the spirit of chivalry and has lent
its aid to romance;--but it certainly did not do so to enable the
discordant heirs of a rich man to settle a simple dirty question of
money, which, with ordinary prudence, the rich man should himself
have settled before he died."

The Turtle Dove had spoken with emphasis and had spoken well, and Mr.
Camperdown had not ventured to interrupt him while he was speaking.
He was sitting far back on his chair, but with his neck bent and with
his head forward, rubbing his long thin hands slowly over each other,
and with his deep bright eyes firmly fixed on his companion's face.
Mr. Camperdown had not unfrequently heard him speak in the same
fashion before, and was accustomed to his manner of unravelling the
mysteries and searching into the causes of Law with a spirit which
almost lent poetry to the subject. When Mr. Dove would do so, Mr.
Camperdown would not quite understand the words spoken, but he would
listen to them with an undoubting reverence. And he did understand
them in part, and was conscious of an infusion of a certain amount of
poetic spirit into his own bosom. He would think of these speeches
afterwards, and would entertain high but somewhat cloudy ideas of the
beauty and the majesty of Law. Mr. Dove's speeches did Mr. Camperdown
good, and helped to preserve him from that worst of all diseases,--a
low idea of humanity.

"You think, then, we had better not claim them as heirlooms?" he
asked.

"I think you had better not."

"And you think that she could claim them--as paraphernalia?"

"That question has hardly been put to me,--though I allowed myself to
wander into it. But for my intimacy with you, I should hardly have
ventured to stray so far."

"I need hardly say how much obliged we are. But we will submit one or
two other cases to you."

"I am inclined to think the court would not allow them to her as
paraphernalia, seeing that their value is excessive as compared with
her income and degree; but if it did, it would do so in a fashion
that would guard them from alienation."

"She would sell them--under the rose."

"Then she would be guilty of stealing them,--which she would hardly
attempt, even if not restrained by honesty, knowing, as she would
know, that the greatness of the value would almost assuredly lead to
detection. The same feeling would prevent buyers from purchasing."

"She says, you know, that they were given to her, absolutely."

"I should like to know