The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1893-02-22

people. MANY COuJecCureS were udet0
as to who this stranger might be, es-
pecially as he rode home with Alice in
the Edmunds carriage.
'The next day after the funeral
Alice received note from the law
yer summoning her to call at his Office.
"'Good morning, Miss Edmunds,'
said Lawyer Atwood, as Alice APP
peared in answer to his summons: i
beg pardon for intruding in the midst
of your sorrow; but there is a matter
of business which must be attended to
very soon. I believe your twenty first
birthday will occur next Monday, will
it not?"
"'Yes, SIR answered Alice.
"'And I suppose you understand that
the desire of both your father and your
uncle was that you and your cousin Ed
ward should be married, and so keep
the property in the family?'
:" I do Alice replied.
"'Now,' continued the lawyer, your
Uncle Roberts will provides that Ed
ward shall inherit all his fathers prop
erty at the age of twenty-one. In case
he died before that age it should come
into your possession on your twenty.
first birthday. That gives your uncle's
half of all the property to you next
Monday. But your fathers share
stands in peculiar manner. In case
of your death before the age of twenty
one it was to go to Edward; that part
of the will is clear; but knowing that
the objection to the union was all on
your part, and wishing to make this
union sure, your father intended to
make provisions that if you passedyour
tWenty-frst birthday without marry
ing Edward the property should pass
into his hands Of all this you are
aware, but your father also willed that
at Edwards death your portion of the
property which he had inherited should
go to the town to found hospital and
a public library.
"'According to these provisions you
would inherit your uncle's part of the
property next Monday and your fathers
part would go to the town."
'Here the lawyer hesitated moment
and then continued:
"I don't like this way of forcing
young people to marry against their
will, and don't think promise wrung
from one at such a time as your promise
was made should be binding. l have
studied your fathers will carefully,
and find that the language used in the
document leaves, by a technicality, one
chance for you to acquire the whole
property.
The will provides that if you pass
your twenty-frst birthday without
marrying' the property shall go to your
cousin. Now, by slight oversight, it
does not specify whom you shall
marry
'And with pleasant good morning.
the lawyer bowed Miss Alice out.
''The next Sunday there was quiet
wedding at the mansion on the hill, and
it then transpired that the young
stranger was Richard Prescott, Jr.
"And so the property was kept to-
gether, and Richard and Alice lived in
the old house surrounded by a family
of boys and girls
Here the sexton paused and appeared
wrapped in memory. At length broke
his reverie with the question:
"And SO the new grave is for Alice?"
eyes," he answered, ''for Alice; dear
Alice. It was her last request of me
that should dig her grave myself"
'And what became of the gardener"
I asked.
''Oh! yes, yes, the gardener" he said,
as if he but half understood my ques-
ton. And then rousing himself, he