The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-01-08

Mauriac was the worst.
He was not pleased to find on land
ing at Liverpool that the case officially
entitled I'm the matter of the goods of
Sophia Behan, deceased had been
commenced that very day. and the
consolation offered by his solicitor, to-
the effect that he could not be of any
assistance, made him very angry He
got into n temper with the customs
officers. and this did not expedite the
passing of his luggage He became
furious when that scoundrer' las he
accustomed himself to call De Mauriac)
passed and lifted his hat to Sybil, who
stood behind her father in the agony
which daughters feel when they see
the authors of their being making fools
of themselves in public These delays
cost him his train-the last for that
day and the morrow was Sunday As
the fatal TOO late. SIR" was spoken
and the carriage rolled by he caught a
glimpse of that scoundrer' seated in a
frst-class corner and chatting plels-
antly with-could his eyes deceive him?
the heir of marquis and one of the
most fastidious men in London!
in the meantime the Behan will
case, with two O. Cs- on each side, and
a whole row of juniors representing
the various interests affected, had its
FIRST day in court and 4 rare fitting of
wits was displayed The actual plain
tiff was the lady named as Clara"
the wife of Capt Maurice Vining,"
who claimed as heir and neXt-of-lin to
her shipwrec1cd son. The actual de-
fendant was Sir Martin. 1t suited one
side to expedite the death of the tesla
trix and prolong the other life The
opposition fought hard to show that
the former lived for several hours after
half past nine o'clock, and that the
latter was sucked down with his ship
and drowned instanter. All this trou-
bile was caused by the words living at
the time of my death" the consequen-
ces of which the old lady had not fore
seen. Her intention was to benefit
Mrs. Nining Through some one of her
children, fearing, perhaps, that direct
gift would not be welcome on account
of their quarrel, and now-if the pre-
sumptions relied upon on behalf of Sir
Martin should prevail-she would get
nothing. But the will had to speak
for itself As the case proceeded, the
difference of time between the final
sinking of the ship and the actual de-
mise of the testatriX was reduced, ac-
cording To the balance of evidence. TO
half-an-hour; and, at the rising of the
court, the judge suggested a compro-
mise.
You will have all tomorrow" he
said, Ito think about it
As soon as the sunday crawler land
ed Sir Martin in London, he left Sybil
in charge OF their impedimenta, and
rushed to the private residence of his
solicitor
compromise? Ridiculous" he blus-
tered THE board of trade report is
official-do you understand me, sir?-
oticiar You should have protested
against any attempt to dispute it The
ship sank at seven o'clock" Then. for
the first time, he learned the name of
his opponent in the cause, which in
their correspondence had been always
entitled ''ro Behan, or ''Behan's Will 3"
1t was the same as that scoundreI'
bore-De. Mauriac! by. the Lord!'' he
exclaimed, this may be another Itch
borne case, but I'll fight it to the bitter
end
The bitter end came on Monday
morning, when Mrs De Mauriac APP
pcared in court-no longer, as before.
in deep mourning-and accompanied
by a gentleman. who was Immediately
put into the witneSs-boX- His story
had the hall marks of truth all over It
He was Hugh De Mauriac- When the
s.. Magnolia" was settling down he
seized the first thing at hand. hem
coop, and jumped overheard with it
He was picked up the next day but ono
by a Norwegian bark, bound for
Buenos Ayres There he was laid ur
with fever for six weeks. Thence he
worked his passage a coal trimmer
TO Rio. and thence to st. Gumbo. Hav-
ing failed to Of tain any assistance
there, not even n chance To shovel coal,
he felt himself beaten at last: but as
he left the consulatc-homelcss. hopes
less, pennilcss, not knowing which way
to turn and starve-he ran against q
friend; a man to whom he had once
done a good turn and who remembered
it Thanks to him, he was able to re-
appear a gentleman, and return u
his home.
Why had he not written to his moth
cr from any of the places he had men
toned? lie did He wrote her fiv +.
letters in all, but, rs hard luck woul d
have it, she went abroad on hearing of
his (supposed) death, and left no ad-
dress
by this time all prescriptions were
upset, and the question became one of
identity. Sir Martins q Cs. made a
gallant fight, but had to give in The
dead letter Office brought the missing
correspondence to life. a dozen unim-
peachable witnesses recognized dear
old Hugh" and poor Sophy Bchan hal
her Will in every sense of the word
There had been a romance in her life,
but that is another story
You will therefore be surprised to
hear that after all the case was com
promised, and this was done in such Il
manner that the heirs of Sir Martin
Behan became also the heirs of Hugh
DE Mauriac, simply because Sybil was
their mother.-Albany DE Fonblanque,
in Black and White