Here Mr. Denver hesitated, and Markham colored. The latter, however, had sufficient presence of mind to say, “I beg you will proceed; I am sure that Mr. Martindale could never have made any unhandsome or illiberal observations, or that indeed he could have said any thing which I could object to hear.” “His observations,” continued Mr. Denver, “were not illiberal; but I felt some delicacy in alluding to the subject. Yet as you wish me to continue, I will add, that Mr. Martindale did say that he thought that there was something more than bodily illness, and that he had made such inquiries and had received such information as gave him a very high opinion of the parties concerned. He then said, that he was desirous of putting the name of Mr. Markham in his will. At his request, and totally unknown to Mr. Price, I fetched three gentlemen to witness the alteration of the will. When the gentlemen arrived, Mr. Martindale said to them, ‘Now, my good friends, I have requested the favor of your attendance to witness a transaction in which you have no interest; but I hope you will not on that account refuse to indulge an old man’s whims.’ For these were the same gentlemen who had witnessed the will which had been drawn out by Mr. Price. The gentlemen of course expressed their readiness to attend to the business on which they had been brought together; and then Mr. Martindale said to them, ‘Now, gentlemen, I am a capricious old man, and I wish to make some slight alteration in what I have called my last will and testament; but as the alteration concerns my worthy friend Price, I thought it best not to let him know any thing about the matter.’ He then produced the will, and read it over very distinctly; making as he went on many curious remarks, till when at last he reached the close of it he said, ‘Now I have here left Price residuary-legatee and executor; by which arrangement he will come into about ten or fifteen thousand pounds. But as there has been some change of circumstances which may render superfluous some of these legacies, and as Mr. Price does not reside in town, I have designed to make this alteration, namely, to put down his name as a legatee for twenty thousand, and to throw the burden of executorship and the chance of what may remain on my young friend, Horatio Markham of the Inner Temple.’” Markham recollected, as who could not? the observation which had been made to him by Sir Andrew Featherstone concerning the trickery of Mr. Price, in keeping the old gentleman in ignorance of the real value and extent of his property, in order to take advantage of that ignorance for his own benefit. When, however, it appeared that Markham was put in that position, it excited in his mind emotions not easily suppressed. Not designing however to take undue advantage of this disposition, he commanded his feelings, and suffered Mr. Denver to proceed.