Introduction
I had known in years past. Although there was no evidence of it in the old man's words, I was convinced he had reference to me as his heir; but what of that? He might change his mind a dozen times, for he was not so very, very old,—not much, if any, over eighty; and what, indeed, had he to leave?
Many minutes passed, and then, as I made a slight movement, merely to change my position, Silas spoke in the same strangely softened voice. "Don't go, don't go; there's one thing more" He suddenly paused, and stared, with a wild look, directly at me. The silence was painful; his strange appearance more so. In a moment the truth flashed across me: he was dead.
II.
I was not surprised to learn, immediately after the funeral, that I had been left the sole legatee of the man whose death I had witnessed. When I took formal possession of the cottage and its contents, I entered the house for the first time in my life. To
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