Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-01-08

ii"u oOoi S.Ou sho uOuse thoroughly, ana
particularly the little desk where her
grandfather kept his papers, and brought
me all she could ind in his handwriting
There was nothing n,oTe than a single
book of accounts, three bills of goods sold.
and seior unimportant memoranda about
MS business, hastily scrswled upon slips
OF paper OF uneven sizes. II looking these
things over l oeecfVed that the hand.
writln6 CT the deceased was very eccen-
Tic in its character. The up-strokes of
almost every letter were very heavy and
the down-strokes light; the writing
sometimes closely followed the line, and
again went Up above or below Il for sew.
erai Inches; its general appearance was
angular and Unfinished, and the whole
struck Inc at first as an oddity in the way
OF chirography.
Did he always write like thisY" /
carelessly asked the girl
"Hes, sif; always" she replied And
Then told her to accompany me to a
proctors office, where l would take the
preliminary steps to secure the estate to
her. Virginia being under age could hot
be appointed administrator of Jacob
Shelmire's estate and it was my purpose
to crnault with the proctor and procure
the appointment of some honest, trust
worthy man, who would discharge the
trust with fidelity to the girl and all
others interested, Those latter would be
few or none, as the girl had informed me
thet her grandfather never contracted
any debts that she knew Of, and that no
bills had beeE sent to the house since his
death, some weeks before.
The office of the proctor was ap-
preached by fight of narrow stairs,
half way up which we met man de-
scending. [ noticed nothing about him
except that he had thick, black Beard
and mustache, q keen eye, and was
dressed Ia = suit uf fashionable cut and
make aud Sported large, glittering
Watch chain. He looked carelessly at us
and passed down; and just behind him
came another, a slim, elderly man, whose
face seemed familiar to me. On reach
ing the top of the stairs I saw that my
companion looked after them, and I
asked her if she knew them.
-" l don't knoE the fret" she replied.
The other Is Mr. Passmore, who used to
heip my grandfather sometimes in the
warehouse. He has been selling off the
stock since grandfather died. But
thought 1t 50 queer that he shouldn't
speak to me. lie knows me just as well
as anyone can; but when he saw my
The incident did not disturb me at the
time, although | did not fall to rernem.
ber It afterward, and to attach deep
meaning to it. We found the proctor
alone in his office, and | e.ated our bust.
ness. The good man looked first incred-
nltun and then puzzled, and exclaimed
Well, this is strange! Did you meet
anyone on the stairsY"
Yes" replied; Mr. Passmore and a
stranger"
Well, sir, that stranger is called Rufus
Bledsoe. He states to me that he was a
distant relative of the late Mr.. Shel.
mire's wife, and that he has the last will
and testament of Mr.. Shelmire himself
in mis- possession. He has applied for
probate upon It and have granted him
. citation returnabie on the 10Th of the
| present month. There was only one per
son to be cited, and she lives in the city,
Virginia Garvin?" l suggested.
Yes, that is the name"
| This, of course, was all the information
that the proctor had to give. Diddlhe
Virginia follow me. l returned to my
office
My lawyers instinct had already sug.
gested suspicion Of foul play in this
proceeding; and, after explaining to the
astonished girl what had learned, in,
terrogated her about the two men we had
met. Bledsoe, she declared, she had
never seen or heard of before. She knew
that he had never been to the house OF
her grandfather since she had lived
there, and she had never heard the OLD
man name him. AS to Passmore. she
could add little to what she had alread,
told me of him. In busy times she
knew that Mr.. Shclmire was in the habit
OF calling in this Passmore to assist him
| IN HIS sdlEs anu uOOO~-e ~ o-orJ
father had sometimes spoken of linn a,
a good assistant, a faithful hand; but ht
had never been at the house after hi:
employers death until he came to tel
her that he would carry on the bushes;
as usual until the estate was settled, anC
would then account to the proper person
for his sales and the balance of tn,
stock. She had not seen him since until
to-day.
l explained to Virginia that nothing
further was to be done in the natter
until the 10Th, when the citation tolttend
the will was returnable. / sat in brown
STUDY after she left the Office, ard then,
jumping, up with q sudden impulse, !
snatched my hat and went urand down
the streets of the city until Icame to the
dlngy warehouse that still bore on its
weather-beaten signbOarG overhead the
name of Jacob Shelmire l entered, and
before me were the two men that / had
met on the surrogate'sstairs. They were
whispering together 1ver the desk as /
entered, and Passnore advanced as soon
as he saw me, and curtly demanded my
business.
The bluntness of his manner, unexpect.
ed as it was, threw me off my guard, and
| l aH tt,ikb ,I1t l.,
interest, sir in opposition to that of your
late employers grand -daughter9"
Have you any business to ask me
| such queotiousf" he retorted rudely, if
not iDsultingly.
y am, her counsel, sir" 1 replied,
" Yes, yes" he interrupted. "Wel.
sir, the will is to be proved on the 10th,
ana II you are present you will know ali
4" But how is it about the will?" I
asked " Virginia insists that there is
She is mistaken" he coolly rejoined.
Mr. Passmore," / said from the re-
latlons that have existed between your.
sell and this young lady's grandfather
you should consider 1t Your duty to ac
quaint her with anything that may han.
pen to your knowledge adverse to her
interests. l ask you now, sir, have YOU
nothing to communicated
Nothing whatever, sir" he responded
with bland smile.
Passmore, you are scoundrel, sir"
| calculated.
MIR. Williams, you are certainly any.
thing but gentleman" was his tantaliz-
ing rejoinder; and with mock bow he
retired.
l went back to my Office chafed and
irrilated to an unwonted degree, and en-
tirely satisfied that deep plot had been
formed to cheat Virginia Garvin out of
her inheritance. thoroughly believed
It, but | could do nothing but wait until
the DAY appointed for the probate of the
VIII had brought its revelations.
Well, 1t came; and attended before
the surrogate at the hour named in the
citation with my client. There were |
also present Passmore, Bledsoe and a