e, after which he brought to light and opened some
written instrument, that was engrossed on a single sheet of foolscap, and
had the names of several witnesses at its bottom.

"Ay, ay, that's it," said Baiting Joe, for the room was crowded with all
sorts of people; "that's the dockerment. I know'd it as soon as I laid
eyes on it!"

"And what do _you_ know about it, Josy?" demanded the widow, eagerly.
"Cousin Job, this man may turn out a most important and considerable
witness!"

"What do I know, Mrs. Martin? Why I seed the deacon sign for the seals,
and exercute. As soon as I heard Squire Craft, who was down here from
Riverhead on that 'ere very business, talk so much about seals, I know'd
Captain Gar'ner must have suthin' to do with the matter. The deacon's very
heart was in the schooner and her v'y'ge, and I think it was the craft
that finished him, in the end."

"Won't that set aside a codicil, cousin Job, if so be the deacon has
r'ally codicilled off Captain Gar'ner and Mary?"

"We shall see, we shall see. So you was present, Josy, at the making of a
will?"

"Sartain--and was a witness to the insterment, as the squire called it.
I s'pose he sent for me to be a witness, as I am some acquainted with the
sealin' business, having made two v'y'ges out of Stunnin'tun, many years
since. Ay, ay; that's the insterment, and pretty well frightened was the
deacon when he put his name to it, I can tell you!"

"Frightened!" echoed the brother--"that's ag'in law, at any rate. The
instrument that a man signs because he's frightened, is no instrument at
all, in law. As respects a will, it is what we justices of the peace call
'dies non,' or, don't die; that is, in law."

"Can that be so, squire Job?" asked the sister, who had said but little
hitherto, but had thought all the more.

"Yes, that's Latin, I s'pose, and good Latin, too, they tell me. A man may
be dead in the flesh, but living in law."

"La! how cur'ous! Law is a wonderful thing, to them that understands it."

The worthy Mrs. Thomas expressed a much more profound sentiment than that
of which she was probably aware, herself. Law _is_ a wonderful thing, and
most wonderful is he who can tell what it is to-day, or is likely to be
to-morrow. The law of testamentary devises, in particular, has more than
the usual uncertainty, the great interest that is taken by the community
in the large estates of certain individuals who are placed without the
ordinary social cate