I
request, sir," addressing myself to the attorney, "that you will not
leave this house until you have given Mr S---- the opportunity of
clearing himself from any blame in this transaction."
"As matters have assumed this posture," said Mr L----, "I should be
deficient in respect to the profession of which I have the honour to be
a member, did I not justify my conduct in the best manner I am able.
Have I liberty to proceed?"
"Proceed as you like, you will not prove the testament to be a forgery.
The signing and witnessing were done in my presence," said my uncle. He
rose from his chair, instinctively locked up his bureau; and, if such
stern features could assume an aspect of still greater asperity, it was
when the interrogator thus continued:--"You were, as you observe, Mr
S----, an eye-witness to the due subscription of this deed. If I am to
clear myself from the imputation of unjustifiable curiosity, I must beg
leave to examine yourself and the surviving witness apart, merely as to
the minutiae of the circumstances under which it was finally completed:
for instance, was the late Mr---- in bed, or was he sick or well, when
the deed was executed?"
A cadaverous hue stole over the dark features of the culprit; their
aspect varying and distorted, in which fear and deadly anger painfully
strove for pre-eminence.
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