The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-09-30

out the INK paS Va ti.S -
nared a little round fragment OF WOOD
which he sharpened like pencil oy run
nc IL aqainst o stone, and had put
I'm cdee ON to long white fish bone
that lie had selected.
Vow Mr.. Bill. | am ready" said Au-
grsta seating herself resclutely upon
aat stono and Getting her teeth.
nv word. miss, but You have oeau-
,,fnI mir Of shoulders said the sailor
contemplating the snowy expanse OF SKIN
With the cyo Of an artist Il never had
such a Lit Of material to work on aiore.
Hong nc # it Gin't almost pity to marx
'et,l' Not but that high class tattooinS Is
an oraimirt 20 anybody. from a princess
doun: and in that you are fortunIt, miss
f5r larnt tattocing froEl them as can
tattoo. cid"
Augusta BIT her lip end the tears came
into her gray eyes. SEc was only q No'
man and had q wOman's little weakness,
nd though she had never appeared IN
l5,- dress in her life. she knew that her
bust vas enc Of her greatest beauties and
vas proud Of it. It was hard 70 tnlnh
that sho would be marked al her life with
this ridiculous vill--that is. il size escaped
and. what Was more for the benefit OF
q Young nan who had no clai,a upon her
ct ALL
That was what she said 70 herself. but
as she said 10 something IN her told her
that IL was not true. Something told her
tlat this Young M Eustacc Meeson had
9 clai.l ruol Lcr-tlo highest claim iLat
"a man can have upon = woman. for the
truth nj, oat--shc loved him. ltsceMed
to layo como home to her quite clearly
hero In this dreadful. dcsolate place. hero
IL the very shadow of an awful death,
that she dil love him. truly and deeply,
And that being so. she would not have
been what she was-a gentle natured. de-
voted w0man-had she not at heart re-
joical q, this opportunity Of self sacrifice,
oven though that self sacrifice was Of the
hardest sort. seeing that It involve what
al wor.cn latc-the endurance Of arldicu-
lo.s position. For love can do ell things,
it can even make it's yotarics bravo riIi-
calc.
60 on. she said sharply, and let US
get it over as soon as possible.
Very we'll. miss What is it -, old
~entlcnaa? Cut it short, you know.
Il leave all my property to Eustacc il.
,iecsca: thcts as short as can get II,
AID, If properly witnessed, | think that IL
vill cover everything" said Mr.. Mecson,
with fccblo air Of triumph. Anyhow,
mover heard Of q will that IS 10 carry
about two millions being got into nine
words before
Bill poised his fish bono, and. next see
ond Augusta gave start and o little
sl..ek, tor the operation had begun.
Never mind miss said Bill, c0usol-
ingly: you'll soon get used TO il"
Alter that Augusta set Eer teeth and
endured in silence. though it really hur.
her very much, for Bill vas more care
ful Of tho artistic effect and the per.
r,anence Of the work than OF the feelings
of the subject Fi.s experimentum in
corpore viii. he would have said had he
been conversant with the classics, with
out much consideration for the corpus
yilum So he pricked and ding away with
his fish bone. which he dipped continually
in the cutie ink, and with t,.e sharp piece
Of wood, till Augusta began 10 feel per-
fectly sick.
For three hours tie work continued,
and at the end of that time the body OF
the will was finished-for Bill was 2 rapid
worker-being written in medium sized
letters right across her ivory shoulders.
But the signatures remained to be affixed.
Bill asked her if she would like to let
them stand over till tho morrow, but this
although she felt faint with the pain, she
declined 10 do. She was marked now,
marked with the ineffaceable mark Of
Bill, so she might rs well be marked 10
some purpose II she put of the signing
OF the document till the morrow il might
be too late Mr. Meeson might be dead,
Johnnie might have changed his mind,
or a hundred other things. So she told
them to 20 on and finish it as quickly as
possible, for there was only about two
hours more daylight
Fortunately. Mr. Meeson was more or
less acquainted with the formalites that
ar necessary in the execution Of q will,
namely that the testatOr and the two
witnesses should all sign in the presence
of each other He also knew that it was
sufficient if, in case of illness. some
third person held the pen between
the testators fingers and assisted
him 10 write his name. or even If
some one signed for the testatOr IN his
presence and by his direction; and, argu
ing lrom this knowledge, he came To the
conclusion-aiterward justified in the
great ease II Meeson vs. Addison and
Anothor-that il would be sufficient if DC
inflicted the first prick OF his signature
and then kept bis hand upon Bills while
the rest was done. This accordingly he
did. clumsily running the sharp bone so
deeD into the unfortunate Augusta that
she fairly shrieked aloud aud then
keeping his hand upon the sailors
arm while he worked in the rest OF
the Signature. -. Meeson. " When
il was done the turn Of Johnnie cane
Johnnie had at length aroused himself 10
some interest in what was going on and
had stood BIZ watching all the time, since
Mr. Meeson having laid his finger upon
Augusta back had solemniy declared the
writing thereon TO be his last viii and
testament As he (Johnnie) could not
tattoo. the same process was gone through
With reference TO his signature as in the
case of Mr.. Meeson. Then Bill Jones
signed his own name. as the second wit
ness to the WILL and just as the light
went out of the sky the document was
finally executed-the date Of the execu-
tioa being alone omitted. Augusta got up
off the fiat stone where she had been seated
during this torture for something Ike five
hours, and. staggering into the hut, threw
~ - -. IL coil o.,l .~a.et 81