a proper case—­a paper, not perfected as a written will, may be established as a nuncupative will when its completion is prevented by act of God, or any other cause than an intention to abandon or postpone its consummation.  The presumption of the law is against validity of a testamentary paper not completed.  There must be in the testator the animus testandi, which is sometimes presumed from circumstances in such cases and in such places as nuncupative wills are recognized.  Now, your father being as you point out, neither a soldier nor a sailor, couldn’t have made a nuncupative will under any circumstances, even if a letter would legally be treated as such a will instead of as an ineffectual attempt to make a written one—­upon which point I confess myself ignorant.  Therefore”—­and he tossed away his cigarette butt with an air of finality—­“this letter bequeathing twenty-five thousand dollars to Sadie Burch—­whoever and whatever she may be—­is either an attempt to make a will or a codicil to a will in a way not recognized by the statute, or it is an attempt to add to, alter or vary a will already properly executed and witnessed by arbitrarily affixing to or placing within it an extraneous written paper.”

“Well,” commented Payson, “I understand what you’ve said about nun—­nuncupative wills, all right,—­that is, I think I do.  But leaving them out of consideration I still don’t see why this letter can’t be regarded as part of the original will.”

“For the reason that when your father executed the original document he went through every form required by the statute for making a will.  If he hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been a will at all.  If this paper, which never was witnessed by a single person, could be treated as a supplement or addition to the will, there would have been no use requiring the original will to be witnessed, either.”

“That seems logical,” agreed Payson.  “But isn’t it often customary to incorporate other papers by referring to them in a will?”

“It is sometimes done, and usually results in nothing but litigation.  You see for yourself how absurd it would be to treat a paper drawn or executed after a will was made as part of it, for that would render the requirements of the statute nugatory.”

“But suppose the letter was already in existence or was written at the same time as the will,—­wouldn’t that make a difference?” hesitated Payson.

“Not a bit!  Not one bit!” chirped Tutt.  “The law is settled that such a paper writing can be given effect only under certain very special conditions and only to a limited extent.  Anyhow that question doesn’t arise here.”

“Why not?” queried the residuary legatee.  “How do you know this letter wasn’t written and placed inside the will when it was made?—­And that my father supposed that of course it would be given effect?”

“In that case why shouldn’t he have incorporated the legacy in the will?” countered Tutt sharply.