h him
when he came to me in London, that he was induced to this offer by the
conscientious desire to discharge the trust consigned to him by his old
friend. Sir Philip was still of an age that could not permit him to take
under his own roof a female ward of eighteen, without injury to her
good name. He could only get over that difficulty by making the ward
his wife. 'She will be safer and happier with the man she will love and
honour for her father's sake,' said the chivalrous gentleman, 'than she
will be under any other roof I could find for her.'"

And now there arrived another stranger to L----, sent for by Mr. Jeeves,
the lawyer,--a stranger to L----, but not to me; my old Edinburgh
acquaintance, Richard Strahan.

The will in Mr. Jeeves's keeping, with its recent codicil, was opened
and read. The will itself bore date about six years anterior to the
testator's tragic death: it was very short, and, with the exception of
a few legacies, of which the most important was L10,000 to his ward, the
whole of his property was left to Richard Strahan, on the condition that
he took the name and arms of Derval within a year from the date of Sir
Philip's decease. The codicil, added to the will the night before his
death, increased the legacy to the young lady from L10,000 to L30,000,
and bequeathed an annuity of L100 a year to his Albanian servant.
Accompanying the will, and within the same envelope, was a sealed
letter, addressed to Richard Strahan, and dated at Paris two weeks be
fore Sir Philip's decease. Strahan brought that letter to me. It ran
thus:--

"Richard Strahan, I advise you to pull down the house called Derval
Court, and to build another on a better site, the plans of which, to
be modified according to your own taste and requirements, will be
found among my papers. This is a recommendation, not a command. But
I strictly enjoin you entirely to demolish the more ancient part,
which was chiefly occupied by myself, and to destroy by fire, without
perusal, all the books and manuscripts found in the safes in my study.
I have appointed you my sole executor, as well as my heir, because I
have no personal friends in whom I can confide as I trust I may do in
the man I have never seen, simply because he will bear my name and
represent my lineage. There will be found in my writing-desk, which
always accompanies me in my travels, an autobiographical work, a
record of my o