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"But even so," I said, "if thisfor a freehold residence in soone about the business in a more reasonable way"

"There I am entirely with you," Thorndyke replied "It is the absurd way in which this provision is worded that not only creates all the trouble but also nificant in view of the testator's disappearance"

"How significant?" Jervis deerly

"Let us consider the provisions of the will point by point," said Thorndyke; "and first note that the testator commanded the services of a very capable lawyer"

"But Mr Jellicoe disapproved of the will," said I; "in fact, he protested strongly against the form of it"

"We will bear that in mind, too," Thorndyke replied "And noith reference to ethat strikes us is their preposterous injustice Godfrey's inheritance is made conditional on a particular disposal of the testator's body But this is a matter not necessarily under Godfrey's control The testator ht have been lost at sea, or killed in a fire or explosion, or have died abroad and been buried where his grave could not be identified There are nuencies besides the iht prevent the body fro recovered

"But even if the body had been recovered, there is another difficulty The places of burial in the parishes named have all been closed for many years It would be impossible to reopen any of them without a special faculty, and I doubt whether such a faculty would be granted Possibly creht meet the difficulty, but even that is doubtful; and, in any case, the ham Yet, if the required interacy"

"It is a monstrous and absurd injustice," I exclaimed

"It is," Thorndyke agreed; "but this is nothing to the absurdity that coht e consider clauses two and three in detail Observe that the testator presumably wished to be buried in a certain place; also he wished that his brother should benefit under the will Let us take the first point and see how he has set about securing the accomplishment of what he desired Now, if we read clauses two and three carefully, we shall see that he has rendered it virtually impossible that his wishes can be carried out He desires to be buried in a certain place and ives Godfrey no power or authority to carry out the provision, and places insuperable obstacles in his way For until Godfrey is an executor, he has no power or authority to carry out the provisions: and until the provisions are carried out, he does not become an executor"