Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/149

Rh some religious purpose; and, in a spirit of grim jest, it would seem, one dollar each to her “beloved children,” Gerald Van Bartan and Columbia Van Bartan, his wife.

The effect of this will upon the two young people, as the executor slowly read its provisions, would require a dramatist of no little stature to describe. The woman's face grew drawn and bloodless. The man's knees seemed to give way, and he would have fallen had he not been helped to a chair.

Dalton, men did not notice, for he was a skilful actor. When the executor had finished, Mr. Lomax plucked Carpenter by the arm, and inquired, in a low voice, if he had noticed any defect in the will. Carpenter replied that he had not, but that he had paid little attention to its form, whereupon Lomax requested him to examine it closely. The elder counsellor stepped up beside Harrison and began to go carefully over the instrument. Presently he stopped in amazement, and put his finger down on the paper.

“This will,” he said, “is utterly void.”

At the word, the blood surged back into