leave me the customary present of five hundred pounds. If you
exceed that sum I declare on my word of honor that I will not
touch one farthing of it." He took my hand, and pressed it
fervently. "Do me a favor," he said. "Never let us speak of this
again !"

I understood that I must yield--or lose my friend.

In now making my will, I accordingly appointed Rothsay one of my
executors, on the terms that he had prescribed. The minor
legacies having been next duly reduced to writing, I left the
bulk of my fortune to public charities.

My lawyer laid the fair copy of the will on my table.

"A dreary disposition of property for a man of your age," he
said, "I hope to receive a new set of instructions before you are
a year older."

"What instructions?" I asked.

"To provide for your wife and children," he answered.

My wife and children! The idea seemed to be so absurd that I
burst out laughing. It never occurred to me that there could be
any absurdity from my own point of view.

I was sitting alone, after my legal adviser had taken his leave,
looking absently at the newly-engrossed will, when I heard a
sharp knock at the house-door which I thought I recognized. In