It was in charge of an agent who was
a sharpish fellow, with all his wits about him. Now, sir, that
man did a thing which probably could hardly be done with impunity
even here in Morocco, under the most barbarous of surviving
civilizations. He quite simply took the estate for himself and
kept it.
RANKIN. But how about the law?
SIR HOWARD. The law, sir, in that island, consisted practically
of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General; and these
gentlemen were both retained by the agent. Consequently there was
no solicitor in the island to take up the case against him.
RANKIN. Is such a thing possible to-day in the British Empire?
SIR HOWARD (calmly). Oh, quite. Quite.
LADY CICELY. But could not a firstrate solicitor have been sent
out from London?
SIR HOWARD. No doubt, by paying him enough to compensate him for
giving up his London practice: that is, rather more than there
was any reasonable likelihood of the estate proving worth.
RANKIN. Then the estate was lost?
SIR HOWARD. Not permanently. It is in my hands at present.
RANKIN. Then how did ye get it back?
SIR HOWARD (with crafty enjoyment of his own cunning). By
hoisting the rogue with his own petard. I had to leave matters as
they were for many years; for I had my own position in the world
to make. But at last I made it. In the course of a holiday trip
to the West Indies, I found that this dishonest agent had left
the island, and placed the estate in the hands of an agent of his
own, whom he was foolish enough to pay very badly.
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