The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-30 00:00:00

MAKING A RILL.

Is the room clear r" he demanded, se his son closed the
door behind him. 4' Is the room clear r' and he strove to
penetrate into the darkest and remotest recesses of the
chamber; bat the twilight preceding that long night which
shrouds all earthly objects from mortal view wee fast
gathering around him, and obscuring the outward vision of
the miser, who had for so many years seas everything but—
.

"Stoop down," he added when the attorney answered
" Yee ;" and, as if fearful of any lurking spy houtag and de-
feating his last and only testamentary disposition of his pro-
perty, he whispered in Mr. Medill's ear,
" I leave to the eldest boy of my second son Henry all ray
estates, and money, and homes, and lands, and mortgage
deeds; to my eldest son Ernest what I cannot keep from
him—a title end the entailed estate of Psradiee, and Lady
Ivraine if he can find her; to my relatives what they will
scarcely thank me for—their own properties, and selves, and
daughters, and husband., and fathers, end fortunes If they
hare any, and my best thanks for this latest and most die-
interestei visit. Be quick now, and make it short."
The rapid pen flew over the paper, the only parse °roa-
ring when the attorney Inquired if be would not leave
Ernest enough to clear Paradise of its mortgagee; but the
baronet growled oat so angry a "No" that Dlr. Medill'e
white goose-quill received a kind of additional impetus
from the word, and made better speed across the sheet than
ever.

" The executors r. dem►nded the attorney, when he had
almost concluded.

„Henry Irraine and James Medill,” was the responee.
" Who do you choose to witmeas the deed?' asked the
latter, turning over the leaf and writing his own name as
executor, according to order.
"Csll ten of my nephews and my respected brother-In-
law," chuckled the old 01411; " u in signing they ran read
nothing but the name of one executor, they will imagine
they are down fur a large sum of money, and they will only
be mistaken—that's all, that's all."
There was a something so perfectly diabolical about the
baronet's mirth,—so fiendisli in his exultation at the pro-
spect of their di appointment when he would be lying stark
and cold, that the attorney, although he had made many
strange wills, end stood beside many death-beds, felt perfectly
appalled at this insensibility to the near approach of that
which bath dismayed warriors and vanquished conquerors.
" Call them," repeated the miser, smiling sardonically, u
if the whole affair were merely a capital practical joke; "they
will consider it a proof of confidence : confidence. said I f Yee
—that they won't cheat me, because they can't, or kill me,
because they would rain nothing by it; call them till I see
their feces—l wish I could see them when the will Is read :"
and the old man laughed till Mr. Medal thought he looked
more like a fiend than a human being, and began to wonder
if he were actually one.
" You forget," he remarked, with a sort of loathing to-
wards all parties concerned, "that you could lake no more
effectual plan of opening their eyes to the actual contents of
your wil4 inasmuch as, if legatees, they could not be wit-
-121101q111."

"True!" answered the baronet; "what a pity! Well,
ring for Humphries : tell him to bring two others who can
write from the servants hall. My greed relatives have
supplied me with footmen wigwams in plenty ; but make
haste, I hero no time to lore." . _

Trampling across--- rpetless floor the men Came
promptly; and as they bowed severally and collectively with
an air of outward respect to the baronet, whom they inwardly
despised, Sir Ernest, death half *tying his tongue, said, in
his old imperious tone
" Stand there : watch me read over this will, and sign my
name to it; then affix yours also."
He pointed to a spot at the bottom of the touch as the posi-
tion he wished thorn to occupy; and, at a look from his
client, Mr. Medill banded him the document ; and, support-
ing him in a half-sitting posture, held the candle close to
the paper,
irwhilst the baronet read, or rather pretended to
over.
" You wrote all down as I told you P" be whispered in •
toss so low that the sentence reached no ear save that of him
for whom it was intended.

" Word for word," was the laconic reply.
" And no more," added Sir Ernest.
" Neither more nor leap," responded the attorney.
" Hold the light steady ; don't you see you are dropping
the tallow ?" slid the baronet in a louder key ; them laying
his long bony band on the paper, he continued,
" I acknowledge this to be my last will and testament.
Give toe a pen and I will perfect it."
Dead silence reigned throughout the apartment,—not a
sound was to be heard, except the uneertain scratching of the
pen on the paper as the miser tremblingly traced his name,
Ernest Claude Irvine, But. ;" but when he concluded be
himself broke the stillness by remarking, "I never dot ea
'l' nor crams a't it wasters Ink for no purpose. If any one
dispute the validity of this will, you can swear to my signa-
ture by that;" and, sinking bark on his pillow as he finished
this brief speech, he stared with glassy eyes away into the
darkness of the dreary chamber without a solemn thought of
the darker eternity lying beyond.
"Sign bore," said the attorney, turning away with a sort
of shudder and addressing the men ; and, at the bottom of
the paragraph, Signed, sealed, published, and declared by
the said Ernest Claud* lefties, Baronet, as and for his last
will sad tegument, in presence of as who have hereunto sub-
onibed our names as witnesses, et his request and in pre-.
ague oleo& other," speedily sppurad strange hieroglyphics
purporting to bo the names of Roger Humphries, Hugh
Symes, and John Leford.
" You can go," said Mr. Madill, as he lookea at the blotted
obaractara, for the instrument by them was perfected—made
• thing of law ; to bind, to boW, to make, to mar, to diesp-
i point, to rejoice. The old man had finished his last work oa
earth : not so evil in deed, perhaps, as many mother he