trouble, and much
correspondence, the whole of the persons for whom the loose diamonds
were intended were, it is believed, ascertained, and this sum proved
sufficient to satisfy the several claimants to such an extent that not a
single complaint was heard.'"

"How strange! Why did you not tell me of this before, Lilly?"

"Because Mr Blurt resolved to keep it secret until he was quite sure
there was no mistake about the matter. Now that he has received the
value of his diamonds he has told all his friends. Moreover, he has
resolved to take a house in the suburbs, so that Fred may have fresh
country air, fresh milk, and fresh eggs. Peter Pax, too, talks of doing
the same thing, being bent, so he says, on devoting himself to the
entomological department of his business, in order that he may renew his
youth by hunting butterflies and beetles with Tottie."

"It never rains but it pours," said Miss Stivergill. "Surprises don't
come singly, it appears.--Have you read _that_?" She handed her friend
the newspaper which recounted the "gallant rescue."

Miss Lillycrop's countenance was a study which cannot be described. The
same may be said of her bonnet. When she came to the name of Aspel her
eyeballs became circular, and her eyebrows apparently attempted to reach
the roots of her hair.

"Maria dear!" she cried, with a little shriek, "this only reminds me
that I have still more news to tell. You remember Sir James Clubley?
Well, he is dead, and he has left the whole of his property to George
Aspel! It seems that Sir James went one night, secretly, as it were, to
some low locality where Aspel was preaching to poor people, and was so
affected by what he heard and saw that he came forward at the close,
signed the pledge along with a number of rough and dirty men, and then
and there became a total abstainer. This, I am told, occurred a
considerable time ago, and he has been a helper of the Temperance cause
ever since. Sir James had no near relatives. To the few distant ones
he possessed he left legacies, and in his will stated that he left the
rest of his fortune--which, although not large, is considerable--to
George Aspel, in the firm belief that by so doing he was leaving it to
further the cause of Christianity and Temperance."

"Come, now, don't stop there," observed Miss Stivergill calmly, "go on
to tell me that Phil Maylands has also had a fortune left him, or become
Postmaster-General and got married, or is