th patent locks, that stood, open-mouthed, at his feet.
Strong, stern, and grim looked those iron chests, silently receiving the
relics of power departed; strong, stern, and grim as the grave. Audley
lifted his eyes at Randal's entrance, signed to him to take a chair,
continued his task for a few moments, and then turning round, as if by
an effort he plucked himself from his master-passion,--Public Life, he
said, with deliberate tones,

"I know not, Randal Leslie, whether you thought me needlessly cautious,
or wantonly unkind, when I told you never to expect from me more than
such advance to your career as my then position could effect,--never to
expect from my liberality in life, nor from my testament in death, an
addition to your private fortunes. I see by your gesture what would
be your reply, and I thank you for it. I now tell you, as yet in
confidence, though before long it can be no secret to the world, that my
pecuniary affairs have been so neglected by me in my devotion to those
of the State, that I am somewhat like the man who portioned out his
capital at so much a day, calculating to live just long enough to make
it last. Unfortunately he lived too long." Audley smiled--but the
smile was cold as a sunbeam upon ice-and went on with the same firm,
unfaltering accents. "The prospects that face me I am prepared for; they
do not take me by surprise. I knew long since how this would end, if
I survived the loss of office. I knew it before you came to me, and
therefore I spoke to you as I did, judging it manful and right to guard
you against hopes which you might otherwise have naturally entertained.
On this head, I need say no more. It may excite your surprise, possibly
your blame, that I, esteemed methodical and practical enough in the
affairs of the State, should be so imprudent as to my own."

"Oh, sir! you owe no account to me."

"To you, at least, as much as to any one. I am a solitary man; my few
relations need nothing from me. I had a right do spend what I possessed
as I pleased; and if I have spent it recklessly as regards myself, I
have not spent it ill in its effect on others. It has been my object for
many years to have no Private Life,--to dispense with its sorrows, joys,
affections; and as to its duties, they did not exist for me. I have
said." Mechanically, as he ended, the minister's hand closed the lid of
one of the iron boxes, and on the closed lid he rested his firm foot.
"But now," he resumed, "I