Combe-Raven or not. My next inquiries were
to inform me of his ordinary habits of life; of
what he did with his money; of who his intimate
friends were; and of the sort of terms on which
his son, Mr. Noel Vanstone, was now living with
him. Lastly, the investigations were to end in
discovering whether there was any female
relative, or any woman exercising domestic authority
in the house, who was known to have an influence
over either father or son.

If my long practice in cultivating the field of
human sympathy had not accustomed me to
private investigations into the affairs of other people,
I might have found some of these queries rather
difficult to deal with in the course of a week. As
it was, I gave myself all the benefit of my own
experience; and brought the answers back to
Nottingham, in a day less than the given time.
Here they are, in regular order, for convenience
of future reference:—

(1.) Mr. Michael Vanstone is now residing at
German-place, Brighton, and likely to remain
there, as he finds the air suit him. He reached
London, from Switzerland, in September last;
and sold the Combe-Raven property immediately
on his arrival.

(2.) His ordinary habits of life are secret and
retired; he seldom visits, or receives company.
Part of his money is supposed to be in the funds,
and part laid out in railway investments which
have survived the panic of eighteen hundred and
forty-six, and are rapidly rising in value. Since
his arrival in England, he has also speculated with
great judgment in house property. He has some
houses in remote parts of London; and some
houses in certain watering-places on the East
coast, which are shown to be advancing in public
repute. In all these cases, he is reported to have
made remarkably good bargains.

(3.) It is not easy to discover who his intimate
friends are. Two names only have been
ascertained. The first is, Admiral Bartram;
supposed to have been under friendly obligations,
in past years, to Mr. Michael Vanstone. The
second is Mr. George Bartram, nephew of the
Admiral, and now staying on a short visit in the
house at German-place. Mr. George Bartram is
the son of the late Mr. Andrew Vanstone's sister,
also deceased. He is therefore a cousin of Mr.
Noel Vanstone's. This last—viz. Mr. Noel
Vanstone—is in delicate health, and is living on
excellent terms with his father, in German-place.

(4.) There is no female relative in Mr.
Michael Vanstone's family circle. But there is a
housekeeper, who has lived in his service ever
since his wife's death, and who has acquired a
strong influence over both father and son. She
is a native of Switzerland, elderly, and a widow.
Her name is Mrs. Lecount.

On placing these particulars in Miss
Vanstone's hands, she made no remark, except to
thank me. I endeavoured to invite her
confidence. No results; nothing but a renewal of
civility, and a sudden shifting to the subject of
the Entertainment. Very good. If she won't
give me the information I want, the conclusion is
obvious—I must help myself.

Business considerations claim the remainder of
this page. Let me return to business.

Private Surplus on the Week,
Or say,
Self-presented Testimonial.
£7 10s.

VI.
[Chronicle for February.]

Practice has now given my fair relative the
confidence which I predicted would come with
time. Her knack of disguising her own identity,
in the impersonation of different characters, so
completely staggers her audiences, that the same
people come twice over, to find out how she
does it. It is the amiable defect of the English
public never to know when they have had enough
of a good thing. They actually try to encore one
of her characters—an old north-country lady;
modelled on that honoured preceptress in the
late Mr. Vanstone's family, to whom I presented
myself at Combe-Raven. This particular
performance fairly amazes the people. I don't
wonder at it. Such an extraordinary assumption
of age by a girl of nineteen, has never been seen
in public before, in the whole course of my
theatrical experience.

I find myself writing in a lower tone than
usual; I miss my own dash of humour. The fact
is, I am depressed about the future. In the very
height of our prosperity, my perverse pupil
sticks to her trumpery family quarrel. I feel
myself at the mercy of the first whim in the
Vanstone direction which may come into her head—I,
the architect of her fortunes. Too bad; upon
my soul, too bad!

She has acted already on the inquiries which
she forced me to make for her. She has written
two letters to Mr. Michael Vanstone.

To the first letter no answer came. To the
second a reply was received. Her infernal cleverness
put an obstacle I had not expected in the
way of my intercepting it. Later in the day,
after she had herself opened and read the answer,
I laid another trap for her. It just succeeded,
and no more. I had half a minute to look into
the envelope in her absence. It contained
nothing but her own letter returned. She is not
the girl to put up quietly with such an insult as
this. Mischief will come of it. Mischief to