Norton lifted his finger warningly and Andy hastened to sign his name with a flourish of the pen. He looked at it admiringly:
"Dar now! Dey sho know dat's me! I practise on dat quereque two whole mont's——"
Norton folded the will, placed it in an envelope, addressed it and lifted his drawn face:
"Tell the Clerk of the Court that I executed this will to-night and placed it in this desk"—his voice became inaudible a moment and went on—"Ask him to call for it to-morrow and record it for me."
Minerva, who had been listening and watching with the keenest interest, pressed forward and asked in a whisper:
"Yassah, but whar's you gwine ter be? You sho ain't gwine ter die ter-night?"
Norton quietly recovered himself and replied angrily:
"Do I look as if I were dying?"
"Nasah!—But ain't dey no way dat I kin help ye, major? De young folks is gwine ter leave, sah——"
"They are not going until I'm ready!" was the grim answer.