"But I cannot."
"Perhaps the sight of this paper will help you," said she. And turning
to Mr. Blake she exclaimed, "Your pardon for what I am called upon to
do. A duty has been laid upon me which I cannot avoid, hard as it is
for an old servant to perform. This paper--but it is no more than just
that you, sir, should see and read it first." And with a hand that
quivered with fear or some equally strong emotion, she put it in his
clasp.
The exclamation that rewarded the act made us all start forward. "My
father's handwriting!" were his words.
"Executed under my eye," observed Mrs. Daniels.
His glance ran rapidly down the sheet and rested upon the final
signature.
"Why has this been kept from me?" demanded he, turning upon Mrs.
Daniels with sternness.
"Your father so willed it," was her reply. "'For a year' was his
command, 'you shall keep this my last will and testament which I give
into your care with my dying hands, a secret from the world. At the
expiration of that time mark if my son's wife sits at the head of her
husband's table; if she does and is happy, suppress this by
deliberately giving it to the flames, but if from any reason other
than death, she is not seen there, carry it at once to my son, and
bid him as he honors my memory, to see that my wishes as there
expressed are at once carried out.
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