His father, Sir William, had left a letter creating a trust, it was said, in favour of Philip Feltram.

The document had been found with the will, addressed to Sir Bale in the form of a letter.
"That is mine," said the Baronet, when it dropped out of the will; and he slipped it into his pocket, and no one ever saw it after.
But Mr.Charles Twyne, the attorney of Golden Friars, whenever he got drunk, which was pretty often, used to tell his friends with a grave wink that he knew a thing or two about that letter.

It gave Philip Feltram two hundred a-year, charged on Harfax.

It was only a direction.
It made Sir Bale a trustee, however; and having made away with the "letter," the Baronet had been robbing Philip Feltram ever since.
Old Twyne was cautious, even in his cups, in his choice of an audience, and was a little enigmatical in his revelations.

For he was afraid of Sir Bale, though he hated him for employing a lawyer who lived seven miles away, and was a rival.