Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1919-05-29

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Copyright. 1918. Western Newspaper union.l
There's no other satisfactory way
out of H." gasped the old Scotchman
Roderick MacTavish on his deathbed
and | rely on you To see To IL that
my wishes are respected"
'lOu mean that having left half your
fortune 10 Robert Brinsley and half Ia
Edith Allen, the whole TO go To James
Stirling unless the two parties Of the
first part keep the property undivided
by marriage, your wish Is that they
shall comply with the terms of your
will and inherit the estate"
"That is my desire" said the Scotch
man, but put in "A codlcil that II you
succeed In inducing the couple to ac-
/ cept the provision and inherit as man
and wife you are 10 receive twenty
five thousand dollars from the estate"
/ lost no time in inserting this be-
quest and In getting the will signed
and witnessed. MacTavish died within
twenty-four hours after II was exc
cuted.
typewriter matter to explain why the
old Scotchman wished his property TO
go to these two persons. Therefore l
shall not attempt II in this very brief
story. had twenty-five thousand dol
lars at stake and as soon as the will
was offered for probate I made pre-
liminary visit To each Of the parties
In. hA
matter.
"How much Is the legacyr asked
Brlnsley.
1.-TWO hundred thousand dollars"
my half would be hundred thou
sand. Do you suppose I'm going to get
myself tangled up with a woman for
that. | have three times that amount
already"
Miss Allen had no fortune and she
very much desired the legacy of the
half OF IT, "Why can't we be married."
she asked me, part Immediately, and
when We receive the estate divide IT
and get divorce"
"You can" was my reply.
went back To Brinsley and sub
mtted this proposition. He would
have nothing to do with II. l showed
him that by refusing he was keeping
Il woman out of one hundred thousand
dollars. Bob was fine fellow and he
said at once: You go tell her that II
she will agree To the divorce the mo-
ment | say the word, I'll marry her
and she may keep the whole OF the
two hundred thousand dollars
That he might not have time TO
change his mind broke the speed law
In getting 10 Miss Allen and Informed
her of the generous offer. She was
amazed.
care you sure that proposition came
from man?" she gasped.
| assured her of the fact and re-
ceived her consent to draw up a gen
tleman's and lady's agreement that
after n marriage between the two nei-
Their would claim any matrimonial priv
iege. and neither would object TO n
divorce when desired by the other.
What pleased me almost as we'll as
the money would get out of the trans
, action was that the stubborn MacTav-
ish would after all fail in trying TO
have his way after he was dead.
asked the bride and groom a few
days before the wedding If they would
like To meet before being married. but
neither thought that anything would
be gained 10y seeing one another. be-
lieved Brinsley but not Miss Allen. In
the first place She was curious, as
women naturally are, and in the sec
ond she was unable 10 conceal from
me the fact that Bob's generosity had
had serious effect upon her. She said
that If the groom-to-be had desire to
see her she had no objection 10 meet
ing him. Otherwise she would be con-
tent with his society for the ten min
utes that would be required to go
through the ceremony.
The wedding was 10 take place at
five o'clock In the afternoon, Brlnsley
having an appointment at his club for
a seven o'clock dinner. / got all the
papers drawn and ready for signature
and at four called at BOb's office with
them. | was TO act as attorney for
both and 10 read the documents to
them just before the ceremony. Bob
and / jumped into taxi and rode TO
Miss Aliens. There ! introduced the
contracting parties, they sat down by
table and read the papers aloud.
The reading took up half an hour, at
the end Of which time a parson who
was waiting was called I'm and the cere-
mony performed. While my eyes were
fixed on the documents OF course
could not see the bride and groom.
During the ceremony / noticed that
Bob had lost something OF his sang
frold the bride was inscrutable.
At the conclusion Of the service Bob
and | were about 10 leave. when the
bride said she would like few words
with Mr. Brinsley. She desired his
own personal word that he would keep
the letter and the spirit of the agree
ment that had been made. She knew
nothing about law, but she could un-
derstand promise. Seeing that she
/ wished to speak 10 him alone, went
away without him.
During the evening, knowing that he
had an engagement at the club /
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