The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-09

i, his ancestors had done time out or mlnu. ,
 Peregrine came Lome a great. hearty,
 rather stupid, honest young gentleman.
 given to fox hunting and with a strong
 predilection for rat-baiting, low diver
 sion that Sir Peregrine could induce him
 to give up only after a row in Carroty
 Bob's house in London that got into the
 papers. Lucius Mason came home with
 declared intention of making scientific
 farming and philogoy his life pursuits.
 To ''philogoy and the races of men, Lady
 Mason did not so much object, but when
 1t came to scientific farming, Lady Ma
 son was scared.
 "Oh, Sir Peregrine," she told her pa-
 tron, The has gone off to Liverpool to buy load of-of-guano. He says that
 what he buys here is adulterated. And he has taken the two meadows away
 from MT. Dockwarth and thinks of talk
 ing some land away from Farmer Green
 wood, who always pays his rent so
 promptly.
 ''He must put a stop to that sort of thing, Lady Mason" Sir Peregrine an- nounced, "or he will soon ruin himself. He would better come and dine with me and we will have 1t out after dinner" 50 Lucius did dine with Sir Peregrine, and after dinner, when the baronet in- troduced the subject of farming, the young man quite swamped him by flood of theory and scientific batter flow
  sluice gates of the German universities. That young man is the most conceited puppy 1t has ever been my lot to meet said Sir Peregrine afterward To his mother, when she intimated that experi-
 mental famring should ony be attempted
 by men of large capital. Lucus had re- piled: Capital Is a bugbear. The capi- tai that is really needed is thought. brains, mind combination, knowledge" Who could answer such convincing arr gument as this?
 Sir Peregrine might swear. Lady Ma son could only sigh. But MT. Dock
 warth, the attorney in the neighboring tom of Hamworth, with wife. and six teen children, was moved to action when l the two fields which he had held under lease were taken away from him. He had narried Miriam Usbech, daughter of the late Sir Joseph's attorney. and with her had taken legacy Of two thousand pounds that had been bequeath- ed to the girl in that same famous cod1cil
 Sir Joseph had often said that he intend
 ed to provide for Miriam, and the codicil had made the bequest to her chargeable
 on property which otherwise would have
 gone to Lady Mason. That had been one of the points in the case for the de-
 fense. If Lady Mason had forged the codicil she would not have deprived her
 self of two thousand pounds. Lady Mason had wanted Miriam to marry the clerk, Kennedy. instead of the attorney with a shady reputation, and Dockwarth knew it and hated her. When the fields were taken away from him he began eagerly to go through his late fa- ther-in-law's papers. He emerged from
 the examination maliciously exultant and hurried down to Groby Park to see Joseph Mason, Esq Dockwrath had discovered
 that on July 14. the very date borne by
 the codicil, Sir Joseph had signed deed
 of separation pertaining to his London commercial house. and the maid and the clerk had witnessed 1t. At the trial neither
 of them had mentioned having witnessed
 two documents on that date. This original deed was in existenece in the hands of Sir Joseph's former partner If the clerk and the maid had witnessed only one document on July IA, 1t must
 have been this deed, and the codicil must have been a forgery Mir. Dockwrath had sounded them, and they were sure that they had signed only one document For twenty years she has robbed mel!
 exclaimed Joseph Mason of Groby Park, and let slip an oath or two. NO punsh-
 ment will be bad enough for her. They ought to hang her."
 They can't hang her," said MT. Dock
 wrath.
 No,' replied Joseph; they have alter ed the laws so as to give encouragement to forgers, villains and perjurers. But they can give her penal servitude for life"
 Mir Dockwrath wanted, naturally, 10 be MT. Mason's legal representative in l the matter; but MT. Mason was cautious and insisted that the attorney hand over his information to his regular legal ad- visers, Round & Crook, most respectable attorneys, who would not touch such q creature as Dockwrath with a ten-foot pole After much haggling and a prom 4Aaf I.n ha ad fnf his work, the Hamworth lawyer went up to London to see Round & Crook.
 Meantime Miriam had slipped over to Orley Farm and told Lady Mason of
 her husbands sinister designs. Lady Ma son took counsel with her attorney. Mir. Furnival-and with Sir Peregrine, of course.
 Lady Mason was both interesting and comedy in her grief in spite of her forty five years. Above the medium height, her eyes were large and well formed though trife cold in expression and her high, tough somewhat narrow forehead gave evidence of an intellect which those who
 knew her were always ready to acknowl- edge. Her color could still come and her hand was still soft and small her hair still brown and smooth. There were no wrinkles in her brow though care had passed over 1t; her step could still fall lightly though it had borne a heavy weight of trouble.
 The great MT. Furnival left very
 pleasant house party to come to London and meet Lady Mason. The great MT. F'urnival had been a hard-working. mod est-living attorney in his time. but in his age and his prosperity had developed into Lothario with a port wine nose, who spent as little time as possible at hime. His wife, who had not developed at all
 since those days of poverty and work. was morbidly jealous of him, which, of course, made matters worse. Mir. Furniva1 comforted his fair client. He thought there would be no suit, but
 if there was he would stand by her.
 "But. tell me, Lady Mason said he, why are you so much out of heart2 T
 remember we'll how brave you were twen-
 ty years ago when there really was cause for trembling"
 "Ah. I was younger then" sighed her
 ladyship.
 "So the almanac tells me-" replied he
 gallantly; but if the almanac did not
 tell me I should never know it."
 After she had gone. Mir. Furnival sat
 thinking how comedy she was and how