Some of the unavoidable detail of this
sudden trust duly was attended to by my late
friend's solicitors; but much more—and that,
perhaps, the most, troublesome and responsible
portion—fell upon me and my co-
executor.

My co-executor was the mildest of all
existing business men. He had no opinion
of his own, and no voice to enforce it. He
was small in body, weak in spirit, and feeble
in mind. He was thin, fair, fifty-six, always
scrupulously clean, and always dressed in
old-fashioned tied shoes, that were like
dancing-pumps.

He left everything to me; he listened
attentively to everything I said, and he
merely repeated a few of the last words I
had uttered, which he looked upon as an
answer. His name was Ebenezer Nutmeg,
and he was very particular in informing me
that he was no relation of the deceased, in
case I should think so from the similarity of
surname.

The difficulties attendant upon winding up
a complicated estate were increased, in the
present instance, by the character of the
people amongst whom we had to divide the
property.

The chief legatee was a nephew of the
late Silas Nestegg, Esquire (who died a
bachelor), a muscular ruffian about thirty-
five, who had been to sea; who had tried a
digger's life, or something of that kind, in
California, without success; who had left the
country after nearly killing a man in San
Francisco over a game of dominos; and
who was found, upon being advertised for, as
a private soldier in a regiment of the line,
with a very bad character, a love of raw
brandy, and a tendency to delirium tremens.
His commanding officers candidly told us,
after we had paid the regulation amount to
buy him off, that they would gladly have
parted with him for half the money.

Besides this hopeful ward, whose interests
we were bound to attend to, under the
strictest penalties of the law, we were
brought into contact with a number of small
legatees, of different degrees of relationship
to the deceased capitalist. The smaller their
claims under the will, the more importunate
the claimants, the more suspicious of our
legal authority over the property, and the
more indignant at our alleged slowness in
proceeding to realise and divide. There was
one thin, middle-aged lady, whose legacy was
something less than a hundred pounds, who
was always waiting to see me when I came
down-stairs in the morning, and who wrote
me plaintive letters—not unlike begging-
letters—when any business or pleasure took
me out of town for a few days. She was
pinched and shabby in appearance; she took
snuff; she carried an umbrella and wore
pattens; she always sat on the extreme edge
of a chair, till she seemed in momentary
danger of slipping off; and she held a glass
of wine or a cup of tea mincingly in her
hands, which were always encased in long,
claw-like, faded, and darned black gloves.
She had lived for many years without
requiring parochial assistance, or without being
taken to jail for debt; but the prospect of
this small legacy seemed, all at once, to
overwhelm her with misfortune. The broker's
man had just that morning been put into
possession of her apartments for one quarter's
rent, and could I advance her five or ten
pounds, on account? I must know how
extremely inconvenient it was for a maiden
lady like herself to lodge in the same rooms
with a broker's man; and if it had not been
for a sympathetic female in the same house,
who lent her half a bed, she would have
been compelled to walk about the streets all
night, as she had no money to procure
another lodging. My refusals only brought
her back again, morning after morning, to
rate me loudly, at last, upon my hard-hearted
conduct.

"It's all very well for you," she said,
glancing round my breakfast parlour, "who
recline in the lap of luxury, but how would
you like all your things to be standing on a
truck in the street?"

"Not at all," I replied; "but that has
nothing to do with my duties as a trustee."

"That's where my little hard-earned property
will be then in a few minutes," she
continued, not heeding my last remark, and
bursting into tears. " I left them cording
up the boxes, and throwing the crockery
about, as I came away."

I was compelled to advance her five-and-
twenty pounds out of my own pocket before
I could get rid of her, although I had no
idea whether the property, spread about as
it was, would realise any of the legacies after
the sales were effected and the debts were
paid.

My co-executor fared even worse than I
did: for the rampant nephew had found him
out, and had favoured him with several
unseasonable visits in a triumphant state of
drink.

This hopeful legatee had already placed
himself in funds, by means of a small bill
transaction with a trusting friend; and as the
bill had arrived at maturity without being
paid, and the trusting friend began to get
anxious for his capital and interest, the hopeful
legatee was easily prevailed upon to make
a demonstration against his tardy, self-
interested trustees, especially as he was
naturally inclined for such a hostile
proceeding.

"Look here," he said. "I'm not a-going
to be kept out o' my property in this way.
Hand over the stuff."

"Hand over the stuff! Exactly," answered
my timid co-executor. "Pray, sir, let
me beg of you, sir, not to make such a noise,
as you see I'm only in lodgings."

"I don't know anything about lodgings,"