is breath began to fail, and the entrance of his wife did not seem to
strengthen him any; but he finally regained it, and continued:

"She will try it with _you_; but you are cool as well as honest, I
believe. I meant to tell Helen where the will was the day after I put it
there; but she was so young--it seemed dreadful to let her know how
cowardly her father was--how he feared her. Get it--get a good
lawyer--see she has her rights. I put it--no one could suspect where--I
put it--in--the--"

His breath failed him entirely, and he fixed his eyes on mine with an
agonized expression which makes me shiver whenever I think of it.
Suddenly his strange operation with that sill, of which I had not
thought for a long time, came into my mind, and I whispered, quickly:

"In the sill of the house?"

His expression instantly changed to a very happy one, and yet he looked
wonderstruck, which was natural enough.

"I saw you put it there," said I. "But," I continued, fearing the dying
man might suspect me of spying, and so fear he had mistaken my
character--"but I did not mean to--I was on the ground when you came
there that evening; and when I saw what you were doing, I could not move
for fear of disturbing you. I know where to find it, and I can swear you
put it there."

Markson closed his eyes, and never opened them again; and his last act,
before going out of the world, was to give my hand a squeeze, which,
under the circumstances, I could not help believing was an honest one.

As his hand relaxed, I felt that I had better give place to those who
had a right to it, so I quietly retired. Helen fell on her knees by his
bedside, but Mrs. Markson followed me out of the room.

"Mr. Raines," said she, with a very pleasant smile for a woman widowed
but a moment before, "what did my dear husband want?"

Now, I am an honest man and a Church-member--and I was one then, and
believed in truth and straightforwardness just as much as I do now--but,
somehow, when such a person speaks to me, I feel as if I were all of a
sudden a velvet-pawed cat myself. So I answered, with the straightest of
faces:

"Only to see to one of the sills of the house, ma'am, and he made me
solemnly swear to do it right away. He was an extraordinary man, ma'am,
to think of the good of his family up to the last moment."

"Ah, yes, dear man!" said she, with a sigh which her face plainly
showed came from nowhere deeper than her lips. "I hope it won't take
long,