out. Wherever she might be, throughout the world, there he would find
her. And he knew now what had been in his mind, that yesterday, when
he had walked beside the lily-pond, along the soft path no longer trod
by her. Where could she be? First loves were best. And he fell into a
reverie.
He was still holding the hat in his hand, and Fides came up again and
sniffed at it. There was something in his mouth--was it a glove?
May took the glove, and almost thought he recognized it. It was a
woman’s glove, a garden-glove with a long arm--where had he found it?
The dog looked up at him, almost as if he read his thoughts, and then
he led the way and Austin followed. He went across the lawn, and
through the hedge, to the well-remembered seat in the orchard, by the
linden-tree, and there he stopped. And May sat down upon the seat and
dreamed.
An hour he sat there, and then he saw a figure coming through the
field. And his heart told him that this was May Austin. She did not see
him, and he waited there.
When she came out from under the last apple-tree, he saw her stop and
waver. She was lovelier still than he remembered her, and he went up to
her and took her hand. She blushed, and he could feel it tremble as it
lay in his.
“I--I thought you were abroad,” said she.
“I have come back,” he answered, simply.
III.
THE POSTHUMOUS JEST.
An hour later Schmidt was sitting by the front door, smoking his long
pipe, when he thought he saw his master crossing the lawn along the
lily-pond. But he was walking hand in hand with a young lady. The long
pipe dropped from Schmidt’s hand; and
“Potztausend!”
The imperturbable valet was moved to say as much as this, but of
further speech remained incapable. May approached.
“Schmidt, you will go to town and get the rest of my luggage.”
The valet only stared.
“And after this I shall not need your services. I will find you a good
place (with some of my bachelor friends,” thought May; “poor devils!”).
Schmidt still stood there, his broken pipe upon the door-step.
“Do you hear what I say?”
Schmidt made an effort. “There is a letter for monsieur--in the
pavilion.” A letter! May trembled to himself once more.
“I must go home,” said May Austin, still blushing violently. She lived
in a cottage there, near by, that she had bought with her slender
fortune. But May begged her to wait until he had gone to the pavilion,
and then he would go with her. He feared that he knew what the letter
was. But it had come too late! A thousand countesses could not bind him
now.
Coming thither, May sat upon the door-step, and Austin opened the
letter.
LAW OFFICES OF VESEY & BEAMES,
3 COURT STREET, BOSTON,
August 14, 1886.
AUSTIN MAY, Esq., Brookline, Mass.
DEAR SIR: The eleven years’ delay required by the will of your late
uncle, John Austin, having expired to-day, I have much satisfaction
in sending you a copy (herein enclosed) of the document contained in
the sealed envelope referred to in said will, and constituting his
residuary legatee; although, as I am informed that you have never
married, the residuary clause of the will does not take effect.
The executors hold themselves in readiness to deliver over to you
all the securities and title-deeds representing your uncle’s estate
upon receiving from you an affidavit that you have not, up to date,
contracted a legal marriage.
I have some embarrassment in speaking to you of another aspect of
this case, and can only hope you will think I acted for the best.
You will remember that immediately after your uncle’s death, I sent
you a copy of the will as it was filed for probate. But when it came
to a hearing I found that the court utterly refused to allow probate
of a will which contained as a most important part the contents of
a sealed letter, left in my custody, and the purport of which was
unknown to the court. His honor intimated that he considered the
will ridiculous in tenor and inartificial in structure; and that it
was at least questionable whether the residuary devise was not void,
as dependent upon a condition in restraint of marriage. It was in
vain that I cited the case where a man chalked his will upon his
own barn-door, and the barn-door having been brought into court and
copied was allowed to be replaced upon its hinges. The court wholly
objected to being made, as it were, a confidant of Mr. Austin’s love
projects; and insisted that the sealed letter should be opened then
and there, and read to the court, and appended to the will and filed
away with it. Accordingly this was done.
But I conceived that I should be best following out the wishes of
your uncle and my old friend by not telling you of this. Suspecting
that it would never occur to you to inspect the court records, the
reporters were paid for their silence, and although you might at any
time during the past eleven years have read this sealed envelope,
your continued absence abroad leads me to hope that you have never
done so.
I am, sir, with great respect,
Faithfully yours,
J. VESEY, JR.
Austin May dropped the letter from his hands and looked at May. “I
might have known it any time these eleven years,” said he.
“Known what?” said she, picking up the enclosure, which had fluttered
to the floor.
“Perhaps it is as well,” gasped Austin; and he shuddered as he thought
of Mrs. Terwilliger and the scheming Countess. He took the paper from
May’s hands and read as follows:
“I, John Austin, gentleman, hereby incorporate this sealed writing,
referred to in my will of even date herewith, as part of my said will.
Having provided in such my will that in the event of my said nephew,
Austin May, becoming married before he attain the age of thirty-five,
or before the period of eleven years shall have elapsed from the date
of my death, whichever shall first happen, all my property, real
and personal, except my said bin of Lafite claret, shall go to my
residuary legatee; and having observed a certain tenderness existing
between my said nephew, Austin May, and my said niece, May Austin,
I hereby nominate and create my dear niece, May Austin, as such my
residuary legatee--in the hope that as I, marrying without love, have
been unhappy, they, my said niece and nephew, marrying for love alone,
giving up all thoughts of worldly advantage, may enjoy the blessings of
this world besides.”
The paper slipped from Austin’s hands.
“To think that I have waited eleven years!” said he. And he struck his
hand against his forehead.
But May Austin looked up to him and smiled.
* * * * *
Of the Countess Polacca de Valska, Austin never heard. Terwilliger
Dehon remarried, and, for the second time, a very pretty woman; such
men always do. The Burlington Quincys have also been married; and Tom
Leigh has come to stay at Brookline for this season; and Mrs. Eastman’s
reign is ended; but Fides is an honored inmate of the Brookline house.
And if you drive by there, some summer afternoon, you will note once
more about the windows those frilled and pleated things that denote the
presence of a woman’s hand.
THE END.
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