The Residuary Legatee; Or, The Posthumous Jest of the Late John Austin

by Frederic Jesup Stimson

SCENE FIRST—THE WILL.
PAGE
I.	Ulysses and Penelope,	[ 3]
II.	The Pavilion by the Lilies,	[ 14]
III.	Paul and Virginia,	[ 24]
SCENE SECOND—THE CODICIL.
I.	An Iroquois in Trouville,	[ 37]
II.	Theseus and Ariadne,	[ 45]
III.	Dido and Æneas,	[ 56]
SCENE THIRD—THE ADMINISTRATION.
I.	The Judgment of Paris,	[ 67]
II.	A Lead of Hearts,	[ 72]
III.	Perseus and Andromeda,	[ 82]
SCENE FOURTH—THE FINAL ACCOUNTS.
I.	Æneas and Camilla,	[ 93]
II.	The Idyl of Anteros,	[ 102]
III.	The Uncertain Glory of a New York Girl,	[ 109]
IV.	The Keeping of the Tryst,	[ 115]
V.	The Return of the Countess,	[ 121]
SCENE FIFTH—THE RESIDUARY BEQUEST.
I.	The Order of Discharge,	[ 129]
II.	A Prior Mortgage,	[ 133]
III.	The Posthumous Jest,	[ 137]

Scene First
THE WILL

I.
ULYSSES AND PENELOPE.

On the morning of August 14th, in this last summer, Mr. Austin May alighted at the little Cypress Street station of the Boston & Albany Railroad, and, accompanied only by a swarthy and adroit valet, and a very handsome St. Bernard dog, got into the somewhat antiquated family “carryall” which awaited him, and drove away. May was a stranger to the man in charge of the station, as well as to the wide-awake trio of boys who made it a sort of club, their exchange of gossip, and pleasure resort; and thus his arrival was unnoticed and unrecorded, though his last absence had extended over a period of several years. It was a most oppressive day; and what few human beings were dressed and stirring made haste to get beneath the dense foliage, or to plunge into the numerous private-paths and shortcuts, with which the suburb of Brookline is provided; leaving the roads and their dust undisturbed, except by the sedate progress of the old carryall, which left behind it, suspended in the air, an amazing quantity of the same considering its speed, and quite obscured the morning sun with its golden cloud. Austin May might have been an entering circus procession, and no one would have found it out. Even the boys at the station were sluggish, and indisposed to “catch on” behind every train, much less to give their particular attention to one undistinguished stranger, with or without a dog.

May lit a cigar, and the carryall and its occupants lumbered along unheeded. The road was walled in and roofed over by a dense canopy of foliage borne by arching American elms; and through its green walls, dense as a lane in Jersey, only momentary glimpses were to be had of shaven lawns and quiet country-houses. When they came to a gate, with high stone posts, topped by an ancient pair of cannon-balls, the carryall turned slowly in. A moment after they had passed the screen of border foliage, May found himself in the midst of a wide lawn and garden, open to the sunlight, but rimmed upon all points of the compass by a distant hedge of trees, so that no roads, houses, thoroughfares, or other fields, were visible. In the centre of this stood, with much dignity, an elderly brick house, its southern wall quite green with ivy. In front of it was a large pavilion, some hundred yards removed, low and stone-built, rising without apparent purpose from the side of an artificial pool of water, rimmed with rich bands of lilies. May looked anxiously for the pavilion, and, when he saw it, sank back in his seat with a sigh of relief.

The carryall stopped before a broad, white marble step at the front door; and the Charon of the conveyance, known locally as the “dépôt-man,” having dumped the one leather trunk upon the step, stood looking at the stranger contemplatively, as if his own duties in this world were all fulfilled.

“How much?” said May.

“Twenty-five cents,” said the dépôt-man.

May pulled out a half-dollar. “No matter about the change,” he added, as the dépôt-man hitched up his vest, preparatory to fishing in his cavernous trousers for the requisite quarter.

The dépôt-man changed his quid of tobacco, and drove off without a word, the downward lines from the corners of his mouth a shade deeper, as if he profited unwillingly by such unnecessary prodigality, which aroused rather contempt than gratitude. May waited until the carryall had quite disappeared in the elm-trees, and then rang the bell. Apparently, he expected no prompt answer; for he sat down upon one of the old china garden-seats, which flanked the door, and rolled and lit a cigarette. After a few minutes he rang again, louder; the unwonted tinkle reverberated through the closed house, and an imaginative man, putting his ear to the key-hole, might have heard the scuffle of the family ghosts as they scurried back to their hiding-places. At last an uncertain step was heard in the hall, and after much turning of keys and rattling of chains, the door was slowly opened by an old woman, who blinked at the flood of sudden light which poured in, rebounded, eddied, and at last filled each corner of the fine old hall.