ow
he intended to do so. Certainly he was not annoyed in any way. Far from
it. He was intensely interested, and _I have the best of reasons for
knowing that that message from our mother made a very great difference
in his life_."

I thanked her for these words, without asking anything further. As I
have said, it was no affair of mine, from first to last; but the
verification, after such a lapse of time, was doubly satisfactory to me.

Again I ask: How about the "_Cui Bono_" argument?

* * * * *

Another shake of the kaleidoscope, and I find myself at Wimbledon,
staying with a friend--now, alas! passed away--who had then a pretty
house not far from the Common, and with whom I often spent a few days
when in London.

On this occasion she had asked some friends to meet me at tea, amongst
them Mrs Alfred Wedgwood, to whom I had introduced her some years
previously, and my friends "V. C. Desertis" and his wife.

A Miss Farquhar, whom I knew very slightly, was sharing a sofa with me,
she sitting at one end and I at the other, leaving a vacant space
between us. Mrs Wedgwood was talking to Mr Desertis at the moment, but
suddenly looked across the room at our sofa, and began describing very
graphically an old man of benevolent aspect sitting between Miss
Farquhar and myself, leaning on a stick, and wearing a soft felt hat.

"He has long hair, almost down to his coat collar, and he looks such a
dear, kind old man!" Mrs Wedgwood said; then turning round, she added:
"Surely some of you must recognise him! he is so very clear and distinct
in his whole personality."

Mrs Desertis whispered something to her husband, who asked at once if
the old gentleman's hair was very white.

"Yes; quite white," said Mrs Wedgwood hopefully.

"And curly and long?"

"Yes; curly and quite long, reaching to his collar," continued Mrs
Wedgwood, still more confidently.

But our hopes were dashed when Mr Desertis turned round drily to his
wife: "Then it cannot possibly be my father, as you suggested. His hair
was white, but _quite short_."

It was a cruel blow! But Mrs Wedgwood still affirmed that she had never
seen anyone more distinctly, whether we recognised him or not.

I may here mention that I had been sleeping very badly in this house for
some nights past, and regretted this the more, because I was shortly
going to stay with a friend at Windsor for my first "Fourth of June,"
and wished to be specially