isfied that there is no reason why probate should not issue. It is,
humanly speaking, impossible that Mr. Meeson can have escaped the general
destruction.

The President: Have you any affidavit from anybody who saw Mr. Meeson in
the water?

No, my Lord; I have an affidavit from a sailor named Okers, the only man
who was picked up in the water after the Kangaroo foundered, which states
that he believes that he saw Mr. Meeson spring from the ship into the
water, but the affidavit does not carry the matter further. He cannot
swear that it was Mr. Meeson.

The President: Well, I think that that will do. The Court is necessarily
adverse to allowing the presumption of death, except on evidence of the
most satisfactory nature. Still, considering that nearly four months have
now passed since the foundering of the Kangaroo under circumstances which
make it exceedingly improbable that there were any other survivors, I
think that it may fairly presume that Mr. Meeson shared the fate of the
other passengers.

Mr. Fiddlestick: The death to be presumed from the 18th of December.

The President: Yes, from the eighteenth.

Mr. Fiddlestick: If your Lordship pleases.

* * * * *

Augusta put down the paper with a gasp. There was she, safe and sound,
with the true last will of Mr. Meeson tattooed upon her; and "probate had
issued"--whatever that mysterious formula might mean--to another will,
not the real last will. It meant (as she in her ignorance supposed) that
her will was no good, that she had endured that abominable tattooing to
no purpose, and was, to no purpose, scarred for life.

It was too much; and, in a fit of vexation, she flung the _Times_ out of
the window, and cast herself back on the cushion, feeling very much
inclined to cry.

CHAPTER XIII.

EUSTACE BUYS A PAPER.

In due course the train that bore Augusta and her fortunes, timed to
reach Waterloo at 5.40 p.m., rolled into the station. The train was a
fast one, but the telegraph had been faster. All the evening papers had
come out with accounts, more or less accurate, of their escape, and most
of them had added that the two survivors would reach Waterloo by the 5.40
train. The consequence was, that when the train drew up at the platform,
Augusta, on looking out, was horrified to see a dense mass of human
beings being kept in check by a line of policemen.

However, the guard was holding the door open, so there was nothi