was a jug of water on the table, used by Vark for diluting his gin, so Hagar sprinkled the wrinkled face of her master with this fluid, and slapped his hands. Vark looked on rather anxiously. He did not wish the old man to die yet; and Jacob was a long time coming out of his swoon.
"This paper made him faint," said Vark, removing it from Jacob's feeble grasp. "Let us see what it says." He knew the contents quite well, but nevertheless he read it aloud in a distinct voice for the benefit of Hagar. Thus ran the words: "Memo.: To extract the juice of foxglove--a poison difficult to trace--nothing can be proved after death. Small doses daily in old man's tea or gruel. He would die in a few weeks without suspicion. Will trust nobody, but will prepare drug myself."
Hagar looked steadily at Vark. "Who wrote that," she said in a low voice--"the old man's son or--you?"
"I?" cried Vark, with well-simulated indignation, "why should I write it?--or how could I write it? The penmanship is that of James Dix; it was concealed in his tobacco-jar; the jar was broken by accident; you saw it yourself. Do you dare to----"
"Be silent!" interrupted Hagar, raising Jacob's head; "he is reviving."
The old pawnbroker opened his eyes and looked wildly around. Little by little his senses returned to him, and he sat up. Then, with the aid of Hagar, he climbed into his chair, and began to talk and sigh.
"Little Jimmy wants me to die," he moaned, feebly. "Hagar's son wants to kill me. Foxglove poison--I know it! Not a trace does it leave after death. Hagar's son! Hagar's boy! Parricide! Parricide!" he cried, shaking his two fists in the air.
"He wanted the money, you know," hinted Vark, softly.
"He shall not have the money!" said Jacob with unnatural energy. "I'll make a new will--I'll disinherit him! Parricide! Hagar shall have all!"
"I, Mr. Dix? No, no!"
"I say yes, you jade! Don't cross a dying man. I am dying; this is my death-blow. O Jimmy, Jimmy! Wolf's cub! My will! my will!"
Pushing back Hagar, who strove to keep him in his chair, he snatched up the candle and staggered towards the safe to get his will. While he was looking within, Vark hastily fumbled in his capacious pockets. When Jacob replaced the candle on the table, Hagar saw thereon a sheet of paper covered with writing; also pen and ink. Jacob, clutching the will, beheld these things also, and anticipated the question on Hagar's lips.
"What's all this?"
"Your new will, Mr. Dix," explained Vark, smoothly. "I never did trust your son, and I knew some day that you would find him out. I therefore prepared a will by which you left everything to Hagar. Or," added the lawyer, taking another document from his pocket, "if you chose to make me your heir---"
"You? You? Never!" shrieked Jacob, shaking his fist. "All shall go to Hagar, the namesake of my dead wife. I'm glad you had the sense to see, that failing Jimmy, I'd leave her my money."
"Mr. Dix," interrupted Hagar, firmly, "I do not want your money; and you have no right to rob your son of---"
"No right! No right, you jade! The money is mine! mine! It shall be yours. I could have forgiven anything to Jimmy save his wish to poison me."
"I don't believe he did wish it," said Hagar, bluntly.
"But the paper--his own handwriting!" cried Vark.
"Yes, yes; I know Jimmy's handwriting," said Jacob, the veins in his forehead swelling with rage. "He is a devil--a par--par--!" The violence of his temper was such that Hagar stepped forward to soothe him. Even Vark felt alarmed.
"Keep quiet, you old fool!" said he, roughly; "you'll break a blood-vessel! Here, sign this will. I'll witness it; and---" He stopped, and whistled shrilly. A man appeared. "Here is another witness," said Vark. "Sign!"
"It's a plot! a plot!" cried Hagar. "Don't sign, Mr. Dix. I don't want the money."
"I'll make you take it, hussy!" snarled Jacob, crushing the will up in his hand. "I shall leave it to you--not to Jimmy, the parricide. First I'll destroy this." With the old will he approached the fire, and threw it in. With the swiftness of a swallow Hagar darted past him and snatched the document away from the flames before it was even scorched. Jacob staggered back, mad with rage. Vark ground his teeth at her opposition. The stranger witness looked stolidly on.
"No!" cried Hagar, slipping the will into her pocket. "You shall not disinherit your son for me!"
"Give--give--will!" panted Jacob, and, almost inarticulate with rage, he stretched out his hand. Before he could draw it back he reeled and fell; a torrent of blood poured from his mouth. He was dead.
"You fool!" shrieked Vark, stamping. "You've lost a fortune!"
"I've saved my honesty!" retorted Hagar, aghast at the sudden death. "Jimmy shall have the money."
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" sneered Vark, wrathfully. "Do you know who Jimmy is?"
"Yes--the rightful heir!"
"Quite so, you jade--and the red-haired Goliath who drove you to this pawn-shop!"
"It is a lie!"
"It is the truth! You have robbed yourself to enrich your enemy!"
Hagar looked at the sneering face of Vark; at the dead man lying at her feet; at the frightened countenance of the witness. She felt inclined to faint, but, afraid lest Vark should steal the will which she had in her pocket, she controlled herself with a violent effort. Before Vark could stop her, she rushed out of the room, and into her bedroom. The lawyer heard the key turn in the lock.
"I've lost the game," he said, moodily. "Go and get assistance, you fool!" this to the witness; then, when the man had fled away, he continued: "To give up all that money to the red-haired man whom she hated! The girl's mad!"
But she was only honest; therefore her conduct was unintelligible to Vark. So this was how Hagar Stanley came to take charge of the pawn-shop in Carby's Crescent, Lambeth. Her adventures therein may be read hereafter.
Chapter II.
The First Customer and the Florentine Dante
It has been explained otherwhere how Hagar Stanley, against her own interests, took charge of the pawn-shop and property of Jacob Dix during the absence of the rightful heir. She had full control of everything by the terms of the will. Jacob had made many good bargains in his life, but none better than that which had brought him Hagar for a slave--Hagar, with her strict sense of duty, her upright nature, and her determination to act honestly, even when her own interests were at stake. Such a character was almost unknown amongst the denizens of Carby's Crescent.
Vark, the lawyer, thought her a fool. Firstly, because she refused to make a nest-egg for herself out of the estate; secondly, because she had surrendered a fine fortune to benefit a man she hated; thirdly, because she declined to become Mrs. Vark. Otherwise she was sharp enough--too sharp, the lawyer thought; for with her keen business instinct, and her faculty for organizing and administering and understanding, he found it impossible to trick her in any way. Out of the Dix estate Vark received his due fees and no more, which position was humiliating to a
