“I am sure of it,” I replied, speaking earnestly. “This will, if we find it, on examination, to be an instrument executed according to legal forms, puts your rights in jeopardy, though by no means sets them aside.”
“You take the correct view, no doubt,” was her reply to this. Her voice was not so firm as in the beginning. As the probabilities began to show themselves again in her favor, she lost a degree of self-possession.
“Let Mr. Wallingford complete his work,” said I, “and find, if possible, the evidence you require, in case you prove to be the legal heir, as I trust you will. And until his return, the existence of this important document had better remain a secret.”
“Shall I not submit it to Judge Bigelow?”
I reflected for some moments, and then replied—
“Yes. He is your legal adviser, and one in whom the highest confidence may be reposed. The will should be at once placed in his hands for examination.”
“And go upon record?”
“Better leave all to his superior legal judgment. But,” as the thought occurred to me, “who are named as the executors of this will?”
“I did not examine as to that, being too much interested in the provisions of the writing,” she replied.
“May I see the document?”