But, of this, more anon.  Our good friends went home early after this singular discovery, showing more bewilderment than elation of manner.  I think that Constance and I were gladder in heart than they.

CHAPTER XXV.

The first thing done was to place the will on record; the next to give proper legal notice of its existence to the executors under the previous will, Judge Bigelow and Squire Floyd.  Mr. Dewey, on the announcement of this discovery, unhesitatingly declared the paper a forgery; but the witnesses to the signature of Captain Allen were living, and ready to attest its genuineness.  They remembered, very distinctly, the time when their names were appended to the document.  It was only a year before the Captain’s death.  They were walking past the Allen House, when the old man called them in, and asked them to witness the signing of a paper.  Of its contents they had no knowledge, as he did not make any communication on the subject.  But he signed it in their presence, and their signatures showed this will to be the paper then executed.

Notwithstanding this, it came to our ears, that Mr. Dewey persisted in alleging fraud, forgery, and the complicity of these witnesses.  And from the manner of Judge Bigelow and Squire Floyd, in the first brief interview I had with them, it was plain that they were far from being satisfied that all was right.  Their manner was that of men utterly confounded.  If the property in question had been held by them as really their own, they could hardly have exhibited more feeling.

After the will was entered at the proper office, and thus made public, the following paragraph appeared in our “Weekly Star”—­

“Remarkable Discovery of a Will.—­A singular circumstance happened in our town last week, no less than the discovery of a new and more recent will of the late Captain Allen, by which all of his large property is devised to his sister and her heirs.  It was found in a secret drawer, contained in an antiquated French Secretary, which Dr.——­bought when the furniture of the Allen House was sold, previous to a renovation of the old mansion for the residence of Mr. Ralph Dewey.  The late Mrs. Montgomery, who resided for a time at the Allen House, was sister to Captain Allen, and her daughter is now the wife of our townsman, Henry Wallingford, Esq.  We congratulate the parties on the good fortune which has come to their door.”

The marriage of Mr. Dewey took place within a month after the discovery of this will, and he brought his new wife to S——­, installing her as mistress of the Allen House.  She was a showy woman, past thirty, with a pair of brilliant black eyes, and a dark, rich complexion.  Her long, thin nose, and delicate, but proudly arching lips, showed her to possess will and determination.  It was the rumor in S——­, that she brought her husband a considerable fortune.  But she was not well received among us.  The families of Judge Bigelow, and Joshua Kling, Cashier of the Clinton Bank, called immediately.  Something later called the wives of two Directors in the Bank, and afterwards the wives of one or two citizens who had embarked some capital in the cotton mills.  Beyond this, no advances were made towards an acquaintance with the new Mrs. Dewey.