have and to hold,' &c. &c. Whereupon my Cousin Monica ejaculated 'Eh?'
and Doctor Bryerly interposed--

'Four trustees, ma'am. We take little but trouble--you'll see; go on.'

Then it came out that all this multifarious splendour was bequeathed in
trust for me, subject to a bequest of 15,000_l_. to his only brother, Silas
Aylmer Ruthyn, and 3,500_l_. each to the two children of his said brother;
and lest any doubt should arise by reason of his, the testator's decease
as to the continuance of the arrangement by way of lease under which
he enjoyed his present habitation and farm, he left him the use of the
mansion-house and lands of Bartram-Haugh, in the county of Derbyshire, and
of the lands of so-and-so and so-and-so, adjoining thereto, in the said
county, for the term of his natural life, on payment of a rent of 5_s_.
per annum, and subject to the like conditions as to waste, &c., as are
expressed in the said lease.

'By your leave, may I ask is them dispositions all the devises to my
client, which is his only brother, as it seems to me you've seen the will
before?' enquired Mr. Sleigh.

'Nothing more, unless there is something in the codicil,' answered Dr.
Bryerly.

But there was no mention of him in the codicil.

Mr. Sleigh threw himself back in his chair, and sneered, with the end of
his pencil between his teeth. I hope his disappointment was altogether for
his client. Mr. Danvers fancied, he afterwards said, that he had probably
expected legacies which might have involved litigation, or, at all events,
law costs, and perhaps a stewardship; but this was very barren; and Mr.
Danvers also remarked, that the man was a very low practitioner, and
wondered how my uncle Silas could have commissioned such a person to
represent him.

So far the will contained nothing of which my most partial friend could
have complained. The codicil, too, devised only legacies to servants, and
a sum of 1,000_l_., with a few kind words, to Monica, Lady Knollys, and
a further sum of 3,000_l_. to Dr. Bryerly, stating that the legatee had
prevailed upon him to erase from the draft of his will a bequest to him to
that amount, but that, in consideration of all the trouble devolving
upon him as trustee, he made that bequest by his codicil; and with these
arrangements the permanent disposition of his property was completed.

But that direction to which he and Doctor Bryerly had darkly alluded, was
now to come, and certainly it was a strange