Leaves from an English Solicitors Note Book. "Yes, sir; and we sat in the kitchen, me and her, and Mr. Atkins, and we ate six of them; I ate three of them myself, sir." "Merciful powers! " said Mr. Gripper. "Well, and what happened then, Annie Gurr, though I hardly like to ask the question?" "Well, sir, missus says to me, 'Annie,' says she, 'you know where Mrs. Peachey lives; just take the rest of the pancakes to her house; she and her husband may like them; wait while they fry them and eat them, and bring the dish back,' says she, and so I went there." "How far off is Mr. Peachey's house, Annie Gurr? How long did it take you to get there? Remember, you had just eaten three pancakes." "Well, sir, it took me over five minutes to walk there, sir." "And how long did it take them to get ready the frying-pan, fry the pancakes, and eat them, Annie Gurr?" "Well, sir, it was a pretty good time, sir. I sat there whilst they was eating them, and I ate one more." "Good Heavens! " ejaculated Mr. Grip per. " How long were you away altogether, Annie Gurr, going, staying and returning; be very careful; remember, you had now eaten four pancakes; may I say an hour?" "Yes, sir; it would be well nigh that, sir." "At what time of the day was this, Annie Gurr? Morning, afternoon or evening?" "It were about eight in the evening, sir, when I went out." "And that was the only time you ever had pancakes all the time you were at Mrs. Harbottle's, was it, Annie Gurr, you are quite sure of that; do be careful?" "Yes, sir, I am quite sure, sir; only once, sir." "And what day was this, Annie Gurr; your memory is wonderful?" "It were Pancake day, sir, for I heard missus say so, and so did Mrs. Peachey." "Saved by a pancake! " ejaculated Mr. gripper, sotto voce.
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"Have you any question to ask the witness before she leaves the box, Mr. Smoothly?" asked the judge. "No, my lord; I confess I have been greatly astonished, as well as greatly amused, at my learned friend's cross-examination, but I cannot see what pancakes, or Pancake clay, have to do with the execution of ' will No. 5 ' by the testator." "Consult an almanac for this year, Mr. Smoothly, and you will be enlightened," said the judge. " I shall direct the jury, as a matter of common knowledge, that the day which is ecclesiastically known as 'Shrove Tuesday ' is vulgarly known as ' Pancake clay; ' that, as a fact, Shrove Tuesday this year fell on Tuesday, the 18th of February, the date of the execution of will No. 5; therefore, your last witness in swearing, as she has done, that she never was out of doors the whole of the ^vening of the 18th of February, but that she was out for at least an hour on the evening of Pancake day, contradicts herself, and that her evi dence to the effect that the two attesting witnesses never came to the house on that evening is worthless. Mr. Gripper, you may spare yourself the trouble of calling Mr. and Mrs. Peachey, and Mr. Thomas Atkins." My story draws rapidly to its end. Mr. Smoothly summed up his case with a fiery outburst of vituperation on the widow's de voted head, from which her comely bonnet of black was ineffectual to shield it; and the peroration was particularly fine. Mr. Grip per, in his reply, wisely avoided the danger ous pitfalls of fervid oratory, strongly urged the probability of the truth of the story told by the widow and the two attesting witnesses as to the dueexecution of "will No. 5," to the same purport and effect as wills Nos. i and 3, and that, without for a moment impeaching the testator's character for piety, it was only reasonable, in fact only the natural outcome of the workings of a pious rnind, that old Harbottle should at the last have recognized it as a duty to provide for his widow, who had
