“‘They may do what they like, but I’ll checkmate them

still,’ said he with an oath. ‘Tell Mary that I shall want a fire

in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.’


“I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to step up

to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there was a mass

of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper, while the brass box stood open and

empty beside it. As I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the

lid was printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.


“‘I wish you, John,’ said my uncle, ‘to witness

my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages,

to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you

can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice,

my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am sorry to give you such a

two-edged thing, but I can’t say what turn things are going to take.

Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham shows you.’


“I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with him.

The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me,

and I pondered over it and turned it every way in my mind without being able to

make anything of it. Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which

it left behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and

nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I could see a

change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and he was less inclined

for any sort of society. Most of his time he would spend in his room, with the

door locked upon the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken

frenzy and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a

revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and that he