d in a cloak,
and veiled, entered and seated herself without speaking. After a
moment she unclasped her cloak, loosened the wrapping from her throat,
threw back her veil, and asked for a glass of water.

"Bless me, Miss Bond, is it you? I am sure I am much honoured--very
much!"

"No honour, sir," she replied, "but necessity. I have been to Doctors
Commons; have seen the will--it is my father's writing!"

"You confess this to me?" said Mr. Cramp, drawing back on his chair,
and almost gasping for breath.

"I do," she answered; "I proclaim it; it is my father's _copy_ of the
original will. But how the copy could have been substituted for the
real will, I can only conjecture."

"Surmise is something," replied the lawyer, a little relieved;
"conjecture sometimes leads to proof."

"My father and uncle lived together when the will came into their
possession. They were in partnership as farmers. My father's habits
were precise: he always copied every writing, and endorsed his copies
with a large _C_; the very _C_ is marked upon the will I have just
seen at Doctors Commons."

"That is singular," remarked Cramp; "but it does not show us the way
out of the difficulty; on the contrary, that increases. _Somebody_--I
don't for an instant suppose Mr. Jacob Bond--in proving the will must
have sworn that, to the best of their knowledge and belief, those were
the real, which are only copies of the signatures."

"True--and such a mistake was extremely characteristic of my uncle,
who performed many strange acts before he was known to be insane. This
was doubtless one of them."

"But _where_ is the original?" inquired the man of business.

"Heaven knows! I cannot find it; but I am not the less assured of its
existence."

"Then we must persist in our plea of the truth of the document in
Doctors Commons."

"Certainly not," said Sarah; "you must not persist in a falsehood in
my name. If you do, I shall rise up in court, and contradict you! I
feel it my duty, having seen the will, to state my firm belief that it
is a copy of the original will, and nothing more."

Poor Mr. Cramp was dreadfully annoyed. He could, he thought, manage
all sorts of clients. He reasoned, he proved, he entreated, he got
her counsel to call upon her, but all was in vain. She would go
into court, she said, herself, if her counsel deserted her. She
would _not_ give up the cause; she would plead for the sake of her
father's honour. She was well assured th