Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-17
EVANESCENT INK.
Mr.. Ambrose Peck's Vaccinations
Prove His Defeat.

Mr.. Ambrose Peck sat before his
desk in the law Office of Steele &
Snellings, buried in profound thought.
1t was after Office hours, and there was
no one present to disturb him. With
his feet on the desk and his elbows on
the arms of his chair. he slowly pulled
at his sandy mustache. while his keen
gray eyes fixed themselves uncon-
sciously upon spider which was spin
ming web across dusty pigeon-hole
above the desk.
Hang it!'' he muttered impatiently
to himself, IL wish that I could see
my way clear"
Mr.. Peck was thinking of his aunt,
the widow of his great-uncle, Captain
Jollifer. She was eighty years old
and lived in the old Jollifer mansion,
which had once been the pride of the
village on whose outskirts it had stood.
But the village had in time grown into
a town, which slowly extending itself,
anaconda-like, had swallowed up the
big brick mansion and the wide lawn
and garden, until they now formed an
entire square in the heart of the cor
poration. This real estate alone,
which, as Mr.. Peck reflected, could be
laid off in beautiful building lots, was
in itself fortune; though the old lady
had other property, of which Ambrose
well knew-the firm of which he was
head clerk being Mrs. Jollifer's law
yers And how to get possession in
strictly legal way of all this property
was the problem which was now so
profoundly exercising Mr.. Peck's men
tai acumen.
He knew that Mrs. Jollifer had but
few distant relatives. and that these
she cordially hated. Indeed the
amiable old lady had often been heard
to declare in d truly Spartan spirit that
rather than leave any of her property
to !" those people," she would burn
down the house over her own head"
AS security against either alterna-
tive, she took care to have always on
hand, locked away in her private desk,
last will and testament, written with
her own hand and duly signed and
sealed. OF the contents of this docu-
ment she made no secret, having al
ways openly avowed her intention of
leaving her property to either her late
husbands granddaughter. Ambrose
Peck, or to a certain Miss Melissa
Judd. distant relative, who had for a
score of years lived with her in the
capacity of housekeeper. nurse and
confidential companion. But the
trouble was that Mrs. Jollifer. being q
lady of very uncertain mind and temper,
should every now and then have
failing out " with one or the other of
her proposed heirs. in which case she
would invariably destroy the last
made will and write new one, cutting
off the offender with a legacy of one
hundred dollars, and bequeathing the
rest of her possessions to the other,
with the exception of an annuity to her
pet dog, Fido. In consequence of this
popularity Mr.. Peck was continually
haunted by the fear of his respected
relative being suddenly called from
this sublunary sphere while one of the
wills adverse to himself happened to
be in force; and he naturally felt it his
duty to form some plan in defense of
his own interests.
Presently Mr.. Peck. having duly re-
Aected, began to talk to himself in q
slow and emphatic tone.
"Yes-its the only way. so far as I
can see OF course she'll accept me if
propose. Then, If she turns out to be the
heir. I'll marry her (this with an invol-
untary grimace) while. should the final
will be proven in my favor-well, / need
not consider myself bound by the en-
gagement There is Alice-pretty