2i8 OCCASIONAL HAPPY THOUGHTS. 



him that she couldn't have the money for three months. At 

 the end of three months she wrote to the banker, who wrote 

 to the Company Limited, and the Company Limited, in the 

 pohtest manner possible, wrote to hwi, and asked for the 

 necessary papers. 



Then the banker referred the question to my Aunt. 

 " Goodness ! " said my Aunt, who began to see difficulties, 

 "Do they take me for a swindler ? " 



It then struck her that the Limited was pretending to 

 forget her claim ; so she found the papers. Having sent 

 these to her banker, and her banker having forwarded them 

 to the Company Limited, the politest possible message was 

 returned, to the effect, that, though the papers were perfectly 

 satisfactory as far as they went (" Do they think I'm a 

 forger?" exclaimed my Aunt indignantly), yet it \V2.% abso- 

 lutely necessary that she should take out Letters of Adminis- 

 tration. 



" Now, what Letters of Administration are, or how you 

 take them out, or where you take them out to, I know no 

 more," said my Aunt, helplessly, " than the Man in the 

 Tvloon." 



Hitherto my Aunt had always received her dividends 

 regularly, had not entered into investments, nor into specula- 

 tions, and had never been an Administratrix. Being suddenly 

 placed in this position, the ordinary calm of her life seemed 

 to have vanished. 



On receiving this fresh advice from the City concerning 

 the Letters of Administration, she thought over the matter 

 all the morning, made nothing of it, came to a decision, and 



