He had a partner, who during these four months had, in fact, carried on the business.  One difficulty had grown out of another till Mr. Grey’s whole time had been occupied; and all his thoughts had been filled with Mr. Scarborough, which is a matter of much greater moment to a man than the loss of his time.  The question of Mountjoy Scarborough’s position had been first submitted to him in June.  October had now been reached and Mr. Grey had been out of town only for a fortnight, during which fortnight he had been occupied entirely in unravelling the mystery.  He had at first refused altogether to have anything to do with the unravelling, and had desired that some other lawyer might be employed.  But it had gradually come to pass that he had entered heart and soul into the case, and, with many execrations on his own part against Mr. Scarborough, could find a real interest in nothing else.  He had begun his investigations with a thorough wish to discover that Mountjoy Scarborough was, in truth, the heir.  Though he had never loved the young man, and, as he went on with his investigations, became aware that the whole property would go to the creditors should he succeed in proving that Mountjoy was the heir, yet for the sake of abstract honesty he was most anxious that it should be so.  And he could not bear to think that he and other lawyers had been taken in by the wily craft of such a man as the Squire of Tretton.  It went thoroughly against the grain with him to have to acknowledge that the estate would become the property of Augustus.  But it was so, and he did acknowledge it.  It was proved to him that, in spite of all the evidence which he had hitherto seen in the matter, the squire had not married his wife until after the birth of his eldest son.  He did acknowledge it, and he said bravely that it must be so.  Then there came down upon him a crowd of enemies in the guise of baffled creditors, all of whom believed, or professed to believe, that he, Mr. Grey, was in league with the squire to rob them of their rights.

If it could be proved that Mountjoy had no claim to the property, then would it go nominally to Augustus, who according to their showing was also one of the confederates, and the property could thus, they said, be divided.  Very shortly the squire would be dead, and then the confederates would get everything, to the utter exclusion of poor Mr. Tyrrwhit, and poor Mr. Samuel Hart, and all the other poor creditors, who would thus be denuded, defrauded, and robbed by a lawyer’s trick.  It was in this spirit that Mr. Grey was attacked by Mr. Tyrrwhit and the others; and Mr. Grey found it very hard to bear.