man clung to his latest choice to the very last, and left all he possessed to Robert Shrugg the younger, and after him to his son Robin, only mentioning Francis in his will, insultingly, as follows:

"And to my grandson, Francis Shrugg, whose mind is above worldly riches, as proved by his meditated disregard of all my wishes: I give and bequeath only the small tenement in Clack High Street, formerly the dower house to Shrugg Hall, now in the possession of Jeremiah Clacker, chemist; the latter to continue to inhabit it rent-free, till his decease, on the condition that he, the said Jeremiah Clacker, keeps the house and premises in good and habitable repair." And Mr. and Mrs. Francis Shrugg had, after the first moment's annoyance, laughed at the notion of owning a chemist's shop, in a place with such a name as Clack; and long before this story begins, were quite reconciled to know themselves disinherited, and to regard their wealthier cousins with equanimity.

"I would not change places with poor Robert," Francis had said, kindly and compassionately; "but I think he would with me.”

Which was true enough: for Robert Shrugg, notwithstanding his large possessions, was a homeless man; his wife chose to live on his estate, therefore the Hall was closed to him; his daughter was married; his son serving in the army abroad; with wife and children, he yet was a widower and childless. Naturally an affectionate man, position and wealth could not compensate him for the lack of family ties. He grew yearly more taciturn and dissatisfied, and at last was actually unable to witness his cousin's family happiness, and now had entirely ceased to visit at his house.

Mr. Francis Shrugg's chemical tastes have been alluded to; he inherited them from his grandfather, who had carried them so far as to have studied under a famous chemist of his day, as if the getting of his daily bread depended on his progress. The old squire had

in his youth blown up a room at the Hall during one of his wonderful tests on combustible liquids; and it was because of his wife's terror lest he should some day blow up herself and children, that he converted a room in the old dower house in the adjacent little town into a laboratory, and allowed his factotum, Jeremiah Clacker, to open the front parlour as a chemist's shop, reserving to himself the right to use the still and chemicals how and when he pleased.

Jeremiah Clacker had first come into favourable notice when young Francis Shrugg met with his fatal accident. He it was who had staunched the gaping wound on the temple, and on whose arm the poor young man's head rested during his last drive home; this kindly service, so kindly rendered, the squire never forgot, and the discovery of abilities directed to his own pet pursuit was a further bond between them. From being a mere assistant in a thirdrate apothecary's shop, Jeremiah thus became

master of the old dower house, and there he lived years after his after his patron died, though for a "long" time he was unable to do more than hobble in and out of the shop just to pay his respects to the old customers he was no longer able to serve. Mr. Francis Shrugg, who in his boyhood had often dabbled in chemistry under Jeremiah's superintendence, had faithfully observed his grandfather's wishes respecting him, and till death the chemist remained master of the queer old house and shop in Clack High Street.

News of his death came one morning when the Shruggs were breakfasting.

"Mr. Theodore's letter will amuse you," Mr. Francis Shrugg said, passing the note to his wife.

"Who is Mr. Theodore, papa?" It was Norah who asked the question.

Norah, the fifth daughter, a very precocious young lady of fifteen; who, because she resembled her father both in person and taste

more than

any of her sisters, could speak more freely and take more liberties in his presence

than even Susy could; and Susy was the eldest, and was moreover engaged to be married.

But Norah's curiosity was snubbed.

"I haven't time to enter into his pedigree," her father said, with a knowing glance at his wife. "I dare say you'll find it in Burke, if you look in the right place."

Norah considered herself, and so she was, very sharp" generally; but this time she failed to notice that her two elder sisters looked down as if they knew something worth hearing, and that a faint blush rose to her mother's face.

"Now, papa!" Norah exclaimed unsuspiciously, "how can you be so silly? Oh, I know, he's the shopman-will he keep the shop on, I wonder?”

Really, Norah!" Mrs. Shrugg said, “you

interfere in everything; I wish you would in