32 Sometliing Advantageous, [January. 



faces at my board'; but there came a reverse, and like fair flowers at a 

 sudden frost, my kind friends bid tbeir heads. I was nearly destitute, 

 and thinking and believing that the tie of blood would be strong enough 

 to bind to me, in my distress, those with whom I claimed kindred, and 

 who had been delighted to claim kindred with me, I went to them, a 

 visitor.' 



' And failed.' 



* And failed, as you say. They dropped from me one by one. Some 

 remembered slight offenses ; some were never at home ; some really thought 

 I must have been dreadfully improvident, and, until they were convinced 

 I had not, could not assist me. Doors were shut in my face — window 

 blinds pulled down as I passed. I was shunned as a pestilence — my 

 clothes were in rags — my step feeble from long want of common neces- 

 saries. And then an old school companion died in the West Indies, and 

 left me £20,000, which I received through the hands of Mr. Shaw.' 



' A large fortune ! And your relations ?' 



' Heard of it, and were frantic. I disappeared from them all. From 

 that day to this, they have not heard of me. Do you love wild flowers?' 



' Wild flowers ?' 



' Yes. Here are heaps just from the teeming garden. Look, too, how 

 yon cherub twines them in her hair. The stream flows deep to eter- 

 nity !' 



'Mr. Jordan, sir,' I cried. 'Mr. Jordan, do you know me.' 



'Come hither, laughing, gentle spirit,' he said, 'bring with you your 

 heap of floral gems. Yes, I know this is the sweet violet. Mary, my 

 Mary ; God knows I love you.' 



It was a strange thing but, at the moment the blind of the window, 

 which I had drawn up to the top, came suddenly rattling down, and the 

 room was quite dark. I raised it again, and then turned to the bed, 



Mr. Jordan was a corpse ! What a remarkable change had in 



these few moments come over the old man's face. The sharp lines of 

 age had all disappeared, and there was a calm, benign expression upon 

 the still features, such as in life I never saw them wear. 



' A restless spirit is at peace,' I said; as I felt for the will where he 

 told me it was placed, and found it. It was merely tied up with a piece 

 of red tape, and addressed to Mr. Shaw, 20, Lincoln's-Inn Fields ; so I 

 resolved to trust no other messenger, but to take it in my hand myself 

 I told the landlady of the house that her lodger was no more ; and that 

 she would no doubt hear immediately from his solicitor, and then I 



left. 



* Well, Mr. Shaw,' I said, after I had mentioned to him the manner of 



