Monday, June 29, 2009

Dumb

First, let me tell you a short story:

Emily Arundell was a woman of a considerable fortune who was surrounded by grasping young relatives. She died of natural causes (or so it was believed), and her estate was unexpectedly left to her companion, Miss Lawson. That was a substantial fortune, and the will was a very recent changed one. Under the previous will, Emily's nephew Charles Arundell and nieces Theresa Arundell and Bella Tanios would have inherited.

Was the new will a fake ? No. Emily Arundell was tired with her nephew and nieces and worried that they would poison her for the money; she made the new will as a gesture so that her relatives knew that it was to their disadvantage if she died. She wished to change the will again immediately before she died - but she had no chance of doing so.

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You find this story similar to what you read on the paper recently ? This is, in fact, the summary of Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie.

As Sherlock Holmes said: There's nothing new under the sun; everything has been done before.

PS. The crook must be exceedingly thick if he prefers an elaborated plan to fake a will but in fact he could easily get a few billions of dollars from the pocket of his master while she was alive.

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