e plaintiff was entirely disinherited, and the present
defendants, together with some six or eight legatees, were constituted
the sole beneficiaries. On or about the 22nd December, 1885, however, the
testator executed a third testamentary document under which the plaintiff
takes the entire property, and this is the document now propounded. This
testamentary document, or, rather, will--for I submit that it is in
every sense a properly executed will--is tattooed upon the
shoulders"--(Sensation in the court)--"is tattooed upon the shoulders of
a young lady, Miss Augusta Smithers, who will presently be called before
your Lordship; and to prevent any misunderstanding, I may as well at once
state that since this event this lady has become engaged to be married to
the plaintiff (Renewed sensation.)

"Such, my Lord, are the main outlines of the case that I have to present
for the consideration of the Court, which I think your Lordship will
understand is of so remarkable and unprecedented a nature that I must
crave your Lordship's indulgence if I proceed to open it at some length,
beginning the history at its commencement."

By this time James Short had completely recovered his nerve, and was,
indeed, almost oblivious of the fact that there was anybody present in
the court, except the learned Judge and himself. Going back to the
beginning, he detailed the early history of the relationship between
Eustace Meeson and his uncle, the publisher, with which this record has
nothing to do. Thence he passed to the history of Augusta's relation with
the firm of Meeson and Co., which, as nearly everybody in the court, not
excepting the Judge, had read "Jemima's Vow," was very interesting to his
auditors. Then he went on to the scene between Augusta and the publisher,
and detailed how Eustace had interfered, which interference had led to a
violent quarrel, resulting in the young man's disinheritance. Passing on,
he detailed how the publisher and the published had taken passage in the
same vessel, and the tragic occurrences which followed down to Augusta's
final rescue and arrival in England, and finally ended his spirited
opening by appealing to the Court not to allow its mind to be influenced
by the fact that since these events the two chief actors had become
engaged to be married, which struck him, he said, as a very fitting
climax to so romantic a story.

At last he ceased, and amidst a little buzz of applause, for the speech
had reall