tely
to Serena to indicate that she was included in the question, "you
received a letter from our firm about a week ago, did you not?"

Captain Dan, who had scarcely recovered from his surprise at his
caller's identity, shook his head. "As a matter of fact," he stammered,
"I--I only got it to-day. It came all right, that is, it got as far
as the post-office, but the postmaster, he handed it over to Balaam
Hamilton, to bring to me. Well, Balaam is--well, his underpinnin's all
right; he wears a number eleven shoe--but his top riggin' is kind of
lackin' in spots. You'd understand if you knew him. He put the letter in
his pocket and--"

"Mercy!" cut in Serena, impatiently, "what do you suppose Mr. Farwell
cares about Balaam Hamilton? He forgot the letter, Mr. Farwell, and
we only got it this morning. That is why it hasn't been answered. What
about the letter?"

The visitor did not answer directly. "I see," he said. "That letter
informed you that Mrs. Lavinia Dott--your aunt, Captain,--was dead, and
that we, her legal representatives, having, as we supposed, her will in
our possession, and being in charge of her affairs--"

Mrs. Dott interrupted. Her excitement had been growing ever since she
learned the visitor's name and, although her husband did not notice the
peculiar phrasing of the lawyer's sentence, she did.

"As you supposed?" she repeated. "You did have the will, didn't you?"

"We had a will, one which Mrs. Dott drew some eight or nine years ago.
But we received word from Italy only yesterday that there was another,
a much more recent one, which superseded the one in our possession. Of
course, that being the case, the bequests in the former were not binding
upon the estate. That is to say, our will was not a will at all."

Serena gasped. She looked at her husband, and he at her.

"Then we--then she didn't leave us the three thousand dollars?" she
cried.

"Or--or the tea-pot?" faltered Captain Dan.

Mr. Farwell smiled. He was having considerable fun out of the situation.
However, it would not do to keep possibly profitable clients in suspense
too long, so he broke the news he had journeyed from Boston to impart.

"She left you a great deal more than that," he said. "In the former
will, her cousin, Mr. Percy Hungerford of Scarford, was the principal
legatee. He was a favorite of hers, I believe, and she left the bulk of
her property--some hundred and twenty thousand dollars in securities,
and her estate a