CHAPTER XXV.
The first thing done was to place the will on record; the next to
give proper legal notice of its existence to the executors under the
previous will, Judge Bigelow and Squire Floyd. Mr. Dewey, on the
announcement of this discovery, unhesitatingly declared the paper a
forgery; but the witnesses to the signature of Captain Allen were
living, and ready to attest its genuineness. They remembered, very
distinctly, the time when their names were appended to the document.
It was only a year before the Captain's death. They were walking
past the Allen House, when the old man called them in, and asked
them to witness the signing of a paper. Of its contents they had no
knowledge, as he did not make any communication on the subject. But
he signed it in their presence, and their signatures showed this
will to be the paper then executed.
Notwithstanding this, it came to our ears, that Mr. Dewey persisted
in alleging fraud, forgery, and the complicity of these witnesses.
And from the manner of Judge Bigelow and Squire Floyd, in the first
brief interview I had with them, it was plain that they were far
from being satisfied that all was right.
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