It was on this
occasion that it transpired that the will was engaged to be married to
the plaintiff, a fact at which the Court metaphorically opened its eyes.
After this the defendants obtained leave to amend their answer to the
plaintiffs statement of claim. At first they had only pleaded that the
testator had not duly executed the alleged will in accordance with the
provisions of 1 Vic., cap. 26, sec. 2, and that he did not know and
approve the contents thereof. But now they added a plea to the effect
that the said alleged will was obtained by the undue influence of Augusta
Smithers, or, as one of the learned counsel for the defendants put it
much more clearly at the trial, "that the will had herself procured the
will, by an undue projection of her own will upon the unwilling mind of
the testator."
And so the time went on. As often as he could, Eustace got away from
London, and went down to the little riverside hotel, and was as happy as
a man can be who has a tremendous law suit hanging over him. The law, no
doubt, is an admirable institution, out of which a large number of people
make a living, and a proportion of benefit accrues to the community at
large. But woe unto those who form the subject-matter of its operations.
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