harassed expression it had worn all during dinner, and took on a look of contentment. After this the days were spent by David in going over his uncle’s large mass of papers and correspondence, with the aid of Mr. Stretton and a secretary. A colossal task it proved to be.

No one, even his lawyer, who had his confidence more than any one else, knew in what the old Lord Thryng’s wealth really consisted, although Mr. Stretton surmised much of his surplus income of late years had been placed in Africa. As his papers had not been set in order or tabulated for years, every note, land loan, mortgage, and rental had to be unearthed slowly and laboriously from among a mass of written matter and figures, more or less worthless; for the old lord had a habit of saving every scrap of paper — the backs of notes and