throwing it upon the table.

"Give me the full amount in cash,

and you may do what you like with it."

To his great surprise, Mr. Strafford, who had remained in the background hitherto, stepped forward, and taking up the paper, put it in his pocket, and then drawing forth a packet of banknotes, with which he had come provided, placed the money on the table, and bade Mr. Chaffin count it.

"I'll buy your shares," he said to Dean; "you can transfer them to me. I'll give you par for them."

Mr. Trimmer was very much shocked at the summary way in which the business had been settled. It would not do at all, he said; there must be a proper deed, with stamps, and duly executed. Conveyances could not be made and unmade in that He would see that everything was properly summary manner. done; and in the meantime the money should not have been paid; a deposit would have been sufficient. Mr. Chaffin also seemed to be rather taken aback. He wanted to know who Mr. Strafford was, and why he had interfered; but upon being satisfied that he had not himself any design upon the property, and that he had only acted out of friendship to Dean, he agreed to let the matter be as arranged. He had made his offer, and it had been accepted in the presence of witnesses, and he could not have retracted if he would. On the whole, he was not sorry to see the money back again, and looked upon Mr. Strafford as the latest instance of an old proverb, which was often upon his own lips, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Joshua Dean could scarcely believe his good fortune as he left Chaffin's office and followed Mr. Strafford and his solicitor through the streets. His heart was swelling with gratitude, which he longed to express by word of mouth to his benefactor. As soon as they were alone in Mr. Trimmer's room he stepped up to the old squire and said:

"I'll redeem those bonds from you, sir, if you'll give me time.

What you have paid for them I'll pay again, sooner or later. I can never pay my debt, though, for your help to-day, and I don't want to. I shall remember it all my life, Mr. Strafford. You have made me an honest man again. Thank God for it! I must thank Him first for putting it into your heart to do it. Thank God, then; and thank you, too, sir. An honest man again I am before the wor-r-ld!"

"Shake hands, then, Dean!" said the squire; and they did so. It was a very hearty grip on both sides. Mr. Strafford's thin old hand shrivelled up in the pressure of the shipbuilder's broad palm, and he could not help wincing; but he did not complain.

CHAPTER XLVI.

A STORMY MEETING.

Fortune... turn thy wheel!-Shakespeare.

HE meeting of the Sandy Frith Improvement and Investment Society, Limited, to which Louis Darville and many other shareholders were looking forward with anxiety, was called, as it happened, for the day following that on which Mr. Strafford concluded his bargain with Chaffin in the summary and unprofessional manner described in our last chapter. It was held in a large new room or hall built upon the site of what had once been known as Walebone's. Walebone had been, it was supposed, the original proprietor of the coffee-house called after his name, but that was not in the recollection of any of those who frequented the new building. Speculation had assumed a wider range, bolder proportions, and a more elastic form altogether since the days of Walebone, and a coffee-house, however spacious, was quite inadequate to receive a body of shareholders, or to represent the interests concerned.

liberal; if it raised him in his own esteem to exert himself for others he would do so; but such instances were of rare occurrence, while the more direct incentives of vanity or personal comfort were continually in action. Louis Darville, as well in the trifles of every passing hour as in the weightiest events of a lifetime, was possessed by one ruling spirit, one evil spirit, and that was "self."

This devil had once been almost cast out. Victor's unexpected kindness at the moment of his greatest embarrassment had touched his heart, and made him resolve to be very careful for the future to do nothing which might in any way annoy or be injurious to his brother. His brother, in fact, was to be his mentor, his model, and his first care in everything. He had been quite sincere in that determination; but the impression had soon faded away. The devil had entered into him again, and he had for the second time risked honour, truth, his brother's dearest interests and his own, in reliance upon his own wisdom, and with a view to his own advantage.

Now again he was ashamed of himself, and penitent; now again he had resolved that if he could but tide over the present difficulty he would devote himself freely and unreservedly to business, and recompense his brother. There was to be a meeting of the Sandy Frith Company in a week's time, and then he should know the best or the worst of his position. If he could only have a chance of getting straight once more, he would never go wrong again-of that he was resolved; and in any case he would do everything in his power to release his brother from all share in the consequences of his own default. Whatever might be his own lot, Victor should not suffer for him, or with him-not, at least, if he could help it. It remained to be seen whether he could help it or not.

CHAPTER XLV.

A COMPROMISE.

He told him forth the good red gold,
He told it forth with muckle din;
"The gold is thine, the land is mine,

And now I'm again the Lord of Linne."

Old Ballad.

R. STRAFFORD had many consultations with his solicitor,

MR aus

Mr. Trimmer, before they could come to a decision as to the steps which should be taken "re Dean and Chaffin." The only thing that Mr. Trimmer seemed to be sure about was that the case was "worth trying." The issue, to be sure, would be very doubtful; it would depend upon the view taken of the testator's intentions. Unfortunately the will was not very carefully worded; it had been modelled upon a previous will of the testator's father, and had not been drawn up by a professional man. It was such a pity, Mr. Trimmer said, that people would make their own wills. Mr. Chaffin would no doubt spare no cost to maintain what he conceived to be his rights; but it need not be a very expensive affair; if Mr. Strafford were willing to go on with it, Mr. Trimmer would do his best to carry him through: and he could only say, as he had said before, that it was worth trying.

Mr. Strafford was not afraid of the expense. Tom had begged him to do what he could for Mr. Dean, and had told him of his own encounter with young Chaffin, to which possibly the contractor's oppressive conduct in the matter of the shipyard and house might be indirectly attributed. It was sufficient, at all events, to enlist the old squire's sympathies on Dean's side, and against Chaffin, more strongly than before; and he was

resolved to leave no means untried to see Tom's friend righted. But, on the other hand, he did not wish for Tom's friend to be exposed, and his failings proclaimed to all the world, as must be the case if the matter were taken into court. He did not like the idea of seeing the honest shipwright compelled, under cross-examination, to confess how, in a state of inebriety, he had signed away his birthright, and turned his aged mother out of house and home. The man had pledged himself to shrink from nothing that might be necessary, and he knew that he could trust him: but he wanted to spare him the shame and degradation of being bullied by counsel in open court after he had repented so bitterly of his fault, and had fortified himself by total and resolute abstinence ever since against a repetition of the evil which had led to it. He proposed, therefore, to make an appeal to Mr. Chaffin, in the first instance, and to see whether the business could not be settled by an amicable arrangement.

Mr. Trimmer did not expect for a moment that anything could come of it; but said of this also that it was "worth trying," and agreed to accompany Mr. Strafford to the contractor's office to make the experiment.

"We had better have Dean up, in order that if anything should come of it, we may strike while the iron is hot," said the lawyer. "Nothing like fixing a man when you have got him. I don't think we shall catch Mr. Chaffin; but Dean must come up and be at hand."

Dean was sent for accordingly, and went with Mr. Strafford and the solicitor to wait on Mr. Chaffin by appointment. He seemed surprised when Mr. Trimmer, who had sent in his own name only, introduced his clients.

"If I had known," he said, "what was to be the nature of your business, I would have referred you to my solicitor. It is useless for us to go into it. I have told Mr. Dean repeatedly