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"Then my father died quite suddenly, and left no will He had intended to have one drawn up, but had put it off until it was too late And since nearly all the property was in the form of real estate, my brother inherited practically the whole of it However, in deference to the knoishes of my father, he made me an allowance of five hundred a year, which was about a quarter of the annual incon me a lump sum, but he refused to do this Instead, he instructed his solicitor to paythe rest of his life; and it was understood that, on his death, the entire estate should devolve on hter Ruth Then, as you know, he disappeared suddenly, and as the circuested that he was dead, and there was no evidence that he was alive, his solicitor--a Mr Jellicoe--found himself unable to continue the payment of the allowance On the other hand, as there was no positive evidence that my brother was dead, it was impossible to adested that your brother was dead What circumstances were they?"

"Principally the suddenness and coe, as youunclaimed at the railway station; and there was another circuestive My brother drew a pension fron Office, for which he had to apply in person, or, if abroad, produce proof that he was alive on the date when the payular in this respect; in fact, he had never been known to fail, either to appear in person or to transent, Mr Jellicoe But from the moment when he vanished sowhatever has been heard of him"

"It's a very aard position for you," I said, "but I should think there will not bethe permission of the Court to presuhaht," he said, "but, unfortunately, that doesn't helpwaited a reasonable time for my brother to reappear, took a very unusual but, I think, in the special circumstances, a very proper step: he summoned me and the other interested party to his office and communicated to us the provisions of the will And very extraordinary provisions they turned out to be I was thunderstruck when I heard the is that I feel sureperfectly safe and simple"