CHAPTER II 



THE night came when, on entering my dear 

 old dad's study, I found him dead in his 

 chair. He had never had a day's serious 

 illness in his life, and had always prayed 

 that his end might be sudden. 

 His prayer was heard ! 



" His life was beautiful," I cried, 

 " As he has lived, so has he died." 



It was a terrible shock, which threw me into a 

 state of neurasthenia for the time being. We had 

 been such pals and had always seen eye to eye in 

 regarding the forces and necessities of Nature, which, 

 despite man's fatuous endeavours, must remain un- 

 alterable and implacable to all eternity. 



My father was a just man, and had little respect 

 for the hard and fast rule of primogeniture. Conse- 

 quently his considerable fortune was equally divided 

 between my half-brother, Irwin, my sister Ada (Mrs. 

 Bennett-Edwards), and myself ; but we were to be 

 life beneficiaries only — with remainder to our respec- 

 tive offspring in esse and in -posse. At that time, 

 mine were in fosse ; but Irwin's hardly likewise, as 



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