I hid nought and explained all, even down to my feelings in
the matter, and my wish, man to man, to give him another chance for to do
right. And I never see a male creature so much moved as Squire was when I
telled the tale.
"I thought it was a miracle," he said very quietly, after I'd finished.
Then, after a pause: "Yes, and so it was a miracle, and this is a miracle,
too!"
Then he had his say.
"I would sooner have had this happen than anything in the world," he
declared. "First, the mystery has been cleared up for me, and, secondly,
the mystery can be cleared up for you. You did me the best turn that
living man could have done for me--you put me right with myself. You'll
stare at that, but it's true. I had done a crooked thing that night; but I
did a straight one the next morning, for I was strong again by that time.
The lawyer came then, and I showed him the codicil, which had come into my
hands quite by chance the day before when I was searching for another
paper. But he only laughed at it. My late uncle was a man of strong
temper, a gusty, fiery man of moods and whims. His passions were like
storms--he would forget them when they had swept over him. More than once
in his life had he committed the gravest actions in a rage and entirely
forgotten them afterwards, until he was reminded, by unpleasant results,
of the things that he had done.
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