The family solicitor, Mr, Ferret, held in his hand what purported to be the last will of Mrs.Manning.
The widowed husband had directed the lawyer to the bureau of the deceased lady as likely to contain her will.

It was found without trouble in the topmost drawer.
Deborah and the coachman had speculated as to whether they would be invited to attend at the reading of the will.
Their doubts were set at rest by an invitation from Mr.Manning himself.
"You were so long in the service of my dear wife," he said, "that it is fitting that you be present at the reading of her will, in which it is quite probable that you may be personally interested." "He is uncommonly polite, I am sure," thought Deborah, disposed for the moment to think more favorably of the man whom she had never been able to like.
"My friends," said the lawyer, after a preliminary cough, "you are assembled to listen to the will of Mrs.Manning, just deceased.

The document which I hold in my hand I believe to be such an instrument.

I will now open if for the first time." He untied the ribbon, and began reading the will.
It commenced with the usual formula, and proceeded to a few bequests of trifling amount.
Deborah and Richard Green were each left two hundred dollars, "as a slight acknowledgment of their faithful service." One or two friends of the family were remembered, but to an inconsiderable extent.

Then came the important clause: "All the rest and residue of the property of which I may die possessed I leave to my beloved husband, James Manning, whose devoted affection has made happy the last years of my life.