The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-12-30
THE MILLER'S WILL.


Bedford-row is spot that everybod,
knows, but no one knows il better than Mr.
Manly. the family solicitor.
People meeting him only on legal bust.
ness consider him dry cautious man, fin
more disposed to question than answer ol
pass IN opinion; but ut his own home, where
see him ut times he is very different. III on
quiet evening there are only II comfort
able pair, or, ut most u trio of friends pres
ent, MANLY unbends, and ut once becomes
the most genial and frank of hosts. lie
can tell many stories of his curious expert
ences and difficult cases.
About the neatest and most curious case
of fraud l ever handled" he said, "was
that in connection with testy old client of
of mine, miller by tmde. He had made
q deal of money, and didn't know what to
10 with it, The mans name was Stokes
Mathew Stokes.
The day he called upon me, and said he
wanted to ask my opinion ON some matter,
hut soon found he had made up his mind
what to do, and the asking of my opinion
was only his way of getting me to carry out
his ideas. He went into his story with
great energy and bitterness. He was worth
thousands, lie said-that / knew-all SEE
curely invested, and his only heir was his
daughter, an only child who had aggravated
him by clipping, and marrying one of HIS
clerks, named Morley. The clerk was 90
of these good.looking whipper.snaplefnJ'
the old man said with passion. 'NeSer
could see anything in him but impudeiNe
and talk-a kind of cleyerness that would
help To make him Il good Snowman, but
she thought he was heavenly: and after
they got TO love each other, rs he said, if
his impudence didn't write to me, asking
me TO give him my daughter i'll marriage
! gave him his notice ut once. and II
fortnight's wages; but that didn't cure the
silly girl. She took to moping and
melancholy.
lone day. found that she had eloped,
and the next, he sent me word that they
were married. felt il awfully, tell you,
and could have killed him if Ide met him
that day, aud her too almost. They're mis-
erably poor, that's one comfort, though he =
in place and does copying ut night. and
they've some children and lots of trouble;
so ought to be happy if amt. Bat here's
the danger. I'm getting old, and my doctor
saws might be taken off suddenly, so |
want you TO make my will, strong and firm
M You can make il, doing her out of the
least chance of getting my money--cutting
her off with shilling, as it is called.
Seeing You have no other relations foi
whom you care, do | understand you wish
the money to be left to charitiesS | said
not liking my task over well, for had NJ
doubt that, if the poor daughter had been
there, she could have given quite differ
ent look to the love story.
To charity! No, hang charity" he
cried, with snort. want il all given Il
Henry Gunson, cousin of mine in the city
don't care n twopence for him, and know
lttla nhnnt him lint ha nn. Ii1 ma n lind
ness. It's all the same to me who gets the
money, so they don't get it. See.
81 did see perfectly, but thought would
try to alter his determination, for, if one
thing displeases me more than another, il
is to be the means Of carrying dissensior
and hatred beyond the grave. Could he not
instead of trying 10 crush the young maj
who had married his daughter, try to lift hin
upp From his own account ii appeared
that he was n hard working, diligent fellow
toiling hard for his wife and children
What more could father wish for his SON
in-lnw? In word, tried to pour oil upoi
the waters, but l might as well as have
poured it upon fire. The fury of the oil,
man increased, and was even turned upol
me when pointed out that in commercial
circles the cousin, Henry Gunson, of whom
he had spoken, was looked upon with stronI
bUNIlilbl, oNihS w buihiupt',
case with which had to do. He remained
ummoyed
- tell Yen it's all the same to me VIII
gets it, he persisted. It's nothing to mt
whether the mans good or bad. Disobedi
ence in children must be punished, and
cant do better than TO enrich my own cous
in.
Finding him so firmly resolved, | prom
ised To have a draft of his will prepared, an,
to send it to him for perusal by my conf
DENTAL clerk, which was done the following
week. The will, being read to him was ap
proved, and M soon as II fair copy had beer
made he came TO my Office and signed il
The witnesses We're clerks Of my own
When signed / was about toplace it with tn
other papers connected with his business
when the old man snappishly told me tim
he meant TO keep that himself, and accord
ingly it was handed TO him.
Two or three years passed, during whicl
I made large and frequent investments 70
him, but no further mention was made o
his will. One morning | received not
from his house-keeper, telling me of hi
somewhat sudden death, and shortly afte
reading the note | was called upon by hi
cousin, Henry Gunson.
Il am good judge of faces, and dislike
the man the moment i saw him. He WI
not hypocrite, and made no show of shal
grief ut the death of his relative; on the con
tary, he smiled and appeared perfectly ju
bilant ut the stroke of good fortune.
"You have heard, he said, Il believe, G
my cousins death, and came here becaus
he once told me that three or four yea
since, You had drawn mp will in my favor
"All this WAS natuml enough, but thei
was something in the mans manner tin
made me study his face closely. 1t SCENE
to me that under an appearance of simplicii
he was playing deep game. Yet VIII
mme could he be playing? was force
TO dismiss the thought, and turned my after
ton TO business. ut il true that Mr.. Stoke
did intrust me to draw up such vii
but he did not entrust the keeping of ii
document to me- / answered, 4 have Ii
draft Of it, and that is all.
"The man looked startled, but the loo
was not one Of genuine surprise, and on
made me suspect him more strongly thu
ever.
"'Whcrc in the world can the will !
them he said. Perhaps you could 60 o,
with me and take charge Of things, and 81