At the mention of Sir Elkanah Crofton, my attention was quickly excited; this was the uncle of my friends at the Rosary, and I was at once curious to hear more of him. “Fustian jacket or not, he had a good head on his shoulders,” remarked one. “And luck, sir; luck, which is better than any head,” sighed the meek man, sorrowfully. “I deny that, deny it totally,” broke in he of the asthma. “If Sam Whalley hadn't been a man of first-rate order, he never could have made that concern what it was,--the first foundry in Wales.” “And what is it now, and where is he?” asked the attorney, triumphantly. “At rest, I hope,” murmured the sad man. “Not a bit of it, sir,” said the wheezing voice, in a tone of confidence; “take _my_ word for it, he 's alive and hearty, somewhere or other, ay, and we 'll hear of him one of these days: he 'll be smelting metals in Africa, or cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Heaven knows what, or prime minister of one of those rajahs in India. He's a clever dog, and he knows it too. I saw what he thought of himself the day old Sir Elkanah came down to Fairbridge.” “To be sure, you were there that morning,” said the attorney; “tell us about that meeting.” “It's soon told,” resumed the other. “When Sir Elkanah Crofton arrived at the house, we were all in the garden. Sir Samuel had taken me there to see some tulips, which he said were the finest in Europe, except some at the Hague. Maybe it was that the old baronet was vexed at seeing nobody come to meet him, or that something else had crossed him, but as he entered the garden I saw he was sorely out of temper. “'How d'ye do, Sir Elkanah?' said Whalley to him, coming up pleasantly. 'We scarcely expected you before dinner-time. My wife and my daughters,' said he, introducing them; but the other only removed his hat ceremoniously, without ever noticing them in the least. “'I hope you had a pleasant journey, Sir Elkanah?' said Whalley, after a pause, while, with a short jerk of his head, he made signs to the ladies to leave them. “'I trust I am not the means of breaking up a family party?' said the other, half sarcastically. 'Is Mrs. Whalley--' “'Lady Whalley, with your good permission, sir,' said Samuel, stiffly. “'Of course; how stupid of me! I should remember you had been knighted. And, indeed, the thought was full upon me as I came along, for I scarcely suppose that if higher ambitions had not possessed you, I should find the farm buildings and the outhouse in the state of ruin I see them.' “'They are better by ten thousand pounds than the day on which I first saw them; and I say it in the presence of this honest townsman here, my neighbor,'--meaning _me_,--'that both _you_ and they were very creaky concerns when I took you in hand.' “I thought the old Baronet was going to have a fit at these words, and he caught hold of my arm and swayed backwards and forwards all the time, his face purple with passion.