hed reading the last letter he put it
carefully in his pocket. Then he took the other letter in his hand, and
stood up. "Mr. Rupert Sent Leger," he said, "please to open this letter,
and in such a way that all present may see that the memorandum at top of
the contents is given as--

"'B. To be read as clause ten of my Will.'"

St. Leger rolled up his sleeves and cuffs just as if he was going to
perform some sort of prestidigitation--it was very theatrical and
ridiculous--then, his wrists being quite bare, he opened the envelope and
took out the letter. We all saw it quite well. It was folded with the
first page outward, and on the top was written a line just as the
attorney said. In obedience to a request from the attorney, he laid both
letter and envelope on the table in front of him. The clerk then rose
up, and, after handing a piece of paper to the attorney, went back to his
seat. Mr. Trent, having written something on the paper, asked us all who
were present, even the clerk and the shorthand man, to look at the
memorandum on the letter and what was written on the envelope, and to
sign the paper, which ran:

"We the signatories of this paper hereby declare that we have seen the
sealed letter marked B and enclosed in the Will of Roger Melton opened in
the presence of us all including Mr. Edward Bingham Trent and Sir Colin
Alexander MacKelpie and we declare that the paper therein contained was
headed 'B. To be read as clause ten of my Will' and that there were no
other contents in the envelope. In attestation of which we in the
presence of each other append our signatures."

The attorney motioned to my father to begin. Father is a cautious man,
and he asked for a magnifying-glass, which was shortly brought to him by
a clerk for whom the clerk in the room called. Father examined the
envelope all over very carefully, and also the memorandum at top of the
paper. Then, without a word, he signed the paper. Father is a just man.
Then we all signed. The attorney folded the paper and put it in an
envelope. Before closing it he passed it round, and we all saw that it
had not been tampered with. Father took it out and read it, and then put
it back. Then the attorney asked us all to sign it across the flap,
which we did. Then he put the sealing-wax on it and asked father to seal
it with his own seal. He did so. Then he and MacKelpie sealed it also
with their own seals, Then he put it in another envelop