The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-04-06


The dying man swallowed few drops
and seemed revived.
"Go out, )" he said in husky voice and
shook his skeleton hand toward his dauRh-
tiers. go out this Instant"
The women remained immovable in
their places with an air of silent defiance.
go out, continued he, 'or take God
to witness l will leave testament by
which everything have goes to a hos
pital"
His voice was feeble, and he spoke with
difficulty, but the words and the accents
were SO severe, so naughty, could scarcely
believe that he who spoke them was my
timid and hesitating old friend. His
daughters, not less surprised than /, went
slowly and reluctantly out of the room.
My client fell back in his chair. ''Shut
the door and lock it, !" he murmured. Then
he put his hand in mine. "God be
thanked you are here at last. / have ex
pected you every minute for many days!'
81 had no idea that you were sick"
"They have told me that they had sent
to your house, and that you were away"
II have not received any letters. and l
have not left the city for several weeks"
"Then they have lied. They have not
let me see any one, and they even tried to
hide from me the gravity of my condition.
heard your voice and dragged myself as
far as here. 1t was necessary to see you
before it was too late.'
The sweat stood upon the brow of the
old man, and he appeared so feeble that
made him take little more brandy.
add codicil," he said. 81 wish to
leave to my darling little IIilian-all."
mo, not allP' answered surprised.
He again relapsed into his habitual hest
tation.
''No, no." he replied, "not all. NY
daughters have been good, very good. But
wish to leave $4,000 to my little Lillian,
my poor Dicks child"
proposed to write codicil at once and
for this purpose sought pen and paper, but
the eternal temporizing of my client again
was uppermost.
mo, not now" he murmured. at am
better; perhaps shall recover. But bring
me the deed tomorrow morning, and will
sign it,"
l had no intention of letting him draw
back before death came, and l had already
commenced to write the codicil. But
scarcely had 1 traced two or three lines
when my old client tainted. In vain 1
tried to restore him. Very much against
my will, was obliged to seek help
Mrs Wrench was in the corridor, and
am not sure that even at that moment her
ear had not just quilted the keyhole, while
her sister was not far behind her. The
look which they cast on me expressed in
eloquent terms what they thought of me.
We carried Mr.. Brownlow to his bed.
The servants ran to find the doctor, and l
withdrew, trusting that my client might
be sufficiently well on the morrow to in
sist on my being admitted to his bedside
The next day, at o'clock precisely,
was at Vine cottage and was not sur
prised at being peremptorily refused en-
trance. l awaited the doctor, stopped him
in the passage and begged him to come to
my aid-or at least to make known to his
patient that / was there.
He would promise me nothing, however,
and saw from the tone of his answe rs
that the events of the former evening had
done me harm in his eyes. When he came
out of the house, he did not hesitate to
tell me the whole of his thoughts. "Con-
duct SO injudicious as mine might not only
lnjure the patient, but his own career as a
physician" Controlling my indignation,
tried to put before him the circum-
stances, but he would not listen to me.
AT least tell me how you found Mr..
Brownlow this morning"
AS bad as possible. He has but few
hours to live"
Then" said /, Gin refusing to come to
NY aid you will condemn to poverty the
being he loves the best in the world"
81 have nothing to do with family dis
he replied as he shut he door
If his carriage and drove away. left the
place, but onlyto return at different inter
'als throughout the day. Each time ad-
nittance was refused me, and l had
cached the end of my expedients. Was !
here no way of corrupting the servants? |
Unfortunately the door was always opened |
~ Mrs. Wrench or her sister. l could not |
egally force way, and entrance effected
~ violent means, even with the most |
audable purposes, had always damaged
ase in the eyes of the law. At last, heart
lick, regained my lodgings.
l dwell at some distance from Vine cot
age in house occupied by several lodg-
rs In the apartment above mine lived |
'oung man, Robinson, with whom was
IN excellent terms. had finished drink
ng my tea and was reading when he
Knocked at the door. He came to ask me
would make one of party at whist
With some of his friends. had little in
lination to meet people, and feeling sad
nd downcast declined Robinson's in
itation, preferring to pass the evening
With my book and pipe. began to read
gain, and for some time I continued to
70 so without my attention being distract
d by the peals of laughter which came
own to me from overhead. But what
yer | read it was always Mr.. Brownlow
Vho occupied my thoughts. Perhaps,
ven at that moment, he was breathing his
asst sigh or perhaps was calling on me to
elp him carry out his wishes.
l bitterly blamed the folly of my client
nd myself as well for not having re-
NAMED till l had assured the fortune of
he young girl. In a word, it seemed to
ne that l had managed the affair very
adly, and / felt very unhappy with the
art l had taken.
The clock struck II 80. / shut my book
nd debated whether had better 20 to bed
r If | should smoke another pipe, when |