Leaves from an English Solicitor s Note Book. second will, by which the testator left " to his beloved wife Elizabeth the sum of one shil ling, to her friend Albert the sum of thirteen pence and one half penny," and all the rest to religious charities, and appointed Brooks sole executor. My readers will think I am romancing; I can only say that this extraor dinary document is filed and recorded in the Probate Registry at Somerset House, London. I need hardly remind American readers that by the law of England a testator has the power of leaving everything he possesses to any objects he chooses; and, where there is a will a widow has no right to dower, or thirds, or to anything else. Old Harbottle having signed the will, paid his lawyer, and pocketed the lawyer's receipt for his fee, went home to his wife, told her he had spent a delight ful morning, sat down to dinner, dined not wisely but too well, retired to the kitchen, and fell asleep in his chair before the fire. I should mention that one of the inmates of the abode of nuptial happiness was a small servant girl named Annie Gurr, a sharp, precocious child, of whom much will be told hereafter. On the evening of the day of the execution of "will No. 2," Annie Gurr pre sented herself before her mistress, who sat like Penelope, disconsolate, engaged in some work of domestic embroidery (darning her husband's socks, I think), and said : " Oh, mum, here's master been and fallen asleep before the fire, and his pocketbook has fallen •out of his pocket onto the floor." " Are you quite sure he is asleep, Annie? " " Oh, yes, mum; you can hear him snoring." " You had better go and bring me the pocketbook, Annie, it ought not to lie there." Mrs. Har bottle knew her duties as a wife; she exam ined the contents of the pocketbook, read the lawyer's receipt for the preparation of the new will, kept the receipt for use at the right moment, went down to the kitchen, roused her sleeping lord, pointed out to him that he had dropped his pocketbook on the floor, which he hastily replaced in his pocket; she then supported his tottering steps to his
365
bedroom, and there we had better leave them. In his undying epic Milton has described in language of great beauty the nuptial couch of our first parents in Paradise; I am not Milton, and I dare not liken Mr. and Mrs. Harbottle to Adam and Eve; I can say that, like a faithful wife, she did more for her grace less spouse than ever did Eve for Adam, for she undressed him and tucked him up in his bed. The next morning, at breakfast, deli cate inquiries were made by the tender wife as to the state of her lord's health, followed up by equally delicate questions as to why he had been making a new will, eliciting a vir tuously indignant denial that he had made any new will, reiterated with sundry strange oaths, which increased in vehemence when the tell-tale receipt was produced; then, dead silence. But " hope springs eternal in the human breast," and the craft of wily woman is im measurable; calm followed storm, and the wily wife proceeded to try her hand at pro ducing sunshine, Old Harbottle's birthday drew nigh, cold wintry weather set in; with her own deft fingers Mrs. H. knitted a warm woolen wrapper for her lord's graceless throat; the birthday gift pleased him so much that, at his own suggestion, hand in hand they betook themselves again to his lawyer's office where another will was drawn up and executed, like unto "will No. I," leaving her everything absolutely, which will she took into her own custody; and so the birthday ended happily. Alas for the eccentricity of testators! Before another month had passed, and while the tender wife was lying ill up stairs, prostrated with pneumonia, her faith less husband executed yet another will, drawn up by Brooks on the sly, leaving his wife out altogether, bequeathing to his esteemed friend Brooks a legacy of ^200, appointing him sole executor, and leaving all the rest of his property to religious charities. This was "will No. 4." And now bitter winter set in, the wife recovered from her illness, but her husband took to his bed, and lay for
