William read over the will; and with many oaths, and in his delirium of success, losing sense of caution, half shouted, as he swung the document in the air at the tip of his fingers, and half danced about the room:—
"There, now! my blessed, sweet little child, cousin Nellie, you're outwitted—and—you—are—in—my power! Love me, and tell me so, or you shall beg. No! I vow I'll buy your graces. I'll bring you to my feet, but I will never marry you! Confound you! Roberts, give me a match."
Roberts plunged his hand into his vest pocket, and drew out a portable safe, took a match therefrom, and struck it, handing it to William, whose hand trembled in the flush of victory, as he touched it to the paper.
The unwise fellows had neglected to bolt the door,—probably from the fact of being on the highest flight,—so I had not the obstacle of a lock to overcome, as I quickly turned the knob, and rushed in upon the astonished pair, and snatched the paper from William's hand while only a corner of it was burned.
"Ah, you scamps!" I exclaimed, "I am in the nick of time, it seems. You are caught in the last and important act. Do you think there's no God in heaven to watch over innocents like your cousin Nellie?"
The look of stupid horror which the countenances of Roberts and William Wilson revealed, remains as fresh on my mind as if it were only yesterday that I surprised them.
I lost no time in getting the will safely into my pocket, and bade them defiance. Roberts rushed out of the room, as if he had been shot, and from that hour the strictest search in Philadelphia couldn't discover him. Nobody knows where he went. As for William, he was too much overcome to stir, and I left the room with him in it; and I didn't sleep that night till I had relieved myself of the possession of the will, placing it in the attorney's hands.
Of course Miss Nellie had no trouble in getting possession of her property, but she would not allow her now penitent and subdued cousin to be pursued at the law for his nefarious conspiracy. Indeed, she gave him nearly double the amount his father had provided in annuity. However, it didn't serve him long; for in less than six months from that time, while partially intoxicated, and driving a fractious horse, he was thrown from the carriage, and so injured on the head that his broken constitution could not recover from the shock, and he died in a few days.
And now comes what to me is the most cheerful part of the story. One day, a couple of years after that eventful night, being here, and meeting by chance a handsome cousin of mine, Dr. Charles R., of St. Louis, who had just returned from Europe, where he had pursued his medical studies, in Vienna, and having only a short time to spend with him, for I was obliged to be off early next morning, I ventured to ask him to accompany me to the home of Nellie, for she had bidden me to always call on her when in Philadelphia. We went. She is very handsome, and so is cousin Charles, and I reckon both discovered this fact of the other instantly, and appreciated it, for Nellie, though very kind and courteous to me, managed to occupy herself mostly in entertaining "the stranger."
To cut the story short, we left the house duly.