conduct which he pursued in regard to his
father's estate served as basis to the theory alluded to. At the time
being, it created quite a little stir; it was looked upon as a piece of
old-world folly, an eccentricity worthy of the red-heeled days of
seigneurial France, and, as such, altogether out of place in a
money-getting age like our own. But it was not until after the tragedy
that his behavior in that particular was brought up in evidence against
him.

The facts in the case were these: Tristrem's father, Erastus Varick, was
a man of large wealth, who, when well on in the forties, married a girl
young enough to be his daughter. The lady in question was the only child
of a neighbor, Mr. Dirck Van Norden by name, and very pretty is she said
to have been. Before the wedding Erastus Varick had his house, which was
situated in Waverley Place, refurbished from cellar to garret; he had
the parlor--there were parlors in those days--fitted up in white and
gold, in the style known as that of the First Empire. The old Dutch
furniture, black with age and hair-cloth, was banished. The walls were
plastered with a lime cement of peculiar brilliance. The floors of the
bedrooms were carpeted with rugs that extended under the beds, a novelty
in New York, and the bedsteads themselves, which were vast enough to
make coffins for ten people, were curtained with chintz patterns
manufactured in Manchester to frighten children. In brief, Erastus
Varick succeeded in making the house even less attractive than before,
and altogether acted like a man in love.

After three years of marriage, Tristrem was born and Mrs. Varick died.
The boy had the best of care and everything that money could procure. He
was given that liberal education which usually unfits the recipient for
making so much as his bread and butter, and at school, at college, and
when he went abroad his supply of funds was of the amplest description.
Shortly after his return from foreign lands Erastus Varick was gathered
to his fathers. By his will he bequeathed to Tristrem a Panama hat and a
bundle of letters. The rest and residue of his property he devised to
the St. Nicholas Hospital. The value of that property amounted to seven
million dollars.

Now Dirck Van Norden had not yet moved from the neighborhood to a better
place. Tristrem was his only grandson, and when he learned of the tenor
of the will, he shook his fist at himself in the looking-glass and
swore, in a bountiful