thout one word of any kind. It was
an unspeakable relief to me to discover that she had not sent me either
her condolences or her threats, and I could scarcely reassure myself
that we had parted thus easily.

My father's personal luggage might have sufficed for half-a-dozen
people. Not only did he carry about a quantity of clothes that no
ordinary life could have required, but that he journeyed with every
imaginable kind of weapon, together with saddlery and horse-gear of all
fashions and shapes. Fishing-tackle and hunting-spears abounded; and
lassos of Mexican make seemed to show that he had intended to have
carried his experiences to the great Savannahs of the West.

From what I had seen of him, I was in no way prepared for the order
and regularity in which I found his papers. All that regarded his money
matters was contained in one small oak desk, in which I found a will,
a copy of which, it was stated, was deposited with Norton and Temple,
Solicitors, Furnival's Inn. The document ran thus:--

"I leave whatever I may die possessed of in personal or real property to
the wife I have long neglected, in trust for the boy I have done much
to corrupt. With time, and in the enjoyment of better fortune, they may
learn to forgive me; but even if they should not, it will little trouble
the rest of-----Roger Norcott.

"I desire that each of my servants in my service at the time of my death
should receive a quarter's wages; but no present or gratuity of any
kind. It is a class that always served me with fear and dislike, and
whose services I ever accepted with distrust and repugnance.

"I also desire that my retriever, 'Spy,' be shot as soon after my death
as may be, and that my other dogs be given away to persons who have
never known me, and that my heirs will be particular on this head, so
that none shall pretend that they inherit this or that of mine in token
of friendship or affectionate remembrance.

"There are a few objects of furniture in the care of Salter, the
house-agent at Brussels, of which I beg my wife's acceptance; they are
intrinsically of little value, but she will know how dearly we have both
paid for them. This is all.

(Signed) "Roger Norcott, Bart

"Witnesses, Joseph Granes, head groom.

"Paul Lanton, house-steward."

This will, which bore for date only four months prior to his death, did
not contain any, the slightest, allusion to Madame Cleremont. Was it
that by some antecedent arrangement he