“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.