Brothers -- Fiction; Children -- Fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Motherless families -- Fiction
"I leave my knife with the two blades to Miles. One of the blades is
broken, but the other is quite good, and Virginie needn't be afraid of
his hurting himself, because it has been quite blunt and rusty ever
since I cut Carlo's nails with it, and left it out all night in the
rain. And Dolly must take care of my garden, and not let the flowers
die. And father, you're to have my prayer-book and my microscope; and I
suppose I must leave Virginie my little gold pin, because she's asked me
for it so often, and I shall never grow up now to be a man, and wear it
with a blue scarf, like I always meant to. And Dolly may have one of my
books. I don't think she would understand 'Peter Parley,' so perhaps it
had better be the 'Boy Hunters.' Then there's the ferret, and the
guinea-pigs, and the rabbits. I think Dolly shall have them too, because
I know she'll take care of them. What else have I got? Oh, yes! there's
my fishing-rod, and my skates, and my cricket things, all those are for
Miles. I've got twopence somewhere; I don't exactly know where, but give
them to lame Tom in the village; and tell him I'm more sorry for him
than ever now. And will somebody be kind to my poor jackdaw? I know you
all think him very ugly, and he _is_ cross, and he _does_ peck, but
please, for my sake, take care of him, because I'm the only friend he
has in the world, and now I'm going to leave him. Perhaps lame Tom had
better have him, because he'll understand better than any of you, how
sad it is to be--lame--and obliged to be still in one place all day. My
little sweet-pea in the nursery window is for Jane. It takes a great
deal of water. I used to pump my whole little pump of water on it four
or five times a day. It never was strong, that little sweet-pea.
Sometimes I think it had _too_ much water. But Jane will settle that.
"Well! I think that's all. Good-bye everybody."
"Have you put 'Good-bye everybody?'" he asked, eagerly.
"Yes," answered Sir Everard, vainly endeavoring to steady his voice, "I
have put it, dear. Is there anything more?"
"Don't people write their names, father? Could I write mine, do you
think, myself?"
"I don't think so, my darling," his father returned, in the same husky
tone; "but I will write them for you."
"All of them, please, father--Humphrey, and Everard, and Charles. Isn't
it a lot!" exclaimed Humphrey, with a touch of his old merriment.
"There it is in full," said Sir Everard; "Humphrey Everard Charles
Duncombe."
"May I try and make a mark, father?"
"If you like, dear," said the father, sadly; for he knew it was
impossible that the poor little hand and arm should perform such an
office, and Humphrey saw it himself directly he tried to move, and
abandoned the attempt of his own accord.
"Now hide it away somewhere, father," he exclaimed, eagerly, "for no
one must read it yet. I'm glad I've made my will," he added, as, with a
sigh of weariness, for he was worn out by so much talking, he closed his
eyes, and disposed himself to sleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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