Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/187

 instrument, the attesting clause cannot be disturbed. In this case the very signatures of the witnesses are eliminated.'

"Well, sir, you'll admit that was a mighty fine point, and you'll not be surprised when I add that the audience as well as the litigants were clinging to their ear-locks and staring at the court with lacklustre eyes. It was clear beyond them, and you could have brushed them from the room with a feather.

"‘Then,' cried Mr. Remmy, triumphantly, 'as the will was destroyed, my clients are not guilty as charged, and can go in peace.'

That's so,' admitted Tib. 'I so charge.'

"‘That settles it, and I wish to thank this court for its superhuman intellect in elucidating one of the most—er—entangled, bovine questions of law I ever encountered in a court of justice,' spieled Mr. Remmy. 'Come on, boys, we'll drive those critters home.'

"‘Wait a moment,' commanded Tib, leaning his alabaster brow on the edge of Somebody on Mortgages. 'I hardly think you can take the cattle.'

"‘That calf is merely a blank-line in the will,' expostulated Mr. Bilger, at last coming to. 'Every will has blank-lines.'

"‘But they always exist before the will is made,' soothed Tib. 'No; the continuity of the will has been altered since its execution and so the instru-