Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-10-28
THE WILL.

THE WILL.
The old lady who related the outline of
the following singular story, heard 1t told
! In her youth, by no means as affection, but
as a real occurrence. @.t ia
She even once knew the name of the
northern family concerned in it; but that,
y with the exact dates, she has now forgot
ten, if she ever knew the latter, and having
never written down thestory, she had no
means of recovering them. However,
from her express mention of q tight wig,
worn by the benevolent old heroof the tale,
we have fixed the strange occurrence not
earlier than the last century. rsr
Towards the end of gusty October day,
about the year 1880, a barrister of the Tenn
pie was sitting reading, when the opening
: OF the door, and the servants announce
ment Of "a gentlement" interrupted him.
He rose to receive his visitor, who proved
to be perfect stranger, a person of very
gentlemanly, hut extremely old-fashioned
appearance. lie was dressed in a grave col
ored suit, of antique cut; a neat, tight, gray
wig, surrounded his serious, and even
solemn physiognomy; silk stockings, rolled
at the knee; enormous shoe buckles of gold;
acane, headed with the same metal, and a
broad-brimmed and uncocked hat, COM
pleteds his equipment, which was in the
fashion OF the last years of William the
Third, or the first of his successor. Having
stiffly bowed, in the exact way prescribed
/ by the etiquette of the era to which he
seemed to belong. he took possession of the
chair offeredt0 him by his host; and, after
aipreparatory hem, thus began in slow
apd serious manner: ~ think, sir,- you are
the lawyerlemployed by the S. family,
whose property in Yorkshire you are,
therefore, aware is about to be so d." sf'
II have, SIR" answered the barrister,
= 'full instructions and powers. to complete
1 the disposal of it, which, though a painful
duty to me, must be performed"
vt is duty you may dispense with"
said the visitor, waving his hand "the prop
erty need not be sold."
May lpresume to ask, sir, whether you
are any relation to the family? If so, you
must be acquainted with the absolute ne
cessityTof selling it, IN consequence of the
claim of another branch of the family, Just
returned from beyond sea, who, as heir-at-
law.is naturally possessor of the estate, in.
default of a will to the contrary, and who
desires its value in money, instead of the
J land. The present possessor is unable to
buy it, and must therefore depart" =
You are mistaken" replied the old gen.
know of the will of Mr.. SIS great
grandfather, by which he not only left that,
his real estate, to his tavorite grandson, this
gentleman's father but even entailed it on
his great great tgreat7grandson." w ...--
"Such will, sir" said the barrister, twas,
Indeed, supposed for many years toexist;
and, in virtde of it, Mr.. s. has, until
now, peaceably enjoyed the property ;'but,
on the claimants application, renewed
search having been made for it, either the
belief proves wholly unfounded, or it has
been lost or destroyed, Cabinets. chests,
every room inhabited and uninhabited,
p been ransacked in vain. Mr.. s. has
now given up all hope of finding it; the
sale is to be completedin the course of next
week; and the fine old place must passinto
the hands oftstrangers." EEeFTsn nI
"You are mistaken once again, young
man." said the stranger, striking his cane
on the floor ;;HI say, STR, the will exists.
Go Immediately" continued he, in an au-
thoritatiye tone; ,"travel night and day.
, uAniay save an old family from disgrace
, and ruin. In the end room of the left wing,
now uhinhabi.ed, is a closet in the wall" t
"We have looked there" interrupted the
barrister.lI)3. blg TgC3G .eU. 'af.-ge
that closet is a large chest; that chest has
false bottom, and underneath that is the
deed. am certain of what Isay; l saw
thepaper deposited there, no matter when
or by whom. Go, you will find it worth
your trouble. Myname, sir, is Hugh s..
l auls not now personally known to the
proprietor, of S. Hall but / am his
relation, and have his welfare at heart.
Neglect not to follow my advice" H. 4
Spsaying, the old gentleman rose, again
bowed, and at the door put on his hat, in q
fashion THAT would have enchanted an
efegahte Of Queen 'Anne's day; and sliding
thedsilkenl string of his cane on the little
finger of his right hand, on which the law
yer had remarked a very fine brilliant ring,
he descended the stairs and departed, leav-
ihga5the barrister, in the utmost astonish-
ment. At first he felt hall, inclined to con-
slider the whole as a hoax; then, again,
when he thought of the old gentleman,s-
grave manner, and the intimate knowledge
he must have possessed of the house, to be
able to describe the closet so exactly in
which the chest was, he could not but be-
lieve him to be sincereyGTT yWTvTTSTTt
At length, after much deliberation, he
decided upon immediate departure; and
arrived on the evening of the fourth day, at
s. Hall. The sale had been the only
theme eof jconversationy at every place he7
had passed through, withintwenty miles OF
hisdestinatiOn ;and much and loudly was
it lsrneited. that the squifeshould be1eaVI
ing his house forever, and that poor Mr..
Johhwduld never enjoy 'hisyrights, as they,
persisted in calling the possession f'the
estate.r On the entrance into,the mansion,
signs of approaching removal everywhere
met his eye. Packages filled the hall, SER
wants, with 9soffDwfdl countenancesy were
lurrying about, and the family were ling
ering sadly oyer the last dinner they were
evefsto1tpaftake ofiinotheir old, regretted
home. .ygGJmol LsNliGa iG4lI9Q silOqGngiim
SsSsSq 70 6'3 ssSat 5SaS glth SpEprib tbs
barrister,l reauesting his. private ear, de-
clared the reason OF his appearance. ,odO 4
1T, cannot be,msaid Ne, "Is it likely |
thatIn6 one should ever have heard OF the
hiding Of the deed but the old gentleman
you mentionp Depend upon it, you have
been deceived, my dear friend. am only
sorry you should have taken so much troub-
le to so little purpose, -rr~.r~
The barrstel mentioned the name of his
visitor. sif Ta1p JsaUt. I.lGoFa n l
iStuunh foyalai Inn od tho oranfl< III