It behoved her now to travel up to London, interview
proctors, and prove the will, executed (as the reader will remember)
on the eve of that fatal First of May and confided to Lawyer Chinn's
keeping. The town having subscribed for and purchased a pair of
silver candelabra as a homecoming gift, the Mayor and Mayoress had no
sooner returned and been welcomed with firing off cannon and pealing
of bells than a day was fixed and a public meeting called for the
presentation--a ceremony performed by the Vicar in brief but
felicitous terms. The Doctor made a suitable speech of
acknowledgment, and then, after waiting until the applause had
subsided, lifted a hand.
"My friends," he said, "before we disperse I am charged to tell you
that my wife and I contemplate another journey, and almost
immediately. You may think how sad that errand is for us when I tell
you that we go to prove the late Major Hymen's will. But I dare to
hope you will understand that our feelings are not wholly tinged with
gloom when you hear the provisions of that document, which I will now
ask my friend Mr. Chinn to read aloud to you."
And this is the substance of what Lawyer Chinn read:
To his kinswoman Miss Martha Hymen, the Major left a life
interest in the sum of five thousand pounds, invested in
Government stock.
To his faithful servant Scipio Johnston the sum of one hundred
and fifty pounds.
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