Cynthia Wakeham's Money

e bed which but a moment before had be

llow the man whom with her latest breath she

t descending the back stairs, and realizing that it would be both foolish and unsafe for me to endeavor to follow him through the unlighted rooms and possibly intr

nd on the latch of the outside door, and from his look and the bundle he carried, I jud

light!' he sho

dare obey him, and Huckins himself looked co

g?' I asked, moving

wer, given with a mixture of mocker

dead; but that does not just

sted. 'Cannot I go out on an errand w

ed her last! Don't talk to me of errands. Your appearance is that o

y natural under the circumstances, f

s it to you if I carry or do not carry a bundle out

ed to your sister. If you can prove to me that there is nothing in that bundle save what is yours and was yours before your sister died, well and good, you may go away with it and leave your poor dead sister to be cared for in her own house by

rrying away my own. Did you not draw up the will y

ith her effects before her body was cold? A will has to be proven, my good man, before an heir has any right to touch what it leaves. If you do not know this, why did you try to slink away lik

tered his manner, till it became almost cringing, and muttering consolingly to himself, 'After all it is only a delay; everything will soon be mine,' he laid the bundle

said I, and was about to raise t

thority here? I don't believe it, and I won't see you put on the airs of it. I will go for the constable myself. I am not afraid of th

d I, 'let us go f

uttered this seemed at once

oot to the other till I could scarcely conceal the disgust with w

have lived like a dog, and I may not have a good coat to my back, but I am the man to whom this property has been given, as no one knows be

to his fury, 'if this property is indeed

w in the face for which he was wholly unprepared, he recoiled

esses to it still in the house, what you yourself wrote in this paper I now flaunt in yo

ook with gre

Mr. Huckins; and it takes only a few for a woman

ontradicted by the laugh on his lips. 'What mind had she afte

perhaps to conceal. Mrs. Wakeham, who evidently felt herself unduly influenced by you in the making of that will you hold in your hand, immediately upon your withdrawal testified her desire to make ano

happy man, taken wholly by surprise. 'She couldn't utter a w

rved. 'She knew when to play dumb and when to speak. She talke

my side, and reading confirmation in the severity of their looks, he fell slowly back

ouse to?' he asked at las

. 'When the will is offered for probate you wil

not a cent in reward! It is enough to make a man mad.' Suddenly he started forward in irrepressible passion. 'You talk about influence,' he cried, 'my influence; what influence did you

are robbed,' said I, 'wai

before him the paper that he held; 'I will not beli

bor, I would say that the stiller you keep now the better it probably will be for you in the future. You have

manner changed and it was with quite a softened air that he finally put up the paper in his pocket and said: 'I beg pardon if I have talked too loud and passionately. But the property wa

for rifling these premises and abstracting their contents. Nothing here is yours-yet; and till you inherit, if ever you do inherit, any attempt to hide or carry away one article which is not manifestly your own, will be regarded by the law as a theft and will be punished as such. But,' I went on, seeking to still further mitigate language calculated to arouse any man's rage, whether he was a

ns, furiously. 'Do you think I am a

onstable to come and take both it and the house in charge. T

u want to make a pris

ot stay here myself to watch over the place, it necessarily follows that I must provide some one who can. And as an honest man you ought to desire this also. If you felt as I woul

ble? I don't wan

on't want M

er than the

Mr. Dickey, w

; that's right,

g somewhat uneasy, brightened up a

ight. But who w

ask?' I

nd the matter

the chance to whi

ricks. I will notify the constable of the situation and if you want help throw

d reply. 'But he will have to p