urself, or
your amiable sister. If I am right in that conjecture, and you
have any serious thought of leaving the place, I would earnestly
recommend you, as one having some experience in such descriptions
of property, to sell it at once.

"Now, the proposition with which I conclude this letter is, I
know, of a character to make you doubt the disinterestedness of
such advice; but that it is disinterested, nevertheless, is a
fact of which I can assure my own heart, and of which I beg to
assure you. I propose, then, should you, upon consideration,
decide upon such a course of proceeding, to purchase of you the
Hall. I do not ask for a bargain on account of any extraneous
circumstances which may at the present time depreciate the value
of the property, but I am willing to give a fair price for it.
Under these circumstances, I trust, sir, that you will give a
kindly consideration to my offer, and even if you reject it, I
hope that, as neighbours, we may live long in peace and amity,
and in the interchange of those good offices which should subsist
between us. Awaiting your reply,

"Believe me to be, dear sir,

"Your very obedient servant,

"FRANCIS VARNEY.

"To Henry Bannerworth, Esq."

Henry, after having read this most unobjectionable letter through,
folded it up again, and placed it in his pocket. Clasping his hands,
then, behind his back, a favourite attitude of his when he was in deep
contemplation, he paced to and fro in the garden for some time in deep
thought.

"How strange," he muttered. "It seems that every circumstance combines
to induce me to leave my old ancestral home. It appears as if everything
now that happened had that direct tendency. What can be the meaning of
all this? 'Tis very strange--amazingly strange. Here arise circumstances
which are enough to induce any man to leave a particular place. Then a
friend, in whose single-mindedness and judgment I know I can rely,
advises the step, and immediately upon the back of that comes a fair and
candid offer."

There was an apparent connexion between all these circumstances which
much puzzled Henry. He walked to and fro for nearly an hour, until he
heard a hasty footstep approaching him, and upon looking in the
direction from whence it came, he saw Mr. Marchdale.

"I will seek Marchdale's advice," he said, "upon this matter. I will
hear what