The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-01-18

| the money until he was safely on board
| snip. Upon his.return to London, feel
ing, in spite of sundry misgiyipgs, more
relieved and Hght-hearted than he had
done since his uncle's death, his eXuber-
ant spirits received sudden check in
consequence of the receipt of letter
from MIR. Mayne, which ran thus
SIR: I formerly acted professionalIy for
your latc uncle, Colonel Lakinw, and shall be
gIad u you VIII give me n call at your earliest
conSchlonce on matter of importance.
Yours faithfully, Join. D. MAYNE.
This communication gave him great
shock, for it naturally occurred to him
ut once that this matter of impor-
tancc' referred to his uncle's will. If
the document had already been missed,
immediate steps would, of course, be
taken, to recover it, which might lead
to the arrest OF Crumber, and even re.
suit in his own apprehension on q crimi
nal charge. The bare notion of such n
calamity brought beads of perspiration
to his brow. and his first impulse was to
flee the country.
But upon second thoughts he aban.
doned the idea Even supposinu
Crumbcr should be suspected of having
destroyed the will there was no proof
The man would deny the charge for his
t own sake, besides which he was out of
the country. Upon the whole, Alfred
Laking thought the wiscst course would
be to lace the matter out; and much as
he would have preferred TO avoid an in,
terview with the lawyer, he determined
to call upon him without delay.
Accordingly he presented himself at
Mr.. Maync's Office the morning aftcrrc-
cciving the letter, looking very pale and
nervous, though making every effort to
appear at ease.
Il wrote to you," Mr.. Laking, said
tho old lawyer, when they had ex-
changed greetings, "bccausc | have
| reason to believe that you have received
communication from man named
Crumber."
No" murmured Alfred Laling.
His answer appeared to cause Mr.
Maync some surprise, for the old rcn
tlcman stared at him through his spec
taclcs for second or two, and then
sad. rather sharply:
Name OF Crumhcr The man was n.
clerk in my office until recently"
"Ccrtainly not" repeated Alfred
Laking. He intended his reply TO be
bold and emphatic, but tho attcmpt
was q miserable failure. There was a
quaVer in his voice, and his eyes in
stlnctiycly sought the carpet.
"A-nem!" coughed Mr.. Maync, in an
unpleasantly significant manner. "Thc
TACT is,' he resumed, ''your uncle made
will shortly before he died, which he
left in my charge, but few DAYS later
he called and revoked it,. He gave Us
his reason that ho did not wish his ami
mostly against you to continue after his
death"
"You don't say that! exclaimed
Alfred iaking, with q stare of genuine
surprise.
ale revoked the will by tearing on
tho signatures on the last page" con-
| tinucd the lawyer, still looking his visit
or in the face, land the mutilatcd doru
| mcnt being, of course, mere waste paper,
was tied to the draft and put away in an
! old press. This man Crumbcr, whom
discharged few weeks ago for dshon-
esty, seems to have puroincd the mu-
tilated document, and, thinking Inc
might mediate attempting to imrosc
upon you, l conceived it to be my duty
to warn you. He might, for instance,
have restored the last page by means OF
forgery, and passed oil the will upon
You rs valid and subSisting."
"The Internal scoundrclm cried Al
fred Laking, violently, forgetting his
caution, when no thought of his e. 900
Yes, Pm afraid he is that" said the
lawyer, dryly. $50 you sec, Mr.. LAX.
ing, it was kindness thrown away or
your part to take tho trouble to sec him
off from Liverpool yesterday. wish
you good morning. sir.'
|