Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-03-02

Grey obeyed It was apparently tn
same as his other will, which was a
the moment in his lawyers office, an,
this had only been done in order t,
humor a dying man.
DR.. Grey read it carefully.
"The last will of me, Godfrey Kaye,
the sick man repeated, slowly. Eyes
everything-to my daughter, Mary
everything to my daughter, Mary"
He fell back and stretched out hi
hand.
Take it away, now" he said. "Pu
it in my desk yonder shan't be long
now"
DR.. Grey obeyed, and Mary took hel
fathers hand.
"Oh, father, father!" she cried, un
der her breath.
He looked into her face.
my good little girl" he said, slow
ly. "My good little girl. You'll al
ways remember, Mary want you tC
be happy? You'll remember that?"
Mary's eyes filed and she put hei
head down on the pillow beside him
to hide her tears.
A few days later Godfrey Kaye was
dead, and few days later still Mary
sat facing a small group Of people in
the library in Treherne Court She
looked whittier than ever in her black
mourning frock. and her eyes were
heavy and red trimmed.
II suppose It is all right" she safe,
YEARLY. IF Mr.. Guest is satisfied
hall not dispute it. Oh, couldn't dis
pute it."
The woman who faced her lifted her
lead boldly. She was dark, thick
set woman, as unlike the late Godfrey
Kaye as it was possible to be. Yet,
&c, ertheless, there seemed to be not the
slightest doubt that she was his daugh-
ter. Mr.. Guest, the solicitor, and old
Or. Grey had tried to find Some flaw in
ler story, but it seemed right enough.
twenty-five years ago Mr.. Hayes wife
udQ OOSCi IOQ hin, l1hlh5 WAN Iva AN~
two-year-old baby. They had been very
poor, and Mrs. Kaye hated poverty as
lercely as foolish, empty-headed women
90 sometimes hate it. 1t was Mrs.
Hayes one strong emotlon-hatred OF
The poverty which kept her from the
luXuries of life, and she left it for what
she stupidity believed was far better.
When Mr. Kaye got his divorce she
married again, only to plunge some
years later, when her second husband
had run through his fortune, into pow
arty deeper still. Apparently it broke
ner heart, for she died leaving her child
to the care of her husband-an adven-
turer, swindler and thief.
How they had lived since her moth
er's death Claudia Kaye did not care to
say. but. she had come upon Treherne
Court by accident $50 she informed
them), had probably tried to blackmail
Mr.. Kaye, and would no doubt have tried
again had he not met with the accident.
She had seen him and spoken to him,
she said, and he had owned her as his
daughter.
Now she claimed the estate; and both
MIR. Guest and DR.. Grey were disheart-
ened and troubled, for the last will Mr..
Kaye had made had upset everything
and played straight into the hands of
the woman before them, for he had dis
tinctly written his daughter" instead
Of his adopted daughter" as he had
meant to do. His ether wills each had
adopted" prehxed but this last-that
strange fancy to rewrite his will-had
undone everything.
And it was absolutely unnecessary
unless, indeed, the memory Of the past
had affected him and made him wish to
reinstate his own daughter.
Yet they could not believe that, for he
had not mentioned her-had not even
limited at her existence-before he died.
1t was Mary's name which had been on
his lips.
WELL" said Mr.. Guest to the claimant,
eff you can prove that you are indeed
Mr.. Hayes daughter, l am afraid you
will have a clear case. But you must
prove it first"
A week later the news was spread In
the town that Mary was an heiress no
longer-but a poor girl with her living
to get. Hon. Arthur Tenby could not
realize it-could not believe that such
,,,;cfort,,no mould ovor+o1za him for
Mary was the prettiest gi& he knew, and
it was so hard to give her up.
Still, he did it as gently as he could, in
DR.. Grey's house, where she had gone
to live for awhile. 1t was such pitiful
thing, he thought, that people so we'll
suited to each other should have to part,
and at one moment he was almost
tempted to risk everything-to throw
away his ambition to marry an heiress
and fight poverty with Mary.
The feeling vanished in an instant
when he remembered his embarrassed
affairs, and he told her outright that he
could not afford to marry yet-that they
would have to wait for years, perhaps
forever, and Mary decided at once to
wait forever.
The odd part of it was that Mary did
not care.
After he had gone she sat listlessly
over the fire. What would become OF her
she could not tell; it broke her heart
to think. She had not friend in the
world except DR.. Grey, and she could