Here I continued two or three days, examining the documents,
with the assistance of an honest limb of the law from W----. He
entertained considerable doubts as to the issue of a trial, feeling
convinced that a forged will would be prepared, if not already in
existence, and that my relative would not relinquish his fraudulent
claim should the law be openly appealed to. He strongly recommended that
proceedings of a different nature should be first tried, in hopes of
enclosing the villain in his own toils; and these, if successful, would
save the uncertain and expensive process of a suit. I felt unwilling to
adopt any mode of attack but that of open warfare, and urged that
possession of the real will would be sufficient to reinstate me as the
lawful heir. The man of law smiled. He inquired how I should be able to
prove that the forgery which my uncle would in all probability produce
was not the genuine testament; and as the date would inevitably be
subsequent to the one I held, it would annul any former bequest. As to
my tale about burning the will, that might or might not be treated as a
story trumped up for the occasion.
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