Explore "The Naughty Man; or, Sir Thomas Brown" by Frank Chapman Bliss on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The nearest of kin and expectant heirs, / Still hoping to hold the estate as theirs / By hook or crook -- it mattered not how -- / Before the golden-calf ready to bow, / At once they declared the "old man" insane, / That the widow had acted simply for gain -- / A clear case of fraud! she took him by stealth, / Expecting thereby to seize his great wealth; / A "particeps criminis"," so they said -- / A divorce must be had from board and bed.
They rushed into law, deep vengeance they swore, / Produced affidavits -- a dozen or more; / Applied for a "Writ," which you well know / Is called "De Lunatico Inquirendo"," / But how to serve it -- that was the question; / They could not get into the lady's mansion, / For the color'd porter at window stood, / With a shining face, in a laughing mood, / And to the question, "Is Mr. Brown at home?" / Would reply, "Mr. and Misses are gone / On a southern tour;" then, with twinkling eye, / Would smilingly add, "They'll be home by and by."