ained sufficient
steadiness to stand, for I observed by the control he exercised over
this herd of self-seekers that he had not touched the cup which had so
freely gone about among the others. The woman was hidden from me, but
the change in her voice, when by any chance I heard it, convinced me
that she had not disdained the toasts drunk by her brothers and nephews.

"Silence!" the lawyer reiterated, "or I will smash this bottle on the
hearth!" He raised it in one threatening hand, and every man there
seemed to tremble, while old Luke put out his long fingers with an
entreaty that ill became them. "You want to hear the letter?" old Smead
called out. "I thought so."

Putting the bottle down again, but still keeping one hand upon it, he
drew a folded paper from his breast. "This," said he, "contains the
final injunctions of Anthony Westonhaugh. You will listen, all of
you--listen till I am done--or I will not only smash this bottle before
your eyes, but I will keep forever buried in my breast the whereabouts
of certain drafts and bonds in which, as his heirs, you possess the
greatest interest. Nobody but myself knows where these papers can be
found."

Whether this was so, or whether the threat was an empty one, thrown out
by this subtle old schemer for the purpose of safeguarding his life from
their possible hate and impatience, it answered his end with these
semi-intoxicated men, and secured him the silence he demanded. Breaking
open the seal of the envelope he held, he showed them the folded sheet
which it contained with the remark:

"I have had nothing to do with the writing of this letter. It is in Mr.
Westonhaugh's own hand, and he was not even so good as to communicate to
me the nature of its contents. I was bidden to read it to such as should
be here assembled under the provisos mentioned in his will; and as you
are now in a condition to listen, I will proceed with my task as
required."

This was my time for leaving, but a certain brooding terror, latent in
the air, held me chained to the spot, listening with my ears, but
receiving the full sense of what was read from the expression of old
Luke's face, which was probably more plainly visible to me than to those
who sat beside him. For, being bent almost into a bow, as I have said,
his forehead came within an inch of touching his plate, and one had to
look under his arms, as I did, to catch the workings of his evil mouth,
as old Smead gave forth, in his profes