That very morning,
indeed, a brief, the biggest he had yet received--it was marked thirty
guineas--had been forwarded to him from his chambers, with a note from
his clerk to the effect that the case was expected to be in the special
jury list on the first day of the sittings, and that the clerk had made
an appointment for him with the solicitors for 5.15 on the Tuesday. The
brief was sent to him by his uncle's firm, and marked, "With you the
Attorney-General, and Mr. Candleton, Q.C.," the well-known leader of the
Probate and Divorce Court Bar. Never before had Geoffrey found himself
in such honourable company, that is on the back of a brief, and not a
little was he elated thereby.
But when he came to look into the case his joy abated somewhat, for
it was one of the most perplexing that he had ever known. The will
contested, which was that of a Yorkshire money-lender, disposed of
property to the value of over L80,000, and was propounded by a niece of
the testator who, when he died, if not actually weak in his mind, was
in his dotage, and superstitious to the verge of insanity.
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