the papers left at St. Crux by
the late Admiral Bartram.

"Under these circumstances, the executors have decided on acting under
the only recognizable authority which they have to guide them--the
admiral's own will. This document (executed some years since) bequeaths
the whole of his estate, both real and personal (that is to say, all the
lands he possesses, and all the money he possesses, at the time of his
death), to his nephew. The will is plain, and the result is inevitable.
Your husband's fortune is lost to you from this moment. Mr. Georg e
Bartram legally inherits it, as he legally inherits the house and estate
of St. Crux.

"I make no comment upon this extraordinary close to the proceedings.
The Trust may have been destroyed, or the Trust may be hidden in some
place of concealment inaccessible to discovery. Either way, it is, in my
opinion, impossible to found any valid legal declaration on a knowledge
of the document so fragmentary and so incomplete as the knowledge which
you possess. If other lawyers differ from me on this point, by all
means consult them. I have devoted money enough and time enough to the
unfortunate attempt to assert your interests; and my connection with the
matter must, from this moment, be considered at an end.

"Your obedient servant,

"JOHN LOSCOMBE."

IX.

_From Mrs. Ruddock (Lodging-house Keeper) to Mr. Loscombe._

"Park Terrace, St. John's Wood, June 2d.

"SIR--Having, by Mrs. Noel Vanstone's directions, taken letters for her
to the post, addressed to you--and knowing no one else to apply to--I
beg to inquire whether you are acquainted with any of her friends; for
I think it right that they should be stirred up to take some steps about
her.

"Mrs. Vanstone first came to me in November last, when she and her maid
occupied my apartments. On that occasion, and again on this, she has
given me no cause to complain of her. She has behaved like a lady, and
paid me my due. I am writing, as a mother of a family, under a sense of
responsibility--I am not writing with an interested motive.

"After proper warning given, Mrs. Vanstone (who is now quite
alone) leaves me to-morrow. She has not concealed from me that her
circumstances are fallen very low, and that she cannot afford to remain
in my house. This is all she has told me--I know nothing of where she is
going, or what she means to do next. But I have every reason to believe
she desires to destroy all traces by which she might