deathbed was one of fantastic Eldorados, sudden colossal legacies, and
miraculous windfalls.

'I haven't told you,' he said presently, 'of the piece of good luck that
has befallen me. You are not the only person in luck. I can hardly
expect you to believe me, it sounds so like the Arabian Nights. However,
it's true for all that. Well, one of the little sisters was playing in
the garden a few afternoons ago, making mud-pies or something of that
sort, and she suddenly scraped up a sovereign. Presently she found two
or three more, and our curiosity becoming aroused, a turn or two with
the spade revealed quite a bed of gold; and the end of it was, that on
further excavating, the whole garden proved to be one mass of
sovereigns. Sixty thousand pounds we counted ... and then, what do you
think?--it suddenly melted away....'

He paused for a moment, and continued, more in amusement than regret--

'Yes--the Government got wind of it, and claimed the whole lot as
treasure-trove!

'But not,' he added slyly, 'before I'd paid off two or three of my
biggest bills. Yes--and--you'll keep it quiet, of course,--there's
another lot been discovered in the garden, but we shall take good care
the Government doesn't get hold of it this time, you bet.'

He told this wild story with such an air of simple conviction that, odd
as it may seem, one believed every word of it. But the tale of his
sudden good-fortune was not ended.

'You've heard of old Lord Osterley,' he presently began again. 'Well,