had been left at the studio a few days since; and (marvel of all
marvels!) the handwriting was Mr. Batterbury's. Had this philanthropic
man not done befriending me even yet? Were there any present or
prospective advantages to be got out of him still? Read his letter, and
judge.

"SIR--Although you have forfeited by your ungentlemanly conduct toward
myself, and your heartlessly mischievous reception of my dear wife, all
claim upon the forbearance of the most forbearing of your relatives,
I am disposed, from motives of regard for the tranquillity of Mrs.
Batterbury's family, and of sheer good-nature so far as I am myself
concerned, to afford you one more chance of retrieving your position by
leading a respectable life. The situation I am enabled to offer you is
that of secretary to a new Literary and Scientific Institution, about to
be opened in the town of Duskydale, near which neighborhood I possess,
as you must be aware, some landed property. The office has been placed
at my disposal, as vice-president of the new Institution. The salary is
fifty pounds a year, with apartments on the attic-floor of the building.
The duties are various, and will be explained to you by the local
committee, if you choose to present yourself to them with the inclosed
letter of introduction. After the unscrupulous manner in which you have
imposed on my liberality by deceiving me into giving you fifty pounds
for an audacious caricature of myself, which it is impossible to hang
up in any room of the house, I think this instance of my forgiving
disposition still to befriend you, after all that has happened, ought to
appeal to any better feelings that you may still have left, and revive
the long dormant emotions of repentance and self-reproach, when you
think on your obedient servant,

"DANIEL BATTERBURY."

Bless me! What A long-winded style, and what a fuss about fifty pounds
a year, and a bed in an attic! These were naturally the first emotions
which Mr. Batterbury's letter produced in me. What was his real motive
for writing it? I hope nobody will do me so great an injustice as to
suppose that I hesitated for one instant about the way of finding _that_
out. Of course I started off directly to inquire if Lady Malkinshaw had
had another narrow escape of dying before me.

"Much better, sir," answered my grandmother's venerable butler, wiping
his lips carefully before he spoke; "her ladyship's health has been much
improved since her accid