Doctor Claudius, A True Story Part 26

"I?" The Duke opened his eyes wide. Then he reflected that it might be something concerning the Countess, and waited.

"You are a gentleman," said Claudius reflectively, and hardly addressing his visitor as he said it.

"Quite so," said the Duke. "It's a very fine word that."

"And a man of honour," continued Claudius in a meditative tone.

"The deuce and all, it's the same thing," said the Duke, rather puzzled.

"Yes; in some countries it is. Now, what I want to ask you is this.

Could you, as a gentleman and a man of honour, swear in a court of law that you know me, and that I am the person I represent myself to be?

That is the question."

The Duke was too much surprised to answer directly. He made a great fuss over his cigar, and got up and shut the window. Then he sat down in another chair.

"I don't know what you mean," he said at last, to gain time.

"I mean what I say," said Claudius. "Could you swear, before the Supreme Court of the United States, for instance, that I am Claudius, sometime student, now Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Heidelberg in Germany? Could you swear that?"

"My dear boy," said the other, "what in the world are you driving at?"

The Duke realised that he could not conscientiously swear to any such statement as that proposed by Claudius; and, liking him as he did, he was much distressed at being put into such a corner.

"I will tell you afterwards what it is about, Duke," said Claudius. "I am serious, and I would like you to answer the question, though I foresee that you will say you could not swear to anything of the kind."

"Honestly, Claudius, though there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that you are what you appear to be, I could not conscientiously swear it in evidence. I do not know anything about you. But Barker could."

"No, he could not. He knows no more about me than you do, saving that he met me two or three days sooner. He met me in Heidelberg, it is true, but he made no inquiries whatever concerning me. It never entered his head that I could be anything but what I professed to be."

"I should think not, indeed," said the Duke warmly.

"But now that I am here in the flesh, these lawyers are making trouble.

One of them was here a little while since, and he wanted doc.u.mentary evidence of my ident.i.ty."

"Who was the lawyer?"

"A Mr. Screw, one of the executors of the will."

"Who is the other executor?" asked the Duke quickly.

"Barker's father."

The Englishman's face darkened, and he puffed savagely at his cigar. He had been angry with Barker the day before. Now he began to suspect him of making trouble.

"What sort of evidence did the man want?" he asked at length.

"Any sort of doc.u.mentary evidence would do. He asked me for my certificate of birth, and I told him he could not have it. And then he went so far as to remark in a very disagreeable way that he could not authorise me to draw upon the estate until I produced evidence."

"Well, that is natural enough."

"It would have been so at first. But they had accepted the mere signature to my letter from Heidelberg as proof of my existence, and I got word in Baden in July that I might draw as much as I pleased. And now they turn upon me and say I am not myself. Something has happened.

Fortunately I have not touched the money, in spite of their kind permission."

"There is something very odd about this, Claudius. Have you got such a thing as a birth certificate to show?"

"Yes," answered Claudius, after a pause. "I have everything in perfect order, my mother's marriage and all."

"Then why, in Heaven's name, can you not show it, and put all these rascally lawyers to flight?"

"Because--" Claudius began, but he hesitated and stopped. "It is a curious story," he said, "and it is precisely what I want to talk to you about."

"Is it very long?" asked the Duke; "I have not dined yet."

"No, it will not take long, and if you have nothing better to do we will dine together afterwards. But first there are two things I want to say.

If I prove to you that I am the son of my uncle's sister, will you tell Mr. Screw that you know it for a fact, that is, that if it had to be sworn to, you would be willing to swear to it?"

"If you prove it to me so that I am legally sure of it, of course I will."

"The other thing I will ask you is, not to divulge what I shall tell you, or show you. You may imagine from my being unwilling to show these papers, even to a lawyer, when my own fortune is concerned, that I attach some importance to secrecy."

"You may trust me," said the Duke; "you have my word," he added, as if reluctantly. People whose word is to be trusted are generally slow to give it. Claudius bowed his head courteously, in acknowledgment of the plighted promise. Then he opened a trunk that stood in a corner of the room, and took from it the iron box in which he had deposited the lawyer's letter on that evening three months before, when his destiny had roused itself from its thirty years' slumber. He set the box on the table, and having locked the door of the room sat down opposite his guest. He took a key from his pocket.

"You will think it strange," he said with a smile, "that I should have taken the liberty of confiding to you my secret. But when you have seen what is there, you will perceive that you are the most fitting confidant in this country--for general reasons, of course; for I need not say there is nothing in those papers which concerns you personally."

Claudius unlocked the box and took out a few letters that were lying on the top, then he pushed the casket across the table to the Duke.

"Will you please examine the contents for yourself?" he said. "There are only three or four papers to read--the rest are letters from my father to my mother--you may look at them if you like; they are very old."

All this time the Duke looked very grave. He was not accustomed to have his word of honour asked for small matters, and if this were some trivial question of an a.s.sumed name, or the like, he was prepared to be angry with Claudius. So he silently took the little strong box, and examined the contents. There were two packages of papers, two or three morocco cases that might contain jewels, and there was a string of pearls lying loose in the bottom of the casket. The Duke took the pearls curiously in his hand and held them to the light. He had seen enough of such things to know something of their value, and he knew this string might be worth anywhere from eight to ten thousand pounds. He looked graver than ever.

"Those are beautiful pearls, Dr. Claudius," he said; "too beautiful for a Heidelberg student to have lying about among his traps." He turned them over and added, "The d.u.c.h.ess has nothing like them."

"They belonged to my mother," said Claudius simply. "I know nothing of their value."

The Duke took the papers and untied the smaller package, which appeared to contain legal doc.u.ments, while the larger seemed to be a series of letters filed in their envelopes, as they had been received.

"My mother's name was Maria Lindstrand," said Claudius. He leaned back, smoking the eternal cigarette, and watched the Duke's face.

Before the Englishman had proceeded far he looked up at Claudius, uttering an exclamation of blank amazement. Claudius merely bent his head as if to indorse the contents of the paper, and was silent. The Duke read the papers carefully through, and examined one of them very minutely by the light. Then he laid them down with a certain reverence, as things he respected.

"My dear Claudius--" he rose and extended his hand to the young man with a gesture that had in it much of dignity and something of pride. "My dear Claudius, I shall all my life remember that you honoured me with your confidence. I accepted it as a token of friendship, but I am now able to look upon it as a very great distinction."

"And I, Duke, shall never forget that you believed in me on my own merits, before you were really able to swear that I was myself."

Claudius had also risen, and their hands remained clasped a moment. Then Claudius applied himself to rearranging the contents of his box; and the Duke walked up and down the room, glancing from time to time at the Doctor. He stopped suddenly in his walk.

"But--goodness gracious! why have you kept this a secret?" he asked, as if suddenly recollecting himself.

"My mother," said Claudius, "was too proud to come forward and claim what my father, but for his untimely death, would have given her in a few months. As for me, I have been contented in my life, and would have been unwilling to cause pain to any one by claiming my rights. My mother died when I was a mere child, and left these papers sealed, directing me not to open them until I should be twenty-one years old. And so when I opened them, I made up my mind to do nothing about it."

"It is not easy to understand you, Claudius; but I will swear to anything you like."