Chapter XLV

[Mr. James Frogg, of Serjeant’s Inn, passes on the unpleasant news to the Reverend Arthur Warrington, of Beldon, Suffolk.]

3, Serjeant’s Inn, London, E.C.,
December 4th, 1905.

The Reverend Arthur Warrington, M.A.

Reverend and dear Sir,--I have this day received the enclosed letter from Mr. Gastonard. Its claims, I fear, are incontestable.

The Will of the late Henry Gastonard, of Bordeaux and London, provided that the bulk of his considerable fortune should pass from the possession of his only son in the case that the young man was not earning five hundred pounds a year by his own efforts at the age of twenty-five years.

Such a condition, I regret to say, has now been fulfilled. The Agreement between Henry Gastonard and the editor of the “Daily Bulletin” is not a document I should advise you to contest. No court would question its _bona fides_; nor would any Chancery judge be willing to interpret the Will in any strict sense.

Such are the facts. Believe me, dear Sir, that I deplore them, and am,

Your faithful servant,
James Frogg.

My charges in the matter of this business, £74 6s. 8d., are detailed in the schedule I have the honour to enclose.