spiritual minded friends to-morrow, at four o'clock, at dinner--'"

"_Temps militaire--they won't fail you, my old girl._"

"'I shall then have reached an age to which few arrive--look to the
psalm--namely, to eighty--'"

"_She's eighty-three_--"

"'I have, under the mercy of Providence, and the ministry of a
chosen vessel, the Reverend Carter Kettlewell, and also a worshiping
Christian learned in the law, namely, Mr. Selby Sly, put my earthly
house in order. Would that spiritual preparation could he as easily
accomplished; but yet I feel well convinced that mine is a state of
grace, and Mr. Kettlewell gives me a comfortable assurance that in me
the old man if crucified--'"

"_Did you ever listen to such rascally cant?_"

"'I have given instructions to Mr. Sly to make my will, and Mr.
Kettlewell has kindly consented to be the trustee and executor--"

"_Now comes the villainy, no doubt_"

"'I have devised--may the offering be graciously received!--all that
I shall die possessed of to make an addition to support those devoted
soldiers--not, dear nephew, soldiers in your carnal meaning of the
word--but the ministers of the gospel, who labor in New Zealand. These
inestimable men, whose courage is almost supernatural, and who--'"