o a head,
and we shall soon find out whether Checkynshaw is ready to stand trial
or not."

"We have no money to go to law with," pleaded the poor woman.

"We don't want any, mother. I have looked into this business, and what
I don't know about it isn't worth knowing. I know something about law,
for I used to keep my eyes and ears open when I was in the law
business."

Mr. Wittleworth had been an errand boy in Mr. Choate's office!

"I don't think you can go to law without money, Fitz. I have always
heard it was very expensive," added Mrs. Wittleworth.

"All we want, mother, is a copy of my grandfather's will. We attach the
block of stores, if necessary. Under the will it belongs to you, unless
Checkynshaw can produce your sister's child."

"Suppose he should produce her?"

"That's the very thing he can't do. If he does, of course our case
falls to the ground; but he can't."

"But if he does produce the child, where is the money to pay the
expenses?"

"The expenses won't be much. I shall say to Choate, 'Choate,' says I,
'here's a piece of property which belongs to my mother. You can go up
to the Registry of Probate, and read the will yourself. Give my mother
legal possession of it, and I will pay you five or ten thousand
dollars'--I haven't just decided exactly what to offer him. He takes
the case, brings the suit, and gets the property for you."

"Suppose he doesn't get it?"

"Then he will get nothing. When I was in the law business, cases were
sometimes taken in this way."

Mrs. Wittleworth was encouraged by this hopeful statement, and disposed
to let Fitz have his own way. Abject poverty was so terrible that she
could not afford to lose such a chance. Mr. Checkynshaw's conduct in
leaving his child in France, among strangers, for ten years, was
singular enough to beget suspicion.

The conversation was continued till the fire went out, and the chill
air of the room drove the intended litigants to their chambers. Fitz
did not come down till breakfast time the next morning. He lay in his
warm bed, building castles in the air, and thinking what a great man he
should be when the block of stores and its revenues were reclaimed from
the grasp of Mr. Checkynshaw. He thought it quite possible that he
could then go into a barber's shop and be shaved without any one having
the impudence to laugh at him.

Mrs. Wittleworth had thought a great deal about the property, but she
could not quite make up her mind to tak