The House in the Mist | Page 8

will, which you have assembled

to hear read, is well known to you. By it his whole property--(not so
large as some of you might wish, but yet a goodly property for farmers
like yourselves)--is to be divided this night, share and share alike,
among such of his relatives as have found it convenient to be present
here between the strokes of half-past seven and eight. If some of our
friends have failed us through sloth, sickness or the misfortune of
mistaking the road, they have our sympathy, but they can not have his
dollars."
"Can not have his dollars!" echoed a rasping voice which, from its
smothered sound, probably came from the bearded lips of the old
reprobate in the chair.
The lawyer waited for one or two other repetitions of this phrase (a
phrase which, for some unimaginable reason, seemed to give him an
odd sort of pleasure), then he went on with greater distinctness and a
certain sly emphasis, chilling in effect but very professional:
"Ladies and gentlemen: Shall I read this will?"
"No, no! The division! the division! Tell us what we are to have!" rose
in a shout about him.
There was a pause. I could imagine the sharp eyes of the lawyer
traveling from face to face as each thus gave voice to his cupidity, and
the thin curl of his lips as he remarked in a slow tantalizing way:
"There was more in the old man's clutches than you think."
A gasp of greed shook the partition against which my ear was pressed.
Some one must have drawn up against the wainscoting since my
departure from the room. I found myself wondering which of them it
was. Meantime old Smead was having his say, with the smoothness of
a man who perfectly understands what is required of him.
"Mr. Westonhaugh would not have put you to so much trouble or had
you wait so long if he had not expected to reward you amply. There are
shares in this bag which are worth thousands instead of hundreds. Now,

now! stop that! hands off! hands off! there are calculations to make first.
How many of you are there? Count up, some of you."
"Nine!" called out a voice with such rapacious eagerness that the word
was almost unintelligible.
"Nine." How slowly the old knave spoke! What pleasure he seemed to
take in the suspense he purposely made as exasperating as possible!
"Well, if each one gets his share, he may count himself richer by two
hundred thousand dollars than when he came in here to-night."
Two hundred thousand dollars! They had expected no more than thirty.
Surprise made them speechless,--that is, for a moment; then a
pandemonium of hurrahs, shrieks and loud-voiced enthusiasm made the
room ring, till wonder seized them again, and a sudden silence fell,
through which I caught a far-off wail of grief from the disappointed
ones without, which, heard in the dark and narrow place in which I was
confined, had a peculiarly weird and desolate effect.
Perhaps it likewise was heard by some of the fortunate ones within!
Perhaps one head, to mark which, in this moment of universal elation, I
would have given a year from my life, turned toward the dark without,
in recognition of the despair thus piteously voiced; but if so, no token
of the same came to me, and I could but hope that she had shown, by
some such movement, the natural sympathy of her sex.
Meanwhile the lawyer was addressing the company in his smoothest
and most sarcastic tones.
"Mr. Westonhaugh was a wise man, a very wise man," he droned. "He
foresaw what your pleasure would be, and left a letter for you. But
before I read it, before I invite you to the board he ordered to be spread
for you in honor of this happy occasion, there is one appeal he bade me
make to those I should find assembled here. As you know, he was not
personally acquainted with all the children and grandchildren of his
many brothers and sisters. Salmon's sons, for instance, were perfect
strangers to him, and all those boys and girls of the Evans' branch have

never been long enough this side of the mountains for him to know
their names, much less their temper or their lives. Yet his heirs--or such
was his wish, his great wish--must be honest men, righteous in their
dealings, and of stainless lives. If therefore, any one among you feels
that for reasons he need not state, he has no right to accept his share of
Anthony Westonhaugh's bounty, then that person is requested to
withdraw before this letter to his heirs is read."
Withdraw? Was the man a fool? Withdraw?--these cormorants! these
suckers of blood! these harpies and vultures! I