ave
overlooked."

"No wonder," replied he. "Pray let us see what it is."

I opened the boxes, and, to their surprise, made up in a variety of
packages, I counted out gold coin to the amount of four hundred and
twenty pounds.

"Not a bad legacy," said Mr. Wilson. "Then you knew of this?"

"Of course; I have known it some time--ever since the attempt to rob
her."

"But what are those papers?"

On one was written "_Arsenic--Poison_;" on the other, "_Receipt for
Toothache_."

"Nothing of any value," said I, "by the outside."

I opened them, and found, to my surprise, bank-notes to the exact amount
of two hundred pounds.

"Well, I declare," said I, smiling, "I had nearly thrown all this money
away."

"And now you see what induced the old woman to write those labels on the
outside of it; in case she should be robbed, that the robbers might have
thrown the papers away--as you nearly did, and as very probably they
might have done."

"Well, Mr. Wilson, I have no further search to make. Will you oblige me
by taking care of this money for me?"

"Yes; that is, if you'll carry the gold, which is rather heavy, up to my
house, and then I will give you a receipt for the whole."

Anderson then left us, and I followed Mr. Wilson home. As soon as the
money was all re-counted, and a note made of it, Mr. Wilson asked me
what I wished that he should do with it. I replied, what was the truth,
that I really did not know what to do with it, but still I should like
to lay it out in something tangible.

"You want to buy a farm, I suppose, and be a landed proprietor, like
Bramble; but I'm afraid there is not enough. But I tell you what, Tom;
we lawyers know many things which do not come to everybody's ears, and I
know that the proprietor of the house in which your mother lives wishes
to sell it; and I think, as he is much pinched for money, that this sum
will about buy it. Now your mother pays fifty-five guineas a year for
it, and if it sells for six hundred pounds, that will give you more than
nine per cent for your money. What do you think?"

"Well, sir, I think it's the very best thing I can do; if more should be
necessary, I have saved a little besides which Bramble takes care of."

"Well, then, I'll see about it."

A few days afterward Mr. Wilson told me that the house was to be had for
five hundred and sixty pounds, and that he had closed the bargain.

"I thank you, sir," replied I. "Since I have been with you I have