A moment afterwards, a figure which in all but size resembled our old friend the ‘drowned rat,’ entered my study, and making a courteous bow, said: ‘I fear this is a very unreasonable hour to intrude upon you, sir.’ My visitor was very tall, had a pale thoughtful face, and when he unbuttoned the coat which covered him from head to foot, I perceived that he was a clergyman.
‘Won’t you take a seat by the fire?’ I said, ‘for you must be very cold and wet such a night as this.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ he replied; ‘I am too wet to sit down. I had better tell you at once the cause of this unseasonable visit. I have been attending in my capacity as a Christian minister a young lady who has been very ill, and is now, I believe, dying. She sent for me to-night about ten o’clock, and when I went to her, she entreated me to go for a solicitor. I had heard of you, sir, as a man of standing in that profession, and I have accordingly come to ask you to drive over with me to her.’
I suggested that the lady very probably wanted to make her will, and wished for professional assistance.
‘I cannot tell,’ he replied. ‘I asked her if no one but a solicitor would do, and she said not. She said she _must_ see a solicitor before she died. She seemed terribly distressed, and pressed her request so earnestly upon me that I felt I dare not neglect it.’
‘How far is the young lady’s residence from this?’ I asked, wishing to bring the matter to a practical issue.
‘About ten miles,’ replied the clergyman.
‘Ten miles on a night such as this is no joke!’
‘It is, sir, a long drive, and I know that the night is very severe; but I would take it as a great favour if you would come with me. I know not where to go or what to do, if you decline. I will drive you there, and send my car back with you; and you will of course hold me responsible for your fees.’
The last sentence decided my wavering resolve and gained the clergyman’s object; for what attorney ever remained inactive where he had a good mark for costs? So shrugging my shoulders, I said: ‘Well, I suppose I had better go with you, though I should much prefer going to bed.’
‘Thank you,’ he replied; ‘it is very good of you to consent.’
Having provided myself with the writing materials necessary to draft a will, and having wrapped myself from head to foot in waterproof, I accompanied the clergyman to the hall-door. There we ascended the conveyance which was to take us to our destination, and soon were cutting our way through the driving sleet and snow. Being of an inquisitive turn of mind, I thought it would be wise to elicit from the clergyman some little information about the young lady whose will I supposed that I was about to draw; and with that view I began to examine him. I, however, found that he could tell me very little. He only knew that she was a Miss M——; that she had been staying with an aunt of hers who lived in his parish; that she had become dangerously ill some four or five days previously; that he believed she was an only daughter; that her mother was dead; and that her father had been telegraphed for, and was expected to arrive in the morning. He added earnestly: ‘He will never see his daughter alive, poor man!’