XXII. 

 AN ECCENTRIC CHASE. 



CHAPTER I. 



A MAN who strolls into his club after an absence, and 

 is greeted with a cheery " Hallo ! Here he is again ! 

 How are you r " experiences one of the small pleasures 

 which go towards making life comfortable, and my 

 friends at the Smoking Room were dissembling very 

 successfully, or they were really glad to see me, as, 

 after being kejDt away for a short time for family 

 reasons — the death of an uncle more rich in money 

 than in amiability or affection — I re-entered the jjortals 

 of that agreeable institution and found an extremely 

 good-tempered party sitting round the fire. 



" Well, Charlie, did the poor old boy cut up well ? " 

 Harquier asks, abandoning the sentimental for the 

 practical view of the question. 



" Gorgeously," I reply, " though I only have a very 

 small slice — ^500. Several metropolitan and provincial 

 asylums benefit, and the balance is, as usual when rich 

 men leave money, distributed among those who do not 

 in the least want it." 



