Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-08-13

! flashed into my mind the remem-
brance Of the will hidden in the old
copy at home: Michael Darcy's will.
with its bequest to my wife's niece,
Anastasia French" l could hardly
keep the excitement out of my voice as
link after link in the chain of evidence
was supplied, in answer to my cues
tons. l found that her real name was
Anastasia, now cut down to Anna,
French; that ner uncle's name was
Michael Darcy, and his farm was
known as Carrignalea. In reply to nv
query as to her reasons for believing
that her uncle had made a will in her
favor, she said:
After my poor uncle got the para
lytic stroke of which he died. he made
several attempts to speak: and as far
as we could understand. his words
were always about money, and about
having made it all right for Annie
Besides our old servant always de-
clared that about a week before his i'll
ness he had called her and another
woman, who was accidentally in the
house, into the sitting room and made
them witness a paper, which he said
was a will. When they had finished
signing, he said, half to himself: Now
my mind is at rest about Annie"
Why did he not get the will prop
erfT drawn up by SOLICITOR"
He was fond of reading law books,
and knew something about law him
self He had sometimes made wills for
other people, and | never heard that
there was anything wrong about them. =
And the will could not be found?"
The will could not be found We
hunted everywhere for it in vain, and
then Patrick Darcy said he did not be-
lieve it had ever existed, and that old
Margaret had invented the whole
story. The other woman had left the
neighborhood by that time. Patrick
Darcy offered to give me some money,
but | refused to take a gift from him.
| knew one of the nurses in the sister,
hood here at Marshport; she had been
nursing lady in our neighborhood the
winter before; SO | wrote to her, and
she got me taken as a probationer. I
was CLCI LII OLA I1OuIlIS, Iilu IuSu
went to London to be trained l in
tended to revolutionize the whole art
of nursing, but now Laurence has
spoiled all my plans"
There was no doubt that this was
the heiress of the will in my possess
siOn the question was, Did the three
thousand pounds exist, or had the heir
at-law made away with it?
What kind of man is this Patrick
Darcy?"
"a hard man. Very close about
money. He is a good deal younger
than my uncle"
rs he married?''
mo, he never married; his one idea
is to save money. l don't know what
will become of it when he dies, for he
has no one of his own"
This was satisfactory; and | took my
leave as soon as | could, feeling a little
shamed of my apparently motiveless
curiosity, which, | could see, surprised
my old friend somewhat.
The first thing l did on reaching
home was to take Master Humphrey"
from the book-shelves, and make sure
that the will was quite safe. Next
morning | took it to my own solicitor
who assured me that it was a valid
will, properly executed. He also prom
ised to make inquiries about Patrick
Darcy. And these Inquiries proved sat
iSfactOry; for in a few days he in
formed me that Patrick Darcy was a
well-to-do man and a mark for far
larger sum than the one due to Anas-
tasia French
A day or two later, therefore, [ pre-
sented myself again at Mrs Powers
Il have brought you a wedding pres
ent, my DEAR" l said to Sister Anna,
handing her the three volumes of
Master Humphrey"
"Of, course" [ added, seeing the look
of surprise that Mrs. Power could not
entirely conceal; you are tC have the
orthodox bracelet or claret-jug later on;
this is only preliminary
Indeed, Dr. Mor8n," said Sister
Anna, Il don't think anything could .
give me greater pleasure than this, it /.
is just like the copy of Master Hum /
phrey' we had at home. Why, do be-
Iieve it is the actual book. Here IS the
very pencil mark that poor uncle was
so angry with me for making. Where
did you get this, DR.. Moran? Was 1t
from Patrick Darcy?"
Il bought it, my dear. at a second .
hand book shop year or so ago. 1t
was only the other day l discovered
that you had an interest in it, Turn to .
the picture of Barnaby and his raven. .
l think you will find something there
that concerns you" (
She turned the pages with a prac-
ticed hand until she reached the one
she sought.
oh" she exclaimed, 'here is my
Unc1e7s writing. How strange it /
seems to find it here"
Read it, l said.
She glanced quickly over it, the
color fading out of her cheek as she
did so. ct is the will she gasped--
my uncle's will"
Mrs. Power was by her side in a mo-
ment.
Nonsense, Annie, how could your
unc1e's will nave found it's way into
DR.. Moran's book? Here, let me see
it." And she took the paper from the
girls passive hand.
Anastasia French looked at me ques-
Yes, my dear" I said, cit is all
right; l have shown the will to my