s in his eyes. But he said
nothing. He merely handed the paper to Ollie.

"Read it out loud," she requested, giving it back.

Judge Little fiddled with his glasses again. Then he adjusted the paper
before his eyes like a target, and read:

I hereby will and bequeath to my beloved son, Isom Walker Chase, all
of my property, personal and real; and I hereby appoint my friend,
John B. Little, administrator of my estate, to serve without bond,
until my son shall attain his majority, in case that I should die
before that time. This is my last will, and I am in sound mind and
bodily health.

That was all.

CHAPTER X

LET HIM HANG

The will was duly signed and witnessed, and bore a notarial seal. It was
dated in the hand of the testator, in addition to the acknowledgment of
the notary, all regular, and unquestionably done.

"His son!" said Sol, amazed, looking around with big eyes. "Why, Isom he
never had no son!"

"Do we know that?" asked Judge Little, as if to raise the question of
reasonable doubt.

Son or no son, until that point should be determined he would have the
administration of the estate, with large and comfortable fees.

"Well, I've lived right there acrost the road from him all my life, and
all of his, too; and I reckon I'd purty near know if anybody knowed!"
declared Sol. "I went to school with Isom, I was one of the little
fellers when he was a big one, and I was at his weddin'. My wife she
laid out his first wife, and I dug her grave. She never had no children,
judge; you know that as well as anybody."

Judge Little coughed dryly, thoughtfully, his customary aspect of deep
meditation more impressive than ever.

"Sometimes the people we believe we know best turn out to be the ones we
know least," said he. "Maybe we knew only one side of Isom's life. Every
man has his secrets."

"You mean to say there was another woman somewheres?" asked Sol, taking
the scent avidly.

The women against the wall joined Mrs. Greening in a virtuous,
scandalized groan. They looked pityingly at Ollie, sitting straight and
white in her chair. She did not appear to see them; she was looking at
Judge Little with fixed, frightened stare.

"That is not for me to say," answered the judge; and his manner of
saying it seemed to convey the hint that he _could_ throw light on
Isom's past if he should unseal his lips.

Ollie took it to be that way. She recalled the words of the will, "My
friend, John