g the unhappy Bob to
believe that the world had come to an end.

But what was the _debris_ there, compared to the _debris_ in the next
room, Jan's! The window was out, the furniture was split, the various
chemical apparatus had been shivered into a hundred pieces, the tamarind
jar was in two, and Master Cheese was extended on the floor on his back,
his hands scorched, his eyebrows singed off, his face black, and the end
of his nose burning.

"Oh! that's it, is it?" said Jan, when his eyes took in the state of
things. "I knew it would come to it."

"He have been and blowed hisself up," remarked Bob, who had stolen in
after them.

"Is it the gas?" sobbed Miss Amilly, hardly able to speak for terror.

"No, it's not the gas," returned Jan, examining the _debris_ more
closely. "It's one of that gentleman's chemical experiments."

Deborah West was bending over the prostrate form in alarm. "He surely
can't be dead!" she shivered.

"Not he," said Jan. "Come, get up," he added, taking Master Cheese by
the arm to assist him.

He was placed in a chair, and there he sat, coming to, and emitting
dismal groans.

"I told you what you'd bring it to, if you persisted in attempting
experiments that you know nothing about," was Jan's reprimand, delivered
in a sharp tone. "A pretty state of things this is!"

Master Cheese groaned again.

"Are you much hurt?" asked Miss Deb in a sympathising accent.

"Oh-o-o-o-o-o-h!" moaned Master Cheese.

"Is there anything we can get for you?" resumed Miss Deb.

"Oh-o-o-o-o-o-h!" repeated Master Cheese. "A glass of wine might revive
me."

"Get up," said Jan, "and let's see if you can walk. He's not hurt, Miss
Deb."

Master Cheese, yielding to the peremptory movement of Jan's arm, had no
resource but to show them that he could walk. He had taken a step or two
as dolefully as it was possible for him to take it, keeping his eyes
shut, and stretching out his hands before him, after the manner of the
blind, when an interruption came from Miss Amilly.

"What can this be, lying here?"

She was bending her head near the old bureau, which had been rent in the
explosion, her eyes fixed upon some large letter or paper on the floor.
They crowded round at the words. Jan picked it up, and found it to be a
folded parchment bearing a great seal.

"Hollo!" exclaimed Jan.

On the outside was written "Codicil to the will of Stephen Verner."

"What is it?" exclaimed Miss Deborah, and even Master