girl, the former being named
respectively Gascoyne and Henry, the latter, Mary. It is needless to
say that these were immense favourites with the eccentric merchant.

During all this time there was a firm in Liverpool which received
periodical remittances of money from an unknown source. The cashier of
that firm, a fat little man, with a face like a dumpling and a nose like
a cherry, lived, as it were, in a state of perpetual amazement in regard
to these remittances. They came regularly, from apparently nowhere,
were acknowledged to nobody, and amounted, in the course of time, to
many thousands. This firm had, some years previously, lost a fine
vessel. She was named the _Brilliant_; had sailed for the South Sea
islands with a rich cargo, and was never more heard of. The fat cashier
knew the loss sustained by this vessel to a penny. He had prepared and
calculated all the papers and sent duplicates on board, and as he had a
stake in the venture he never forgot the amount of the loss sustained.

One day the firm received a remittance from the Unknown, with a note to
the following effect at the foot of it:--"This is the last remittance on
account of the _Brilliant_. The value of the cargo, including compound
interest, and the estimated value of the vessel, have now been repaid to
the owners."

The fat cashier was thunderstruck! He rushed to his ledger, examined
the account, calculated the interest, summed up the whole, and found it
correct. He went home to bed and fell sound asleep in amazement; awoke
in amazement; went back to the office in amazement; worked on day after
day in amazement; lived, and eventually died, in a state of unrelieved
amazement in regard to this incomprehensible transaction!

About the same time that this occurred Mr Stuart entered his poor
cottage, and finding his wife there, said--

"Mary, I have sent off the last remittance to-day. I have made amends
for that evil deed. It has cost me a long and hard struggle to realise
the thousands of pounds that were requisite; for some of the goods had
got damaged by damp in the cavern of the Isle of Palms, but the profits
of my engineering and shipwright business have increased of late, and I
have managed to square it all off with interest. And now, Mary, I can
do no more. If I knew of any others who have suffered at my hands I
would restore what I took tenfold--but I know of none. It therefore
remains that I should work this business for t