e rev. intestate may
have wrestled with the mysteries of Euclid on the same old-fashioned
mahogany table at which I saw the boy in brown holland.

Mr. Wendover left his books and manuscripts scattered on the floor of
the study, and conducted me to a cool shady drawing-room, very shabbily
furnished with the spindle-legged chairs and tables of the last
century. Here he begged me to be seated, and here we were ever and anon
interrupted by intruding juveniles, the banging of doors, and the
shrill clamour of young voices in the hall and garden.

I brought all the diplomacy of which I am master to bear in my long
interview with the rector; and the following is a transcript of our
conversation, after a good deal of polite skirmishing:--

_Myself_. You see, my dear sir, the business I am concerned in is
remotely connected with these Haygarths. Any information you will
kindly afford me, however apparently trivial, may be of service in the
affair I am prosecuting.

_The Rector._ To be sure, to be sure! But, you see, though I've heard a
good deal of the Haygarths, it is all gossip--the merest gossip. People
are so fond of gossip, you know--especially country people: I have no
doubt you have remarked that. Yes, I have heard a great deal about
Matthew Haygarth. My late clerk and sexton,--a very remarkable man,
ninety-one when he died, and able to perform his duties very creditably
within a year of his death--very creditably; but the hard winter of '56
took him off, poor fellow, and now I have a young man. Old Andrew
Hone--that was my late clerk's name--was employed in this house when a
lad, and was very fond of talking about Matthew Haygarth and his wife.
She was a rich woman, you know, a very rich woman--the daughter of a
brewer at Ullerton; and this house belonged to her--inherited from her
father.

_Myself_. And did you gather from your clerk that Matthew Haygarth and
his wife lived happily together?

_The Rector_. Well, yes, yes: I never heard anything to the contrary.
They were not a young couple, you know. Rebecca Caulfield was forty
years of age, and Matthew Haygarth was fifty-three when he married; so,
you see, one could hardly call it a love-match. [_Abrupt inroad of
bouncing damsel, exclaiming "Pa!"_] Don't you see I'm engaged, Sophia
Louisa? Why are you not at your practice? [_Sudden retreat of bouncing
damsel, followed by the scrambling performance of scale of C major in
adjoining chamber, which performance abrupt