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

I Now for it, I said to myself, as l
undid the Irvine binding my precious
volumes together, and prepared to ex-
/ anime them more carefully than l had
! had time to do since I uneartned them
from the little, dark secondhand book
shop that afternoon. There was moth
! ing remarkable about them; no rare
editions of wellknown classics, no
long-forgotten books, valuable from
their very obscurity; merely a few
bound volumes of old me- gaines, and
/ a couple of the novels which had de-
| lighted me as boy, and which from
old association were more precious in
their original type and polished leather
binding than in the spruce modern
editions. Best of all was a COPY of
Dickens Master Humphreys Clock
with the woOdcuts that cannot now be
reproduced. AS | turned them over l
| became boy again, sitting in the old
| appIe-tree at the end of the garden al
| home, devouring the thin, paper COW
cred lnstalments Of the stories; laugh
ing and sometimes crying over them,
as the preSent-day school bows, well
crammed and carefully examined stu
dents of literature as they are, are too
critical to do. | adjusted my reading
| lamp, drew my chair closer to the fire.
and forgetting alike the cup of coffee
at my side and the patient whose I'M
usual symptoms had worried me all
day. | lost myself in the company of
Nell and her grandfather, Mrs farley.
Miss Brass, and the Marchioness. see
ing them with the boys eyes, and add
ing to the pen and pencil sketches a
roundness and completeness of detail
drawn from my imagination of fifty
years ago, and utterly lacking TO my
reading Of later life.
When I had gone more than half
through the second volume l came
upon large sheet of thin paper COW
cred with neat, cramped writing. [
took it out and looked at it. A mo-
ment's inspection showed me that it
was will, written throughout IN the
handwriting of the testator, Michael
Darcy, and dated two years before. 1t
left interest in the farm of Carrignalea,
with stock and implements, to tesla
tors brother, Patrick Darcy, who was
also named residuary legatee, while the
sum of three thousand pounds in rail
way stock and other investments was
bequeathed to my late wife's niece,
Anastasia French" 1t was. as far
as I could judge, and I had had some
experience in matters OF the kind,
properly executed, signed and wit
messed.
1t was odd to find an important doc
ument of this sort hidden away between
the leaves of a book. Had Patrick
Darcy and Anastasia Ffrench been left
without their inheritance in conse-
quence? [ wondered. And a picture
rose up in my mind of a helpless,
elderly woman ending her days in
poverty because the paper which would
have secured her independence was not
to be found
What an old fool I was, to be sure
For all [ knew Michael Darcy might
be still alive, and live to make half a
dozen fresh wills. Or even if he were
dead, the chances were that this was
an old will revoked by the existence of
a later one, and of no more account
than any other slip Of paper used to
mark a book. Why had | not thought
of so obvious an explanation before? I
would make some inquiries about the
matter next day, however; it would be
easy to find out all about Michael Darcy
of CarrignaIea. Meanwhile the will
could remain between the leaves Of
master Humphreys Clock
But the morrow found me flying
along by express train to the bedside
of my only son, who had met with a
dangerous accident. And for many
weeks I could think of nothing but
him, and of the best means of snatch
ing him from the extended arms of
death. And when, by Gods mercy, he
was once more as safe from those
clutches as any one Of us can ever be,
Michael Darcy, his will, and executors,
had faded out of my mind as COM
pletely as if they had never entered it,
and the will was resting undisturbed
in it's hiding place among my books.
Some twelve months later l went in
a regular course of my practice to visit
an old friend, who was suffering from
an acute attack Of pneumonia. She
was an elderly lady, living alone some
two or three miles outside the city.
Her servants were faithful and at
tached, but in the absence of relatives
I thought it better to insist on the ser
vices Of a trained nurse. I therefore
gave Mrs. Powers maid a note ad-
dressed to the matrOn of a nursing in
stitution in the city, asking her to send
me, if possible, one or two nurses
whom l named; or, if this was out of
her power, to send someone on whom
she could thoroughly rely. On my re-
turn next morning, [ found, not indeed
one of my old friends, but a bright.
apable-l0Oking young woman, whose
manner of answering my questions and
taking my directions impressed me fav-
orably. She told me that that she had
not long returned from her course of
training in one of the London hospi-
tails, and that this was the first serious
case of which she had had sole charge.
AS the case, though serious enough.
was a simple case, | had no hesitation
in leaving the nursing of it in her
hands, and a few days observation
showed me that even had it been far
more complicated l should have been
fully justified in so doing. She was an
excellent nurse. alert and watchflI