Page:The Lady's Book Vol. IV.pdf/3

 

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bows, peculiar } think to his countrymen, ac- costed me with “The top of the morning to ye’r honour.” I raised my head at the odd sound, and returned the salute, but after a more civi- lized fashion. “* Would ye’r honour be forgetting the countenance of me? isn’t it Phelim Burke that Iam?” “Ah Phelim,” said IJ, at last re- calling the queer phiz of my odd visiter, “* what shall Ido for you, man?” “Faith, is it what'll ye do, counsellor? Isn’t there Dermot the spal- peen that’s tourn up the tistamint”—** The tes- tament!” said [, thinking that the complainant was ushering in, in this roundabout way, some tale of assault and battery, to which the tearing of a testament was a prelude. ‘“Aye, the tista- mint jist that ye’r honour writ him, with ‘ Be it remimbered,’ at one end, and Dermot O’Toole’s own beautiful crass at the other, for want of the hand o’ write.” At this comical explanation, I began to see the drift of Phelim, so far, at least, as that the “tistamint” was a will that O’Toole had employed me to draw, (heaven knows why, for the landlord had several times offered him the arrears of his rent, if he would deliver possession of the hovel that he occupied,) however, to hu- mour him,I drew, in the leisure of a winter’s evening, a most important looking instrument, fortified with a huge red seal, and couched in an array of technical expressions that might have conveyed an empire, with remainders, uses, and trusts, worthy of the testamentary dispositions of a Rothschild. This document, it seems, was “tourn,” as Phelim phrased it, but why, except for that “ultima ratio” of an Irishman, “the po- theen,”’ I could not imagine.—* Torn!” said I, “why did he tear it?” “Is it me, ye’r honour? mebbe he didn’t, it a’n’t to the fore thin, any way.” ‘ Perhaps he has hid it, Phelim,” said I, ‘“‘ask him where he put it.”—“Is it ask him?— och! murther, and the man did and birrid this threedays!” In spite of the melancholy annuncia- tion, I could not but smile at the mode in which } at last arrived at the facts, or as the profession would call it, “* the merits of the case.”’ After dili- gent cross-examination I found that on searching the clothes and other probable repositories of the deceased, no trace of the will could be discover- ed, and that the opinion of Mr. Phelim (who by the way was an executor,) had been immediately expressed, very much in accordance with the legal presumption in such circumstances. I directed my client to look into the potato barrel, the sacking bottom of the bedstead, behind the cupboard or chest, that held the few articles in least frequent requisition, and other, to us, un- usual places of deposit. The next day the will or “tistamint,” as Phelim called it, was brought me, but in so tattered and unsavoury a condition, that I examined it at as great a distance as pos- sible. The place of its concealment was an old ledger or blank book, which, for a long time had been used by Dermot to raise his usual seat, in the manner of a cushion; between the leather that covered this ill used volume and the paste- board cover itself, was found the fruits of my legal ingenuity, the important will in question, but so rubbed and stained that I doubted its va-. lidity as a testamentary instrument. This how- ever was of little consequence,as the whole of the assets of the deceased, would not satisfy the. Register’s Fee for Letters Testamentary. It immediately occurred to me that the will of Mr. Ferrars might have escaped discovery from a similarly unusual place of concealment, and thinking the chance of such an oversight fairly within the possibilities of the case, called on Mr. Percival and enquired if he had examined the library of his friend, or turned over the leaves of any of his books of accounts. As I had sup. posed, he had not, though he astpted me that every drawer, pigeon-hole, and secretary had been carefully searched. The difficulty however suggested itself, that even if this were the case, as all intercourse with the present owner of the mansion house was out of the question, at least of an amicable character, any steps that might intimate a lingering hope of success in finding the lost instrument, would excite the suspicions of the unnatural son, who would be restrained by no considerations of honour or honesty, from destroying a paper so inimical to his views. To guide us in our investigation we visited Lucy, and obtained from her the name of a female ser- vant who was with the deceased at the time of his death, as I attached some importance to the incoherent expressions of. the dying merchant, some of which I had heard mentioned by the old nurse. The very position of the deceased and the corner of the room to which his finger point- ed, might also be useful. as a clue in fature proceedings. With considerable difficulty we found Betsey Howe, the domestic alluded to, and were chagrined to-find that she could shed but little light to guide us; after a long exami- nation we left her, conjuring hér to reflect on the circumstances, and to endeavour to-.recollect what was in the quarter of the chamber indicated by the gesture of the deceased, and whether any other word or part of a word, escaped his lips. The next day, we again saw the woman, pre- vailed on her to place herself on a table, as nearly as possible in the position whieh Mr. Ferrars’ bed occupied in his chamber, but could gain nothing but that the finger must have point- ed to the fire-place. When asked if there were any books in the room, she said she thought not, the library was in another part of the house, no other expression than as above stated, was re- collected; she admitted however that there’might have been, but that she was frightened and agi- tated and could not remember. At another in- terview, she thought she had observed a bible on a small candle stand; butdid not remember where it stood. With this unsatisfactory information I resolved to attempt a further scrutiny, in a mode that [ now think savoured somewhat of the stra- tagems of the novels and dramas, that I then in- dulged in. There was an intelligent and acute young man, for whom I had transacted business, who had been a footman to a family of distinction, but was at the time I have allusion to, out of

place. My scheme was, that Philip should en-