Captain Shadrach and Zoeth looked at each other. The former tugged at his beard.
“Hum!” he mused. “Somethin' to do with Marcellus's affairs, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Want to know! And somethin' to do with me and Zoeth?”
“Yes, with both of you. This,” holding up one of the folded papers, “is Captain Hall's will. I drew it for him a year ago and he has appointed me his executor.”
Zoeth nodded. “We supposed likely he would,” he observed.
“Couldn't get a better man,” added Shadrach, with emphasis.
“Thank you. Captain Hall leaves all he possessed—practically all; there is a matter of two hundred dollars for his housekeeper, Mrs. Hobbs, and a few other personal gifts—but he leaves practically all he possessed to his stepdaughter, Mary Lathrop.”
Both his hearers nodded again. “We expected that, naturally,” said the Captain. “It's what he'd ought to have done, of course. Well, she'll be pretty well fixed, won't she?”
Judge Baxter shook his head. “Why, no—she won't,” he said, soberly. “That is a part of the surprise which I mentioned at first. Captain Hall was, practically, a poor man when he died.”