e first ten years.
Since then I have been as stingy as a miser, and but two bottles have
been opened."

"I hope, father, that you have laid in a similar supply for whomsoever
may come after you."

"Surely I have, my son. Fifteen years ago I had a hogshead of the
finest vintage in the neighborhood bricked up in my cellar. I had an
inscription placed on the wall by which, should I be taken suddenly, my
successor may know of the store that awaits him. At present you would
not find the inscription did you search for it; for when those troubles
began I filled up the letters in the stone with mortar, and gave the
wall two or three coats of whitewash. I did not choose to run any risk
of my grand wine going down the throats of thirsty French soldiers. It
would be an act of sacrilege. When matters are settled, and we are at
peace again, I will pick out the mortar from the letters; but not till
then. I have often reflected since how short sighted it was not to have
stowed away another hogshead for my own consumption. It would have been
something to have looked forward to in my declining years."

"Ah, father, who knows what may happen before that? The wall may fall
down, and then naturally you would wish to see whether the wine is in
as good a condition as it should be. Besides, you will say to yourself,
why, when my successor left me but a miserable two dozen of that grand
wine of his, should I bequeath a whole hogshead to him who may come
after me, and who, moreover, may be so bad a judge of wine that he will
value my treasure no more than an equal quantity of the rough country
vintage?"

"Avaunt, tempter!" the priest said, laughing. "But," he added more
seriously, "you have frightened me. I never thought of that. I have
always pictured my successor as a man who would appreciate good wine
as I do myself. Truly, it would be a terrible misfortune did he not
do so--a veritable throwing of pearls before swine. Now that you have
presented this dreadful idea it will be ever in my mind. I shall no
longer think of my hogshead with unmixed satisfaction."

"The idea is a terrible one, truly," Jack said gravely, "and to prevent
it I would advise you when the time of peace arrives to open your
cave, to bottle off your wine, and to secure its being appreciated by
indulging in it yourself on special occasions and holidays, taking care
always to leave a store equal to, or even superior to, that which you
yourself inherited."

"I will t