The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-18

the latest possible hour of the latest
possible day. And even now that the
hour has come he shows disposition
to protract the preliminary ceremo-
MES, which, combined with constant
fitting to and fro between the shipping
news of the Times and that particular
window of the old dining-room which
commands the best view of the road
from the railway station, aggravates
not little the natural Impotence of
the bereaved company to get, as one of
the more plain-spoken of its female
members put it, ''the old gentleman
buried and done with, and come to the
real business, my dear-the will, you
know
The bereaved company begins to
murmur, and it is aformidable company,
numerically and otherwise. Mr.. and
Mrs. Goodchild have an odor of sancti-
ty about them which, even with the
brilliantly-black broadcloth that envel-
opes the one, or the fathomless depths
of Grape that surge around the other,
should surely impress any common at
torney with respect and awe. Mr.. Sam
uel Netherston is as dark as his broth
er-in-law. Not quite so shiny. 1t is
sanctity only, and that only of the one
especial type, that can put the true
gloss upon coat and vest and pantaloons.
kind, and his garments shine not. But
he is reported to be as rich as was the
dead man himself And if that be not
title to respect, l should like to know
what is.
Then there is Mr.. SERGEANT Neither
ston, a terrible fellow with a timid wit
ness; and DIR. Netherston, the medical
light of Puddleton, in the Black Coun-
try, whose presence here ten days ago
would have obviated-so at least little
Mrs. Netherson is fully convinced-all
occasion for any mourpful gathering
now. And there is the Hon. Joshua G..
Grabshells, of Utica, n. T., popularity
supposed to have been in more oil and
other swindles than any other man in
the United States, and carrying weight
accordingly. And there are-well, some
thirty or forty more; all owning some
degree of relationship to the dead man
upstairs; and all under the clear con-
viction that if, as the letter of pressing
invitation would seem to imply, "marks
of respect are advisable, they had
better be as marked as possible; and
all, therefore, drowned to the hat-root
and topmost bonnet-ribbon in symbols
of deepest woe
So the profound respect and esteem
in which the dead miser's name is held
by his entire family is duly advertised
in this most striking manner, all through
the thriving town of SOwerton, to the
bright new cemetery at the farther end.
And Sowerton is much edited, and
comments audibly and exasperatingly.
And so the ceremony comes at length
to an end, and the disconsolate family
who have somehow managed to get
back, with a really marvellous rapidity,
over the ground they had just traversed
in the opposite direction with such
mournful deliberation-are all assem-
bled once more in the grim old parlor,
where for the present the interest cen.
tiers breathlessly upon little Lawyer
Lewis and his big blue bag.
So breathlessly, that no one seems tc
notice the intrusion of a good-lookine
stranger, with bronzed face and big,
curly, brown beard, who has somehow
slipped quietly in with the rest, and is
now sitting motiOnless in an obscure
corner, quite out of range of the twenty
or thirty pairs of eyes, all focused Just
now upon the all-important blue bag.
No one, that is to say, of any sort OF
consequence. Our Bessie has seen him.
Saw him first some time ago now, Just
as the funeral congregation broke up al
the anXiously-eXpected signal of the
last Amen" and gives such startled
jump that little Mr.. Lewis promptly
abandons the knotty points of law on
which his thoughts have been engaged,
and looks eagerly around for its cause.
Discovering it, the reflections induced
by the discovery put the knotty point
of the law out of his head altogether.
Reflections, apparently, of somewhat
complex character, for, even as he at
length proceeds to open the will, he
shakes his head with an air of tinal
negation, and simultaneously stops q
rising chuckle with Il huge pinch OF
snuff.
And then comes at last the reading OF
Ralph Netherston' last will and tesla
ment.
1t is not what the penny-a-liners cal
a lengthy" document-consists, in
fact, only of one single side of foolscap
paper; and its first appearance at once
impresses upon the more astute among
the audience that whoever gets it will
get it ALL Whoever may be disap-
pointed, the good fortune of the one
fortunate legatee will be unalloyed by
anything in the shape of a long string
Of legacies to other people.
Naturally this consideration tends to
heighten not little the interest with
which the document is anticipated
Nor is that interest lessened by the fact
that the all-important document is
dated no further back than the very day
of the testator's death. The excitement
becomes almost solemn in its intensity,
the only sound in the well-flled room
being the tap-tapping of silver-headed
cane against the teeth of Mr.. George
Norton, who, in his striped trousers
and blue tie, has lounged in among his
somber-hued relations, much to their
bescandalment and disgust.
A horrible thought runs simulta-
neously through the breast of nearly
everyone present
What if this outrageous young man
were to be
HuShi