Perhaps the person who felt the most throbbing excitement at this moment was Mary Garth, in the consciousness that it was she who had virtually determined the production of this second will, which might have momentous effects on the lot of some persons present. No soul except herself knew what had passed on that final night.
“The will I hold in my hand,” said Mr. Standish, who, seated at the table in the middle of the room, took his time about everything, including the coughs with which he showed a disposition to clear his voice, “was drawn up by myself and executed by our deceased friend on the 9th of August, 1825 . But I find that there is a subsequent instrument hitherto unknown to me, bearing date the 20th of July, 1826 , hardly a year later than the previous one. And there is farther, I see”— Mr. Standish was cautiously travelling over the document with his spectacles—“a codicil to this latter will, bearing date March 1, 1828 .”
“Dear, dear!” said sister Martha, not meaning to be audible, but driven to some articulation under this pressure of dates.
“I shall begin by reading the earlier will,” continued Mr. Standish, “since such, as appears by his not having destroyed the document, was the intention of deceased.”
The preamble was felt to be rather long, and several besides Solomon shook their heads pathetically, looking on the ground: all eyes avoided meeting other eyes, and were chiefly fixed either on the spots in the tablecloth or on Mr. Standish’s bald head; excepting Mary Garth’s. When all the rest were trying to look nowhere in particular, it was safe for her to look at them. And at the sound of the first “give and bequeath”