Page:The Talisman.pdf/46

98 Charles sat bewildered; but his friend Scott, as he was not the heir, retained his senses, and begging them to be seated, poured out a couple of glasses of claret; whereupon the lawyer, after draining one of them, began to read the will, which stated, that "I, Charles Smythe, being of sound mind and body, &c. &c. &c., do will and bequeath to Charles Smythe, my namesake, and, I believe, distant relation (our names being spelt alike), son of, &c. &c., all the property I possess at the time of my decease." And then followed such a list of estates here, and estates there, mortgages in every county in England, and money vested in the stocks of every known capital—English, French, Russian, and American—that Scott began to think the late Henry Smythe must have been the possessor of Fortunatus's purse. The will was ended, and the little auctioneer could contain himself no longer. "The luckiest thing in the world that we met to-day! I was in such a fright lest you should have drowned yourself; but I had you watched safe in here—and my boy saw a pie come in; so I thought you'd be sure to live till after dinner. Mr. Greaves has been out hunting for you all day. Lord love you! they're taking on so about you at your lodgings; and Mr. Greaves was afraid you had come to a bad end. Well, he was fagged out when he called on me; and quite down in the mouth to think that a young man should make away with himself just as he came in to such a fine fortune: