Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-10
THE EVENING STORY.
A Rich Mans Will.
BY DORA p'EspA1GNE CHAPMAN.

monica SnlNered In ner CHAIR DeSlQe tie
bed. the great four-poster. hung with
gold-stamped velvet, in which the rich
man lay a-dying.
She rose softly to heap more coal upon
the fire. and she returned to her seat
her uncle spoke her name
.'Monny?"
Yes. Uncle Jabez:"
Feel under my pillow. take my keys
The voice came weak and altered. open
the bureau. Pull out the third drawer on
the right. Feel behind. That's right.
Monica's fingers had probed large
hidden space behind the drawer. and drew
forth an oblong envelope. BY the fire
light she saw the superscription, My
WILL in her uncle's cramped, grabbed
handwriting. She came back to the bed.
and found the sick mans eyes fixed upon
her with that secret malicious twinkle
she knew so we'll
Read it to me- he whispered. And
by the Pickering freight Monica read IL
aloud, stumbling now and then over the
long. intricate legal sentences. and re-
covering herself with anxious haste even
upon his deathbed. impotent to raise hand
or finger, the terror Jabez Samaurez had
wiIlfully inspired in all his encourage
abated no whit of its potency.
But as the girl read on certain sen,
luminous in her memory Hereby re.
woke all former Wills cot sound mind"
and then one or two Of the smaller be
quests. Only EGO to Mrs. Bishop- the
housekeeper, who had been with his dead
mother. who had served him SO faithful
~ for thirty years. bearing with his tenn
/ per and his tantrums as not another
woman in the world would have been
found to do--who was nearly too old to
work Only 91OO to his head clerk, Geof-
frey Morland: $50 to buy mourning
ring to poor old Cousin Sue. to whom ne
ed small annuity. The same to herself
Monica Iddesleigh, whom many people
had wooed as being without doubt part
heiress with his grandson Harry: Well:
she had never counted on anything AT
all. She knew her uncle too we'll for
that: she would earn her bread somehow
and not by the culver of muscle or
faintest change of tone. should the SICK
man be able to fancy her disappointed.
This ended the minor requests: it mat
tered after all but little about them.
Generous Harry would see justice done
to all as soon as he came into his king
dom. He might be sons son to Jabez
Samaurez. but in heart and mind oceans
flowed between them. She read on stead
| lily. land the residue both personal and
| real estate, whatsoever | die possessed
Suddenly the clear voice faltered and
| died away. What. what was this? The
| letters danced before her eyes. and yet
| she read them but too plainly.
| of the leading cities Of the United King
| dom. half Of the collection to consist
| of the monkey tribe. in order to provide
| facilities for the future generations OF
| my countrymen to study their ancestors
! and, it is my hope, learn to profit by 90
| serving them.
| A Joke, surelyc One OF the cruel. grim.
| practical jests which were all Uncle Jabez
understood by humor? But no, 1t was
! duly signed. witnessed, sealed.
What have you stopped for. girl?'
came fretfuI whisper from the bed.
Read on.
"Uncle. You can't mean it: This isn't
| really your will?''
Isn't it, snarled the old man feebly:
Wait till after the funeral, my dear, and
see
"But-Harry?" she faltered. Your nat
| ural heir-the only child of your only
son-why. he's not even mentioned.
| Just So chuckled the feeble voice.
II wasn't mentioned in my fathers will.
| either. because. you see he never made
| one. Nothing to leave me. Harry begins
where ! began.
But uncle: Oh you can't intend it.
She stretched out her hand toward the
CRATE but dropped back in her chair at
the sound of low. fiendish chuckle from
the bed. Burn it? Burn it at your peril:
he said derisively. Shall a man not DO
| it, every penny? he chuckled again.
| !" 'Fraid it'll delay your marriage for
| bit. my girl. Master Harry'n have to
| learn to keep himself before he takes
wife i'm tow.
Monica had risen to her feet and stood
| staring at him in wide-eyed horror SO
he knew! SO he had guessed erreted it
out somehow-the secret that only she
and Harry shared. And because of this
because of this-he would disinherit
| Harry
Suddenly he began to laugh aloud. hor-
rible eerie laughter from those bloodless
| lips in the chill and Swallowed room. The
| laughter changed. seemed to rattle in
| his throat the twinkline eyes filmed over.
| Terrified, Monica called the nurse. to-
gether they sought to fan the Pickering
| flame of Jabez Samaurezs life. But their
| efforts We're useless. In Ave minutes all
was over. And it was not till late that
night that Monica remembered the will.
| She looked at 1t with wide-eyed loath-
| ing. 1t was valid now. No change was
| possible. Now, at this very moment. the
| twenty towns were practically owners Of
the Samaurez fortune and Harry forever
dispossessed Of all he had the right to
| claim
Monica eyes filled with tears. For her.
self she cared nothing. Her life had been
bitter enough: it would be peace and JOY
TO know herself released forever from
her uncle's crushing yoke. But Harry.
| Ruined-and ruined by their very love.
| From the mantelpiece she took down
his photograph. How splendid he was;
vet. with it ALL SO gay and kind and gen.
tie. lust like his mother. who had re-
ceived her, penniless orphan fifteen
years ago.
| The hand that held the will twitched
| involuntarily. In Monicas CRATE also
| there burned a fire. a kindly housema id
had lighted it, knowing the master to
be beyond Directing. The glowing heart
! of the Goals seemed to lure her to drop
| the paper into them
| Monica remembered that she had close
| the bureau and replaced the keys be-
meath her uncles pillow before commenc-
| ing to read aloud. Even the lawyer must
suppose that he himself had destroyed it.
! And then Harry would inherit all-every
one would be SO happy. work people,
| clerks. servants dependents Above all.
Harry and herself. And the twenty towns
would not miss their cynical requests.
/ Her fingers trembled over the fire. Sure
Ily-surely-it would not be wrong
And nobody need ever know-not even
| Harry. But suddenly. in the quiet. emp
! ty room. MOnica's cheeks burned scarlet
at that thought.
| II Harry knew-he would never keep
| the money. He was the soul of honor:
his dead mothers own child. Monica hid
| her face in her hands. She was somehow
ashamed that the two pictured faces
should see her-Lady Mary, in the big gilt
/ frame above the chimney, and Harry on
! her lap. What she desired to do would
not be playing the game! And the motto
of his mothers people-Harry Norman's
| ancestors--rang suddenly in her ears like
| a tollinS bell.