138 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



shrewd, intelligent, sharp, and eccentric. Entering 

 the legal profession on his own account, he obtained 

 two or three remunerative appointments, and other- 

 wise his practice throve, and he began to accumulate 

 property. He was remarkable for 'nosing out' and 

 dealing with properties which had depreciated in 

 value. He had an especial /^«c//rt:«/' for substantial 

 country mansions, to which some land was attached, 

 and he invariably succeeded in disposing of such a 

 property shortly after his purchase at a considerable 

 profit. In addition to keeping a look-out for such 

 investments, he had a keen eye for the judicious 

 purchase of life annuities, as also life interests. I 

 doubt whether in the annals of life assurance one 

 could meet with a chapter more extraordinary than 

 that respecting a life interest which I am about to 

 relate. X. heard that a son of one of the most 

 distinguished members of the House of Peers was 

 in great pecuniary trouble, and was desirous of 

 selling his life interest in the family estates, the 

 property being strictly entailed. The applicant's 

 father, an aged man, was living, as also was the heir 

 to the peerage and to the property, but unmarried. 

 The latter, however, was of middle age, and well 

 and hearty. The second son was also a strong 

 robust man and married, but without children. As 

 to the central figure of this romance (for it is one), 

 he was in robust health and likely to reach a good 

 old age. It was this third son whose life interest 

 X. bought, giving 13,000/. in cash for it, with no 

 proviso whatever, e.xcept that the whole property 



