acquaintance, Richard Strahan.

The will in Mr. Jeeves's keeping, with its recent codicil, was opened and
read. The will itself bore date about six years anterior to the
testator's tragic death: it was very short, and, with the exception of a
few legacies, of which the most important was L10,000 to his ward, the
whole of his property was left to Richard Strahan, on the condition that
he took the name and arms of Derval within a year from the date of Sir
Philip's decease. The codicil, added to the will the night before his
death, increased the legacy to the young lady from L10,000 to L30,000, and
bequeathed an annuity of L100 a year to his Albanian servant.
Accompanying the will, and within the same envelope, was a sealed letter,
addressed to Richard Strahan, and dated at Paris two weeks be fore Sir
Philip's decease. Strahan brought that letter to me. It ran thus:--

"Richard Strahan, I advise you to pull down the house called Derval
Court, and to build another on a better site, the plans of which, to
be modified according to your own taste and requirements, will be
found among my papers. This is a recommendation, not a command. But
I strictly enjoin you entirely to demolish the more ancient part,
which was chiefly occupied by myself, and to destroy by fire, without
perusal, all the books and manuscripts found in the safes in my study.
I have appointed you my sole executor, as well as my heir, because I
have no personal friends in whom I can confide as I trust I may do in
the man I have never seen, simply because he will bear my name and
represent my lineage. There will be found in my writing-desk, which
always accompanies me in my travels, an autobiographical work, a
record of my own life, comprising discoveries, or hints at discovery,
in science, through means little cultivated in our age. You will not
be surprised that before selecting you as my heir and executor, from a