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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835. Excerpt:... THE BEQUEST: OR, THE LEGEND OF THE LOCKED CHAMBER. A TALE OF THE LAST CENTURY. BY OROATIUS. Affectionately dedicated to Master Herbert O. SuMivan. "Is he coming V A lamp dimly burning upon one of those curiously carved oak tables, so common in the times of Out ancestors, displayed, as the words were spoken, an intense anxiety in the countenance of an aged man, evidently " sick unto death," and who seemed to fear that life would not hold out until the object of his wish had been attained. The nurse, to whom the inquiry was directed, who stood leaning against the post of the antique bed, holding back with her hand its thickly figured arras hangings, turned a listening ear to the half open door for a moment, and then reverting to the pale features of the invalid, answered in that low, hesitating voice, so affectingly assumed by almost all attendants towards the dying, as if afraid to dissipate the slightest hope that could be formed at such a time, "I don't hear him yet, but he'll be here this moment; he can't be far off." "I hope not, I hope not,"--said the patient, closing his eyes in the very intensity of his feelings--" My George cannot sure be so lost as to avoid the dying bed of his father." "No, no, Sir, indeed not," answered the nurse in an earnest tone, and again turning anxiously to the door. "I am sure he will be here.--Stay"--and she listened a moment longer--" There he comes--I hear his step below." As she spoke, the distant sound of a footstep could indeed be distinguished. It became more distinct--and an evident satisfaction, in the certainty of accomplished hope, lightened up the stiffening features of the aged man--his eyes were closed, but his lips moved in the utterance of a grateful devotion--another moment, and a young man, his face flus...