Oddities 
man, what with waiting for bricks and with 
his own absences, months at a time, for boozing, 
hardly got round one course of bricks in a twelve- 
month. Yet he must have persisted patiently ; 
for after many years the walls were high enough 
for the window-sills of the ground floor. At 
this stage, however, Mr. Castle died. To every- 
one’s surprise, it then came out that he had been 
carrying on entirely on borrowed money. ‘The 
unfinished building was sold to the trustees 
of the asylum. 
In some ways Mr. Worthington Castle was 
astute enough. It was his wont to drive about 
with his bailiff in an Irish car; and in the course 
of a morning’s drive he would call at four or 
five public-houses and have a “ straight quart” 
brought out to him. The quart pot was always 
handed over the car to begin with for the bailiff 
to have the first drink, but he never got a second. 
The master, when it came to his turn, emptied 
the pot. 
And now, to get back to the earlier days of 
John Smith’s recolleétion : a rich man—an owner 
of property—was mentioned (but I mustn’t 
give his name) who married one of three wealthy 
sisters, and managed the affairs of all three of 
them. One of these three, dying single, left her 
estate amongst people so remote from her that 
they had no expeétations of inheriting, and let 
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