propriety of sparing her sister additional, and
unnecessary, distress. By all means, keep Miss
Vanstone in ignorance of the visit to Kensington,
and of the letter which has followed it. It
would be not only unwise, but absolutely cruel,
to enlighten her. If we had any remedy to
apply, or even any hope to offer, we might feel
some hesitation in keeping our secret. But
there is no remedy, and no hope. Mrs. Noel
Vanstone is perfectly justified in the view she
takes of her own position. Neither you nor I
can assert the smallest right to control her.

"I have already taken the necessary measures
for putting an end to our useless inquiries. In
a few days I will write to Miss Vanstone, and
will do my best to tranquillise her mind on the
subject of her sister. If I can find no sufficient
excuse to satisfy her, it will be better she should
think we have discovered nothing, than that she
should know the truth.

"Believe me, most truly yours,

"WILLIAM PENDRIL."

VI.

FROM MR. LOSCOMBE TO MRS. NOEL VANSTONE.

"Lincoln's Inn, Nov. loth.
"Private.

' Dear Madam,—In compliance with your
request, I now proceed to communicate to you in
writing, what (but for the calamity which has so
recently befallen you) I should have preferred
communicating by word of mouth. Be pleased
to consider this letter as strictly confidential
between yourself and me.

"I enclose, at your desire, a copy of the Will
executed by your late husband on the third of this
month. There can be no question of the genuineness
of the original document. I protested, as a
matter of form, against Admiral Bartram's
solicitor assuming a position of authority at Baliol
Cottage. But he took the position, nevertheless;
acting as legal representative of the sole
Executor under the second Will. I am bound to
say I should have done the same myself in his
place.

"The serious question follows—what can we
do for the best, in your interests? The Will
executed under my professional superintendence,
on the thirtieth of September last, is at present
superseded and revoked by the second and later
Will, executed on the third of November. Can
we dispute this document?

"I doubt the possibility of disputing the new
Will, on the face of it. It is no doubt irregularly
expressed—but it is dated, signed, and witnessed
as the law directs; and the perfectly simple and
straightforward provisions that it contains, are in
no respect, that I can see, technically open to
attack.

"This being the case, can we dispute the Will,
on the ground that it has been executed when the
Testator was not in a fit state to dispose of his
own property? or when the Testator was
subjected to undue and improper influence?

"In the first of these cases, the medical
evidence would put an obstacle in our way. We
cannot assert that previous illness had weakened
the Testator's mind. It is clear that he died
suddenly, as the doctors had all along declared he
would die, of disease of the heart. He was out
walking in his garden, as usual, on the day of his
death; he eat a hearty dinner; none of the
persons in his service noticed any change in him;
he was a little more irritable with them than
usual, but that was all. It is impossible to
attack the state of his faculties: there is no case
to go into court with, so far.

"Can we declare that he acted under undue
influence or, in plainer terms, under the
influence of Mrs. Lecount?

"There are serious difficulties, again, in the
way of taking this course. We cannot assert, for
example, that Mrs. Lecount has assumed a place
in the will, which she has no fair claim to occupy.
She has cunningly limited her own interest, not
only to what is fairly her due, but to what the
late Mr. Michael Vanstone himself had the
tintention of leaving her. If I were examined on
the subject, I should be compelled to acknowledge
that I had heard him express this intention
myself. It is only the truth to say, that I have
heard him express it more than once. There is
no point of attack in Mrs. Lecount's legacy;
and there is no point of attack in your late
husband's choice of an executor. He has made
the wise choice, and the natural choice, of
the oldest and trustiest friend he had in the
world.

"One more consideration remains— the most
important which I have yet approached, and
therefore the consideration which I have reserved
to the last. On the thirtieth of September, the
Testator executes a will, leaving his widow sole
executrix, with a legacy of eighty thousand
pounds. On the third of November following,
he expressly revokes this will, and leaves another
in its stead, in which his widow is never once
mentioned, and in which the whole residue of
his estate, after payment of one comparatively
trifling legacy, is left to a friend.

"It rests entirely with you to say, whether
any valid reason can, or can not, be produced to
explain such an extraordinary proceeding as this.
If no reason can be assigned—and I know of
none myself—I think we have a point here,
which deserves our careful consideration; for it
may be a point which is open to attack. Pray
understand that I am now appealing to you
solely as a lawyer, who is obliged to look all
possible eventualities in the face. I have no
wish to intrude on your private affairs; I have
no wish to write a word which could be construed
into any indirect reflection on yourself.

"If you tell me that so far as you know, your
husband capriciously struck you out of his will,
without assignable reason or motive for doing
so, and without other obvious explanation of his
conduct, than that he acted in this matter entirely
under the influence of Mrs. Lecount—I will
immediately take Counsel's opinion touching the