Sir Gervaise Oakes, as you are perfectly indifferent in this affair, I ask of you the favour to break the seal, and to inquire into the contents of the paper ?" The vice-admiral was not slow in complying; for, by this time, he began to feel an intense interest in the result.

The reader will readily understand that Tom had handed to Sir Gervaise the will drawn up by his father, and which, after inserting his reputed nephew's name, Sir Wycherly had duly executed, and delivered to the person most interested.
The envelope, address, and outer seal, Tom had obtained the very day the will was signed, after assuring himself of the contents of the latter, by six or eight careful perusals.

The vice-admiral read the instrument from beginning to end, before he put it into the hands of Sir Reginald to examine.

The latter fully expected to meet with a clumsy forgery; but the instant his eyes fell on the phraseology, he perceived that the will had been drawn by one expert in the law.

A second look satisfied him that the hand was that of Mr.Baron Wychecombe.