The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-11-28

ter shook me up. I rolled out Of my
berth and stood gathering my I'M
pedimenta together preparatory TIC
going in for wash, when conduc-
tor exclaimed:
"Please to let these ladies pass.
sir"
MY fellow travellers were standing
anxious, like Mr.. Sterne's starting,
to get out. l muttered an apology
for blocking the way; and. turning,
cast a short, sharp glance at two
ladies'.
One of them was the young girl
whom l had encountered at the tele-
graph Office.
My holidays had passed away, and
work, grim, gaunt, earnest, was upon
me. Letters to be replied to. Iapers
to be hunted up, appointments to be
made and kept, law books to be con-
suited, opinions to be given. and every
pigeon-hole in ny waking existence
| crammed to the uttermost limits of
its endurance. Bitterly l reviled the
ill-fortune that closed my lids in the
cars; bitterly the ill-luck that forced
me into a corner beneath the bony
knuckles of time; bitterly the mock
ing destiny that dashed the cup from
my lips thrice when the trimming
| nectar was within reach of them. My
work was heavy, and demanded a
ceaseless vigilance. My work stood
between me and her image, thrust
ing it aside with an iron and unswerv-
| ing hand.
Il 1t was a murky, drilling morning
in December, upon the eve of the
Christmas holidays. I had not the
pleasing qualification of even seeing
my bed upon the preceding night, as
l was compelled to read up a case in
volving a series of the most i'm
portant issues. and my nights rest
went down before the interest of my
clients.
1t was a disputed will case, and |
had been retained Tor the defendants
Miss Isabelle Van Zandt died on
the preceding August, bequeathing
the bulk of her vast property to her
nephew and niece, the children of
deceased sister, and a comparatively
small residue to a sole surviving
brother, who now disputed the will
on the grounds of undue influence and
the mental incapacity of the testatrix.
On our side it was alleged that the
testatrix was of sound mind at the
time of her demise, and that the be-
quests were the result of natural
affection, and that she was further
Influenced by the fact that the plain
tiff was extremely wealthy and un-
married
There were two weak places in our
armory. The first, that Miss Van
Zandt had been estranged from her
nephew Up to within a few days of her
Zandt was generally considered some
what eccentric. Her nephew, Mr.. Ed
ward Appleton, had married "a pen
niless lass wi lang pedigree" con-
trary to the expressed wishes Of his |
aunt; and it was solely owing to the
was, at the eleventh hour, restored !
to the good grsces of his offended rel |
alive.
1t was late when ] arrived at court, |
and, in addition to my brief, l was
with a CHASTITY headache,
which, at every throb, led me to i'm
agine that my skull was in imminent
danger of exploding as though !
the agency of nitro-glycerine.
The plaintiff had a cloud of wit
nesses in attendance, and the case,
from the magnitude of the property
at stake, excited very considerable
interest
The plaintiffs case was ably, elo-
quently and argumentatively stated
by his counsel, and about twenty per-
sons who had been on terms of al
legged intimacy with the deceased
were examined as to her eccentrici-
ties, and also with regard to her visi-
bly, decaying mental powers, antece-
dent to her demise.
My associate cross-examined such
Of those witnesses as he deemed
shaky, and, by dint of a series of art
full and elaborate queries, totally ir-
relevant to the question at issue, sue
ceeded in driving a number of these
witnesses into state OF mental irri-
tation bordering upon frenzy, and the
into condition of hapless
and irrevocable bewilderment.
When he had duly impressed. the
Jury with the conviction that the in.
as0 G. D 49, |,