Castletowers itself—Castletowers itself, with the
ancestral oaks of which he was so proud, and the
rare old house in which his forefathers had lived
and died for centuries before him. That was the
one secret that Saxon never confided to him—
not even when, walking together under the apple-trees
at the foot of the church-hill, he related
the story of his own marriage, of his cousin's
perfidy, and of the fate from which he had
interposed to save Helen Rivière.

"And that," he said, " was how I came first
to know her—how I came to love her—how I
won her. I brought her home at once to the
little château yonder. My uncle adored her
from the first moment, and she adored him. I
was almost jealous—that is, I should have been
jealous, if it hadn't made me so happy. When
she had been living here for about a month or
five weeks, we came up one morning, all three
together, to this little chapel upon the hill, and
my uncle married us. There was no one present
but Kettli and the organ-blower. After my
uncle had blessed us and the ceremony was all
over, we embraced and bade him adieu, and
walked along the Thusis road till the cabriolet
overtook us; and so we were married and went
away, and no soul in Reichenau knew it till we
were gone. We were so happy!"

"It is a strange story," said the Earl, " and a
pretty story; and the best part of it is that you
and I are cousins, Saxon, after all."

"Nay," replied Saxon, grasping his friend's
hand in both his own, " it is not much to be
only cousins when we have been brothers so
long!"

A word remains to be added respecting the
other moiety of the great Trefalden Legacy;
that moiety which, according to the will of the
testator, was to be bestowed in the endowment
of a great charity, chiefly for the benefit of
"Decayed Tradesmen, Mercantile Men,
Ship-Brokers, Stock-Brokers, poor Clergymen, and
Members of the Legal and Medical Professions,
and the Widows and Orphans of each of those
classes respectively." For the accommodation
of these widows and orphans, the will went on to
direct that a plot of freehold ground should be
purchased, and that " a Suitable and Substantial
Building" should be erected thereon under the
superintendence of " some Eminent Architect;"
and this building was to be called " THE LONDON
BENEVOLENT TREFALDEN INSTITUTION."

It is delightful to know that all this will
certainly be done—some day. The money
fell due on the third of April, I860, and the
sum then transferred to the credit of the
trustees amounted to just four million seven
hundred and seventy-six thousand two hundred and
odd pounds. Since that time the exertions of
the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and
Corporation have been beyond all praise. To
say that they have either thought much, or done
much, up to the present date, would perhaps be
premature; but they have eaten an incalculable
number of dinners on the subject, which, to the
civic mind, means precisely the same thing. At
these dinners they generally entertain a certain
"Eminent Architect," which "Eminent Architect,"
being retained at a splendid salary for just
so long as the works shall remain in progress, is
naturally and laudably anxious to devote his life
to the task. He therefore submits a plan now
and then, or the modification of a plan, to the
intelligent after-dinner criticisms of his honourable
employers; and in that position the
building-question now stands.

What site that "Suitable and Substantial
Building" is destined to occupy, how much it
will cost, what it will be like, and at what remote
period in the future history of the world it may
probably be completed, are questions which the
present generation is advised not to consider too
curiously. No intelligent and unprejudiced
person can doubt, of course, that when the ground
is bought, and the building is built, and the bills
are all paid, and the dinners are all eaten, and
the resident manager, clergyman, physician, secretary,
housekeeper, and servants of the establishment
are salaried on a scale befitting the splendour
of the foundation, there will yet remain
something for the " DECAYED TRADESMEN, Mer-
cantile Men, Ship-Brokers, Stock-Brokers, poor
Clergymen, and Members of the Legal and
Medical professions, as well as for the Widows and
Orphans of each of those classes respectively."
In any case, however, the claims of these
insignificant persons will not have to be considered
in our time; how, then, can we do better than
eat, drink, and be merry, after the enlightened
fashion of our honourable friends, the Trefalden
Trustees, and so leave .the future to take care
of itself?

THE END OF "HALF A MILLION OF MONEY."

Now ready, THE EXTRA CHRISTMAS DOUBLE
NUMBER, entitled

DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S
PRESCRIPTIONS.

I. TO BE TAKEN IMMEDIATELY.

II. NOT TO BE TAKEN AT BED-TIME.

III. TO BE TAKEN AT THE DINNER-TABLE.

IV. NOT TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED.

V. TO BE TAKEN IN WATER.

VI. TO BE TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.

VII. TO BE TAKEN AND TRIED.

VIII. TO BE TAKEN FOR LIFE.

Price Fourpence, stitched in a cover.

COMPLETION OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS'S NEW
WORK.

Now ready, in 2 vols., price 22s.,

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.

With 40 Illustrations by MARCUS STONE.
London: CHAPMAN and HALL, 193, Piccadilly.

No. 351, for January 13, 1866, will contain the commencement
of a New Serial Novel, entitled

THE SECOND MRS. TILLOTSON.

BY THE AUTHOR OF " NEVER FORGOTTEN," &c.
To be continued from week to week until completed.