The Opelousas courier., 1898-07-09

49, 81 1~AS cAAAs
-A| IN. at my desk
"a plunged in a fit o
lEtbIE% the e Q s
thought, and had not heard any one
enter, when suddenly the words:
"Are you a lawyer, sir?" caused me
to start violently.
Rising from my seat and turning
up the gas jet on the table, I turned
and surveyed my in%ter1ocutor, who
proved to be a well-dressed, rather
good-looking man of forty or there.
abouts, of middle stature, and pos
sessed of a small, piercing pair Of
eyes, which returned my gaze I'm.
ainchingly.
"The business on which I come
be said, taking off his hat, and fixing
his keen, black eyes upon my face,
will require yonr services until late in
she night, if not until tomorrow morn.
ing. Ny niece, who resides some
miles from London, is dangerously
i'll, and her recovery being extremely
doubtful, she desires to make her
will. For this purpose I have ap-
piled to you; promising you, should
you accede to my request, any fee you
may demand"
communed with myself for O few
moments, eyed the man suspiciously,
and then asked the distance to the
young lady's residence and the mode
Of conveyance thither.
sEtlo,+ nvo ~ 10, .,,;1or - - ro
sponded, handing me his card, on
which I read ''Martin Jackson, Lon
don Wall" cit is a Short distance
from Kew, and as a train does not
leave London Bridge for some time, I
have provided a carriage and driver,
which waits in the street. May I
consider your services as engaged?s
I responded that he might, and q
few minutes suficed to find us en-
sconced in q close carriage, which
took a westerly direction at a mod
crate speed.
My companion meantime enlight-
ened me- with an account of his niece's
sickness and previous history; and,
an hour after leaving the place of
starting, we found ourselves about a
mile from Kew Bridge, Twas a young
man, and my nervousness and sus-
picions of the man beside me may be
excused when his evident anxiety in
employing myself, an inexperienced
lawyer, are considered. His story,
too, did not sound consistent in all
respects, for he spoke Of his niece,
Miss Blanche Pickering, as being at
times subject to short fits of insanity.
When the carriage stopped it was in
front of a large, darl-looking building
Of stone, standing q short distance
back from the roa@, and surrounded
by tall poplars.
One thing struck me as rather curl
Gus as I walked up the gravel walk to
the mansion and teAled to arouse my
suspicious once NOS. Jackson dis
missed the carriage, after paying the
driver, with a few low, whispered
words, the import of which I was I'M
able to ascertain, and the hack turned
sharply, as if to retrace the road to
London. T said nothing, however,
but shifting a revolver which T always
carry into a more convenient position
in my inner breast pocket, entered the
house with my companion, who I'M
locked the door with a latchkey, and
ushered me into the parlor, which
a poorly lighted by a hanging lamp.
Having seen me seated by a table
on which were spread refreshments
Jackson left me for o short time, and
returned shortly with a large, we'll
built man, whom he introduced as
Mr.. Cooper, his cousin. This latter
Individual took a seat beside me, and
pouring out seme wine requested me
TO join him, which I c~ourteously re-
on the plea of being a teetotal-
or.
Jackson had left the roo again. A
short time after, by request of Cooper,
[ followed him up the staircase into
The gloomy hall above, and into a
room where Jackson was seated by the
side of a bed. apparently in converse
hon with some one lying there.
It was no wonder that I gazed long
and earnestly at the c%ountenance of
the woman wac reclined there. A
more perfect face I have never seen
pale, and with an expression of ARE
and pain, it might have been, yet there
was no trace of sickness or disease, and
my eye wandered from those beauti-
full features, the sad yet sweetly smiling
eyes, down to the white, plump hand
which rested in the large brown one
Of Jackson's, I felt that there was some
mystery in the case, and that he had
been untruthful in his revelations.
Suddenly the man arose, and drop
ping the lady's hand drew up a chair
opposite to my own, and with an i'm
uneasy exclamation, brought
my Investigation to q termination.
"You will draw out the ordinary
of q testament" he said, Civ
ng the young girl a close, serutiniz-
:ng look, in which I could detect a
expression, writing as I
Miss Pickering has already
acquainted me with her destined dis
posal OF her property, and will &C.
when it is finished. / sup
BOSE her affirmation will be all that is
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