hostility. Remember the bottle we have
discovered up-stairs; and keep this desperate
woman ignorant, and therefore harmless, as long
as you can. There is my advice, Mr. Noel, in
the fewest and plainest words. What do you
say, sir? Am I almost as clever in my way, as
your friend Mr. Bygrave? Can I, too, conspire
a little, when the object of my conspiracy is to
assist your wishes and to protect your friends?"

Permitted the use of his tongue at last, Noel
Vanstone's admiration of Mrs. Lecount expressed
itself in terms precisely similar to those which
he had used on a former occasion, in paying his
compliments to Captain Wragge. "What a
head you have got!" were the grateful words
he had once spoken to Mrs. Lecount's bitterest
enemy. "What a head you have got!" were
the grateful words which he now spoke again to
Mrs. Lecount herself. So do extremes meet;
and such is sometimes the all-embracing capacity
of the approval of a fool!

"Allow my head, sir, to deserve the compliment
which you have paid to it," said Mrs. Lecount.
"The letter to the admiral is not written
yet. Your will there, is a body without a soul—
an Adam without an Eve—until the letter is
completed, and laid by its side. A little more
dictation on my part, a little more writing on
yours—and our work is done. Pardon me.
The letter will be longer than the will—we
must have larger paper than the note-paper this
time."

The writing-case was searched, and some
letter-paper was found in it of the size required.
Mrs. Lecount resumed her dictatio; and Noel
Vanstone resumed his pen.

"Baliol Cottage, Dumfries,
"November 3rd, 1847.

"Private.

"Dear Admiral Bartram,—When you open
my Will (in which you are named my sole
executor), you will find that I have bequeathed the
whole residue of my estate—after payment of
one legacy of five thousand pounds—to yourself.
It is the purpose of my letter to tell you privately
what the object is for which I have left you the
fortune which is now placed in your hands.

"I beg you to consider this large legacy, as
intended, under certain conditions, to be given
by you to your nephew George. If your nephew
is married at the time of my death, and if his
wife is living, I request you to put him at once
in possession of your legacy; accompanying it
by the expression of my desire (which I am
sure he will consider a sacred and binding
obligation on him) that he will settle the money on
his wife, and on his children, if he has any. If,
on the other hand, he is unmarried at the time of
my death, or if he is a widower—in either of those
cases, I make it a condition of his receiving the
legacy, that he shall be married within the period
of——"

Mrs. Lecount laid down the Draft letter from
which she had been dictating thus far, and
informed Noel Vanstone by a sign that his pen
might rest.

"We have come to the question of time, sir,"
she observed. "How long will you give your
cousin to marry, if he is single, or a widower, at
the time of your death?"

"Shall I give him a year?" inquired Noel
Vanstone.

"If we had nothing to consider but the
interests of Propriety," said Mrs. Lecount, "I
should say a year too, sir—especially if Mr.
George should happen to be a widower. But
we have your wife to consider, as well as the
interests of Propriety. A year of delay, between
your death and your cousin's marriage, is a
dangerously long time to leave the disposal of your
fortune in suspense. Give a determined woman
a year to plot and contrive in, and there is no
saying what she may not do."

"Six months?" suggested Noel Vanstone.

"Six months, sir," rejoined Mrs. Lecount,
"is the preferable time of the two. A six months'
interval from the day of your death is enough for
Mr. George.—You look discomposed, sir. What
is the matter?"

"I wish you wouldn't talk so much about my
death," he broke out petulantly. "I don't like
it! I hate the very sound of the word!"

Mrs. Lecount smiled resignedly, and referred
to her Draft.

"I see the word 'Decease' written here," she
remarked. "Perhaps, Mr. Noel, you would
prefer it?"

"Yes," he said; "I prefer 'Decease.' It
doesn't sound so dreadful as 'Death.'"

"Let us go on with the letter, sir."

She resumed her dictation as follows:

"...... in either of those cases, I make it
a condition of his receiving the legacy, that he
shall be married within the period of Six
calendar months from the day of my decease
that the woman he marries shall not be a widow;
and that his marriage shall be a marriage by
Banns, publicly celebrated in the parish church of
Ossory—where he has been known from his
childhood, and where the family and circumstances of
his future wife are likely to be the subject of
public interest and inquiry."

"This," said Mrs. Lecount, quietly looking up
from the Draft, "is to protect Mr. George, sir,
in case the same trap is set for him, which was
successfully set for you. She will not find her false
character and her false name fit quite so easily,
next time—no, not even with Mr. Bygrave to
help her! Another dip of ink, Mr. Noel; let
us write the next paragraph. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Lecount went on:

"If your nephew fails to comply with these
conditions—that is to say, if, being either a
bachelor or a widower at the time of my decease,