sale, in defiance
of the law. At that time I was under age, but my guardians opposed his
application to the courts, and demanded an account of the moneys
already in his hands. The judges upheld the opposition of my
guardians, and refused to allow a further spoliation of the estate,
but they did not grant the accounting my guardians asked, because the
proceeds of the former sales were entirely at the disposal of my
uncle, and were sanctioned by the law to permit him to live as
befitted his station. If he lived meagrely instead of lavishly, as my
guardians contended, that, the judges said, was his affair, and there
the matter ended.

'My uncle took a violent dislike to me on account of this opposition
to his last application, although, of course, I had nothing whatever
to do with the matter. He lived like a hermit, mostly in the library,
and was waited upon by an old man and his wife, and these three were
the only inhabitants of a mansion that could comfortably house a
hundred. He visited nobody, and would allow no one to approach
Chizelrigg Chase. In order that all who had the misfortune to have
dealing with him should continue to endure trouble after his death, he
left what might be called a will, but which rather may be termed a
letter to me. Here is a copy of it.

'"MY DEAR TOM,--You will find your fortune between a couple
of sheets of paper in the library.

'"Your affectionate uncle,
'"REGINALD MORAN, EARL OF CHIZELRIGG."'

'I should doubt if that were a legal will,' said I.

'It doesn't need to be,' replied the young man with a smile. 'I am
next-of-kin, and heir to everything he possessed, although, of course,
he might have given his money elsewhere if he had chosen to do so. Why
he did not bequeath it to some institution, I do not know. He knew no
man personally except his own servants, whom he misused and starved,
but, as he told them, he misused and starved himself, so they had no
cause to grumble. He said he was treating them like one of the family.
I suppose he thought it would cause me more worry and anxiety if he
concealed the money, and put me on the wrong scent, which I am
convinced he has done, than to leave it openly to any person or
charity.'

'I need not ask if you have searched the library?'

'Searched it? Why, there never was such a search since the world
began!'

'Possibly you put the task into incompetent hands?'

'You are hinting, Monsieur Valmont, that I engag