is now the Chief Justice of Ireland. It was
soon ferreted out. The man who had been
turned away from the gate, or his son, applied
for assistance to the new but temporary heir,
asking for the modest sum of fifteen hundred
pounds. The other protested it was out of his
power, adding, reasonably enough, that his
position was very uncertain; and that another
trial might displace him. The other at once
went over to the enemy, offering his services,
and also placing at her disposal all their papers.
Here was the clue. Among those papers she
had found this returned and unopened letter,
and had turned it to the clever use described.
With such a woman, too much care and secrecy
could not be observed. Not a whisper was
breathed, and further investigations were made
with a view to the last struggle.

Meanwhile, acting on the verdict of the
Wexford jury, the Irish Chancellor had placed the
heir-at-law in possession of the old abbey. It
was now, indeed, a " rat-hole," for the dry rot
of Chancery had set in. The intrepid widow,
frustrated for the moment in her designs on
the estate, had swept the house clear of every
"stick," as the phrase goes, of furniture. The
new owner had to patch here and there, fit
up a room or two, and could at best but
comfort himself with but a temporary tenancy.
He had excellent advisers, skilful counsel, who
were working hard; but all felt that here was
the fatal blemish in the case. The late Cæsar,
disliked his relatives; disliked the man whose
very daughter was now heir-at-law, having
fought a duel with him. What undue influence
was there required to get him to leave away
his estates from such persons? It was felt
that victory would be with her: as the victory
would assuredly have been, but for her own
over finesse, and a strange incident, that seems
to belong to Mr. Harrison Ainsworth. The
temporary owner then, with a heavy heart, was
cheaply papering up a room or two, when a
workman noticed a sort of half open panel,
much in shape like the slit of a letter-box.
Into this he carelessly thrust his brush to
"rack" out the dust accumulations, just as
painters are fond of doing. Out dropped a
bundle of old papers, which the painter brushed
aside, and later pointed out to a servant. The
servant brought them to his master, who brought
them to the solicitor in the cause, who all but
shouted with delight as he showed them to his
counsel. The lady, "casting away" every
stick of furniture, had forgotten to search
this precious receptacle. The solicitor hurried
with these priceless papers to London, went to
a nameless printer, had them printed, and
jealously hidden away, and when the counsel
received his brief, it was a surprise to find a
clasp-lock and key attached to the book.

Meanwhile the new trial began down at
Wexford. It was felt that, even with the great
prejudices of the jury against the lady, still
her case was almost irresistible. Even if
defeated by the Wexford jury, she would have
"the Lords" to go to once more. Her leading
counsel again put her case forward,
restated the reasonableness of her influence, and,
above all, the unanswerable argument that this
branch of the testator's house could have no
claim on him, simply because he detested them,
and was never reconciled to them. This,
again, seemed to settle the case. The lady
herself was produced, boldly and defiantly told
her story about the letter, and seemed to
convince every one. But she was cross-examined
vigorously and with amazing power, by Mr.
Whiteside. Amid a tumult of anger, refusal
to answer, denial, &c., the truth about the
letter was wrung from her. Then came the
counsel on the other side, restraining himself
up to that time, and never had counsel so
exquisite a moment of triumph. If there
had, said the other counsel, been relations
that he liked, or regarded, the influence
would have been improper, and the will
should go down. In a deliberate and
restrained way, the other counsel had the
satisfaction of answering this challenge. One by
one, from the locked book, were read, not one,
not a dozen, but a whole series of the most
affectionate letters, between the two Cæsars,
who had fought the duel; they had been
reconciled, and no one could listen without being
convinced that to the child of the Chief Justice
the testator could have had no hostility. The
feelings of the counsel on the other side, as
this fatal shell burst among them, were too
strong for even the well trained dissimulation
of lawyers. Over those veteran faces was
speedily spreading the most palpable confusion,
disappointment, and mortification. Very rapidly
the triumphant case broke up, and the lady,
who but five minutes before was certain of
her ten thousand a year, was glad to accept a
compromise of some twenty thousand pounds
cash which was lying in the bank.

On these trifling gains the lady retired from
the contest, and has since, it is believed,
married some foreign gentleman; but such a defeat
on the eve of victory must have destroyed all
future enjoyment. Thus did a second woman
of determination figure as a heroine in a battle
for an estate and power. Later on we shall
follow the fortunes of a third.

GIPSY GLIMPSES.

THE writer, going down to spend last
Christmas in one of the midland counties, soon
heard that a portion of a true gipsy tribe had
encamped in the town, on a spare bit of land
usually occupied by travelling circuses and
similar troups of performers. They received
visitors into their ground at the small charge
of threepence each, with the hope of extracting
larger sums by coaxing, flattery, or fortune-
telling. It was Christmas Eve when we went
to see them. It had been the weekly market-
day, and the gipsies had made themselves
conspicuous in the market by their lavish
purchases of the very best and dearest articles in
it, and, to the great astonishment of the doubting
market-women, by paying indisputably