Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/148

124 and satisfy themselves that she was in proper mental condition. This they did at some length, and not unskilfully, all being men of good sense. Afterward Harrison and Pickney subscribed their names as witnesses in the manner prescribed by the statute. Mrs. Van Bartan then placed the will in an envelope, sealed it with her own hand in the presence of all, and gave it to Simon Harrison to retain until after her death.

On the seventeenth day of December following, Mrs. Van Bartan died suddenly, and some days thereafter the will was opened and read at her late residence by Simon Harrison, executor. Gerald Van Bartan and his young wife were present, as was also Robert Dalton, and those others who had been with the deceased when the will was drawn. The elder members of the law firm, Carpenter and Lomax, were likewise present, and, at the request of Harrison, the Episcopal minister, Rev. Mr. Boreland, and his counsel, an obscure practitioner named Gouch.

The will was short, leaving the entire estate, real and personal, naming it specifically, for