than this. Had the man committed suicide? It looked like it. And what
was the quest of which he spoke? The circumstances were uncanny, so
much so that, though I am by no means nervous, or apt to be alarmed
at anything that may seem to cross the bounds of the natural, I grew
afraid, and began to wish I had nothing to do with them. How much more
do I wish it now, over twenty years afterwards!

As I sat and thought, there came a knock at the door, and a letter, in a
big blue envelope, was brought in to me. I saw at a glance that it was
a lawyer's letter, and an instinct told me that it was connected with my
trust. The letter, which I still have, runs thus:--

"Sir,--Our client, the late M. L. Vincey, Esq., who died on the 9th
instant in ---- College, Cambridge, has left behind him a Will, of which
you will please find copy enclosed and of which we are the executors.
Under this Will you will perceive that you take a life-interest in about
half of the late Mr. Vincey's property, now invested in Consols, subject
to your acceptance of the guardianship of his only son, Leo Vincey, at
present an infant, aged five. Had we not ourselves drawn up the document
in question in obedience to Mr. Vincey's clear and precise instructions,
both personal and written, and had he not then assured us that he had
very good reasons for what he was doing, we are bound to tell you that
its provisions seem to us of so unusual a nature, that we should have
bound to call the attention of the Court of Chancery to them, in order
that such steps might be taken as seemed desirable to it, either by
contesting the capacity of the testator or otherwise, to safeguard
the interests of the infant. As it is, knowing that the testator was
a gentleman of the highest intelligence and acumen, and that he has
absolutely no relations living to whom he could have confided the
guardianship of the child, we do not feel justified in taking this