlier visits there, I was out and in a hackney in not much more than a minute. I surprised my parents at dinner. They were quite overjoyed to see me and sent word to my sisters and brothers, who came to welcome me back. We had a grand time of talking and eating and drinking, and I so forgot myself there that I stayed the night and slept in my old bed at home. When I returned next day to Grosvenor Square, I found I had been sorely missed. There would, I believe, have been more made of my absence had I not claimed to have gone off in pursuit of a courtesan and given the entire night to our amours. I do truly believe that Sir Patrick and Mr. Bolt were envious, for they fell to teasing me in a crude fashion. Nevertheless, next day Sir Patrick decided it would be best if I were to continue my studies at his country home in Oxfordshire.”
“Let me stop you at that point,” said Sir John, “so that I may ask if, while you were in the company of your family, you gave any hint of why you had come to London — that is to say, of the conspiracy to claim the Laningham title and fortune?”
“I told them nothing at all — or perhaps better said, next to nothing. I said I had come to London on business which I could not discuss, but that they were not to be surprised at anything which might occur in the future.”
“Very good, continue.”
“I continued my study of the model whom I knew to be dead. Upon Sir Patrick’s instruction, I modulated my voice until I captured what was said to be Paltrow’s tone. I practiced his halting manner of speech. Bolt recalled his walk, and I did all that I could to duplicate it. I did all that any actor could do to re-create him, and I later had reason to believe that I had done so quite successfully. Yet in one matter I failed and failed utterly, and that was in Lawrence Paltrow’s learning. Had I the proper foundation perhaps, an informed teacher, or greater time, I might have mastered aspects of natural science sufficiently to have satisfied others. Nevertheless, I was judged by Sir Patrick as well prepared to go out and seek affidavits which would attest to the fact that I was who I said I was. We — Mr. Bolt and I — went first to Laningham town and found considerable success among those who had known Lawrence Paltrow from infancy to young manhood. Frankly, I was surprised at how easy it was for us to convince those who had had a long acquaintance with the true Lawrence Paltrow.”
“How long did you stay there? “
“Perhaps a day or two less than a week.”
“And then on to …?”
“Bath,” said the claimant. “There I faced what was the crucial test.”
“Margaret Paltrow, the mother of Lawrence.”
“Indeed, yes. If she were to reject me as her son, then there was no point in pursuing the matter further. I had, however, learned a great deal of Lawrence’s childhood while in Laningham, for it seemed that every man or woman who said they remembered me had at least one story to tell about the boy they had watched romp through the town, and the youth who would ride bareback through the fields. Old family servants — and a number of them were still about — were a great source of such stories. In any case, I remembered them all, and putting them together, I was able to construct a sort of history of Paltrow’s childhood in stories and anecdotes. This was extremely helpful in dealing with old Mother Paltrow, for when we met I was able to say ‘Do you remember the time that I. .’ or ‘I recall when you. .’ All of this was extremely helpful in bringing her round to our side.”
“I suspect you may have used considerable charm upon her, as well,” said Sir John.