For three hours the work continued, and at the end of that time the body
of the will was finished--for Bill was a rapid worker--being written in
medium-sized letters right across her shoulders. But the signatures yet
remained to be affixed.
Bill asked her if she would like to let them stand over till the
morrow?--but this, although she felt ill with the pain she declined to
do. She was marked now, marked with the ineffaceable mark of Bill, so she
might as well be marked to some purpose. If she put off the signing of
the document till the morrow, it might be too late, Mr. Meeson might be
dead, Johnnie might have changed his mind, or a hundred things. So she
told them to go on and finish it as quickly as possible, for there was
only about two hours more daylight.
Fortunately Mr. Meeson was more or less acquainted with the formalities
that are necessary in the execution of a will, namely: that the testator
and the two witnesses should all sign in the presence of each other. He
also knew that it was sufficient, if, in cases of illness, some third
person held the pen between the testator's fingers and assisted him to
write his name, or even if someone signed for the testator in his
presence and by his direction; and, arguing from this knowledge, he came
to the conclusion--afterwards justified in the great case of Meeson v.
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