e morning paper, attracted the attention of Mr
Wilkinson, a London solicitor, who had in charge Captain Wheatcroft's
affairs. When at a later period this gentleman met the widow, she
informed him that she had been quite prepared for the melancholy news,
but that she had felt sure her husband could not have been killed on the
15th of November, inasmuch as it was during the night between the 14th
and 15th that he appeared to her.

The certificate from the War Office, however, which it became Mr
Wilkinson's duty to obtain, confirmed the date given in the telegram,
its tenor being as follows:--

"No. 9579/1 WAR OFFICE,
_30th January 1858._

"These are to certify that it appears, by the records in this office,
that Captain German Wheatcroft of the 6th Dragoon Guards, was killed in
action on the 15th of November 1857.

"(_Signed_) B. HAWES."

The difference of longitude between London and Lucknow being about five
hours, three or four o'clock a.m. in London would be eight or nine
o'clock a.m. at Lucknow. But it was in the _afternoon_ not in the
_morning_, as will be seen in the sequel, that Captain Wheatcroft was
killed. Had he fallen on the 15th, therefore, the apparition to his wife
would have appeared several hours before the engagement in which he
fell, and while he was yet alive and well.

XXX

THE IRON CAGE

From Mrs CROWE'S "Night Side of Nature"

[As you express a wish to know what credit is to be attached to a tale
sent forth after a lapse of between thirty and forty years, I will state
the facts as they were recalled last year by a daughter of Sir William
A. C----.]

Sir James, my mother, with myself and my brother Charles, went abroad
towards the end of the year 1786. After trying several different places,
we determined to settle at Lille, where we had letters of introduction
to several of the best French families. There Sir James left us, and
after passing a few days in an uncomfortable lodging, we engaged a nice
large family house, which we liked much, and which we obtained at a very
low rent, even for that part of the world.

About three weeks after we were established there, I walked one day with
my mother to the bankers, for the purpose of delivering our letter of
credit from Sir Robert Herries and drawing some money, which being paid
in heavy five-frank pieces, we found we could not carry, and therefore
requested the banker to send, saying, "We live i