Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1916 — THE HIDDEN WELL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE HIDDEN WELL

By GEORGE MUNSON.

Aunt Jerusha was dead, and she had left everything to Dorothy. Aunt Jerusha had been mother and father tn one to Dorothy until she married Charlie Enfield, the young lawyer. There was nothing against the young man's character, but Aunt Jerusha had Bo use for lawyers, a lawyer had once treated her badly. ' . The day of the young people’s marriage had been six months before, and then a misfortune had happened. Dorothy had called Impulsively at her aunt’s house to beg forgiveness, and Aunt Jerusha had been quite conciliatory, and had made tea in the fine old Worcester teapot that had come down in the family for generations. Then Dorothy dropped the sugar bowl, and that ended everything. Aunt Jerusha had several peculiarities. One was her disljke for lawyers, whom she called rogues. Another was her love for her china, which she valued, she said, more than any human being on earth except her parrot, recently deceased. A stormy scene ensued, and Dorothy left the house Indignantly. When Aunt Jerusha died she left Dorothy everything, including the tea service, teapot, milk pitcher, mended sugar bowl and five saucers and six cups. Dorothy had broken one saucer in childhood, and she had never heard the last of It. They.moved into the cottage. The legacy was much smaller than it ought to have been. Three-quarters of Aunt ........... . ——— ■ --.-. IT, -•

Jerusha’s wealth had disappeared somewhere. However, they were not a mercenary young couple, and cared very little about this. "To my beloved niece Dorothy,” the will had run, "I leave my china tea service, in the hope that one or two of the pieces will escape destruction at her hands, and that her husband, Charles, will prove himself an honest man, as well as a lawyer, if the occasion arises.” The young couple were too happy to pay -much thought to Aunt Jerusha’s eccentricities. They lived three months in the cottage before calamity broke over thnir heads. That happened one afternoon when one of Dorothy’s., friends was calling. “Yes, aunt left me the clearest little tea set,” she said. “We must have tea in it this afternoon. Look at this quaint little teapot—” Crash! The teapot was a heap of broken china upon the floor. In the midst of her distress Dorothy seemed to hear her Aunt Jerusha’s mocking laugh. “O dear,” exclaimed the girl,wringing her hands. “I. knew that would happen some day.” "Perhaps it can be mended,” her friend suggested. “Why, look, Dorothy! What’s that?” “That” proved to be a piece of paper, neatly folded, which had made its appearance among the pieces and protruded from what was clearly enough a false bottom. Dorothy opened it and gasped. It was her aunt’s last will. It was indubitably the very last will, for it was dated a year later than the one by which she had inherited the money. As she stared at it Charley came in. He picked up the will and read it. One scathing sentence burned itself into Dorothy’s brain. . my property,” it ran, “to be the possession of my niece Dorothy so long as the blue Worcester teapot remains Intact. And, knowing that within a short time my said niece, Dorothy, will break the said teapot, I hereby bequeath all my property, except the broken fragments of the said teapot, in the care of Mr. Jebediah Sturgeon, president of the Parrot association of Greenville, Mass.” The guest had taken the opportunity to slip away, and Dorothy and her husband looked at one another in dismay. "The darned old cat!" said Charley. "What does it mean, dear?” asked his wife hysterically. “It means,” he answered, “that your Aunt Jerusha has taken her posthumous revenge upon us. Don’t you see? -Bo Jong as the jeai^ neither of us would know that we didn't own the property, but now we’ve come upon a later will inside the old thing, we’ve—we’ve got to evacuate.” “And T*ve made tea in it fifty times and —and thought of her,” sobbed the girl. . “I wish we’d spent every penny of that old legacy, and sold the bouse

too. Isn’t there any way of getting out of It, dear?” The lawyer shook his head. "The will is properly executed and witnessed,” he answered. "Of course it might be possible to claim that she had been bf unsound mind. But I know that in spite of her eccentricities she was a woman of remarkable clarity of mind. And anyway, a lawsuit yrith old Jebediah what’s-hls-name would be an expensive proceeding. No, my dear, there isn’t anything we can do except turn the will over to Jebediah.” On the following morning Charley set out for Greenville, accompanied by Dorothy, who bad pleaded to go with him. Mr. Jebediah Sturgeon was easily located. He was, in fact, the chief lawyer of the town, but when the visitors explained their presence and spoke of the Parrot association—hesmiled with much amusement. "The late Miss Jerusha Shaw was a remarkable woman,** he Baid, M he searched in a tin box for some papers. “One of the eccentricities was an extreme aversion from lawyers. I understand that you are of our profession,” he added, turning to Charley. "Yes, and she had no use for me on that account.” “So I understood. I can say, in fact, that I was the only lawyer for whom she did have any use. Ours was a very old friendship, and her will, though apparently drawn up without legal advice, was, in fact, drawn up by me. I may say that Miss Shaw would have placed as much confidence in me as this statement denotes." He drew a paper from the box, put on his glasses, and began to peruse it Then he smiled genially. —— ■ "The property was much smaller than you expected to find, Mr. Ehfield?” he asked. —’—- “She ought to have had about six thousand dollars more,” said Charley. "She had nineteen thousand dollars more than appeared in the will,” said Mr. Sturgeon. “It was invested in certain bonds which are in my keeping. As I said, the late Miss Shaw honored me with her absolute confidence. But Miss Shaw was anxious to test your honesty, Mr. Enfield. In fact, she said to me that she regretted she could not put you to the test while she was alive. —r“ “ ‘Knowing that my niece Dorothy,’ he read, ‘who has been butter-fingered from birth, will inevitably blue china teapot within a few weeks at most, I have hidden my last will therein. If her husband, Mr. Enfield, destroys this will without carrying out its provisions, k the bulk of my property is to -go to the Parrot association of Boston, founded by myself. But if the said Charles Enfield is honest enough to comply with the Instructions in my will, the whole of my remaining property is to go to him.* ” Dorothy flung her arms round her husband’s neck. “Dear Aunt Jerusha!" she cried. (Copyright, 1916, by W. G. Chapman.)

“We’ve Got to Evacuate.”