s eldest sister. The young
lady is at present living with her grandfather; and it would seem that
my shrewd old aunt, to be revenged on the General, has hit upon this
means of leaving her fortune to her niece and shutting out the rest
of the family from any share in it. Consequently I am made use of,
and the fortune is placed in my hands with instructions to hasten to
lay it at the feet of this 'fair lady.' Nothing seems easier or more
natural. But suppose the 'fair lady' should be ugly, hunchbacked,
a shrew, or a troublesome coquette. In this case, you know, with my
ideas about women and marriage, I should feel myself bound to refuse
the fortune."

"Refuse! refuse!--at the worst you can propose to divide it between
you."

"Now that would be acting in direct opposition to the express and
formal wish of the testatrix. Read the letter and you will see."

CHAPTER III.

The Honourable Miss Sophia Roselaer de Werve's Letter to her
Grand-nephew.

My very worthy Nephew,--Though I am unknown to you, you are not
unknown to me. I don't know you personally; but I am pretty well
informed as to what you are, and what you are not. Thanks to all sorts
of quarrels in our family, and the inconsistent conduct of my eldest
sister, I have been forced to live estranged (and shall die so) from
all my relations. My nearest relations, it is true, died years ago;
the others are scattered over the world, and scarcely remember their
relationship to me. Their ancestors, who have done their utmost to
embitter my life, seem to have left it as a legacy to their children to
forget me, and to trouble themselves as little about old Aunt Roselaer
as if she had never existed. But man must think of his end. I am in
my seventy-fifth year, and a recent attack of apoplexy has warned
me to put my affairs in order, if I would prevent all disputes about
the possession of my property, and, above all, save it from falling
into the hands of those who have done so much to embitter my life. I
will not suffer it to fall into the hands of a host of nephews and
nieces, who would attack it like sharks, and divide and crumble into
pieces what I and my forefathers have accumulated with so much care
and economy. It is for this reason I have decided to appoint one
of my relatives my sole heir, and you are the one I have chosen:
first, because your mother's mother is the one of my sisters who has
caused me the least grief. She married a man of her own r