Middletown transcript., 1909-03-13
,.,u,,,,,vD rRoN LAST WEEK J

Clock had Suppil1u 9A''
in the chain that there flashed 10
nv mind the remembrance of the
will hidden in the old copy a.
home; Michael Darcy's will, with
it's beouest to "my wife's niece,
Anastasia French" | coHld
hardly keep the excitement out
of my voice as link after link IN
the chain of evidence was
supplied, in answer to my ques-
tions. I found that her real name
was Anastasia, now cut down to
Anna French; that her uncIe's
name was Michael Darcy, and
his farm was known as Carrlg-
nalea. Ia reply to my query as
to her reasons for believing :hat
her uncle had made q will in her
favor, she said
After my poor uncle got the
paralytic stroke of which he died,
he made several attempts to
speak; and, as far as we could
understand, his words were al
ways about money, and about
having made it all right for
Annie Besides, ourold servant
always declared that a week
before his illness he had called
her and another woman, who was
accidentally in the house, into
the sitting room, and made them
witness q paper, which he said
was a will. When they had fin
ished signing, he said, half to
himself-'Now my mind is atrest
about Annie.
Why did he not get the will
properly drawn up bya solicitor?
He was fond of reading law
books, and knew something about
law himself. He has sometimes
made wills for other people, and
I IneTer heard that there was any.
thing wrong about them.
And the will could not be
found?
The will could not be found.
We hunted everywhere for it in
vain, and then Patrick Darcy
said he did not believe it ever
existed, and that old Margaret
had invented the whole story.
The other, woman had left the
neighborhood by that time. Pa
trick Darcy offered to give me
some money, but l refused to
take a gift from him. | knew
one of the nurses in the sister
hood here at Marshport; she had
been nursing a lady in our neigh
borhood the winter before; so /
wrote to her, and she got me
taken as a probationer. was
there for six months, and then /
went to London to be trained. Il
intended to revolutionize the
whole art, of nursing, but now
Laurence has spoiled all my
plans.
There was no doubt that this
was the heiress of the will in my
possession. The question was,
did the three thousand pounds
still exist, or had the heir at. law
made away with it?
What kind of a man is this Pa
trick Darcy? asked.
A hard man; very close about
Heis a good deal younger
than my uncle.
Is be married.
No, he never married; his one
idea is to save money. | don't
know what will become of it
when he dies, for he has no one
Of his own.
This was satisfactory, and ]
took my leave as soon as | could,
feeling a little ashamed of my
apparently motiveless curiosity, |
I could see, surprised my |
Did friend somewhat.
The first thing ! did, on reach
ing home, was to take master
Humphrey" from the bookshelves
and make sure that the will was
quite safe. Next morning took |
It to my own solicitor, who
assured me it was valid will,
executed. He ais 0
promised me to make inquiries
about Patrick Darcy; and these
proved satisfactory, for
IN a few days be informed me
that Patrick Darcy was a well.
so-do man, and a mark for q far
arger sum than the one due to
Anastasia Ffrench.
A day or two later, therefore,
presented myself again at Mrs.
Powers.
I have brought you q wedding |
present, my dear, / said to Sister
Anna, handing her the three
volumes Of master Humphrey.
OF course, i added, seeing tie
ook Of surprise that Mrs. Power
.ould not entirely conceal, you