'And your grandmother, Mrs. Needham?' 'Quite well. What is in the wind now? Has Aunt Eleanor been proved to have made a later will in my favour?' 'You will find out in a day or two. Eh! Alec, you are a lucky dog. Painter--poet--nothing in which you do not command success. And now--now----' 'Now--what?' 'That I will tell you, my dear boy, in two or three days. There's many a slip, we know, but this time the cup will reach your lips.' 'What do you mean?' cried the young man, startled. 'Cup? Do you mean to tell me that you have something--something unexpected--coming to me? Something considerable?' 'If it comes--oh! yes, it is quite certain to come--very considerable. You are your mother's only son, and she was an only child, and her grandfather was one Robert Fletcher, wasn't he?' 'I believe he was. There's a family Bible on the shelves that can tell us.' 'Did you ever hear anything about the early life and adventures of this Robert Fletcher?' 'No: he was in the City, I believe, and he left a good large fortune. That is all.' 'That is all. That is all. Well, my dear boy, the strangest things happen: we must never be surprised at anything. But be prepared to-morrow--or next day--or the day after--to be agreeably--most agreeably--surprised.' 'To the tune of--what? A thousand pounds, say?' 'Perhaps. It may amount very nearly to as much--very nearly--Ha! ha!--to nearly as much as that, I dare say--Ho! ho!' He chuckled, and wagged his white head. 'Very nearly a thousand pounds, I dare say.' He walked over to look at the picture. 'Really, Alec,' he said, 'you deserve all the luck you get. Nobody can possibly grudge it to you. This picture is charming. I don't know when I have seen a sweeter thing. You have the finest feeling for rock and sea-shore and water. Well, my dear boy, I am very sorry that you haven't as fine a feeling for Armorel Rosevean--the sweetest girl and the best, I believe, in the world. Good-bye!--good-bye! till the day after to-morrow--the day after to-morrow! It will certainly reach to a thousand--or very near. Ho! ho! Lucky dog!' Mr. Jagenal went away nodding and smiling. There are moments when it is very good to be a solicitor: they are moments rich in blessing: they compensate, in some measure, for those other moments when the guilty are brought to bay and the thriftless are made to tremble: they are the moments when the solicitor announces a windfall--the return of the long-lost Nabob--the discovery of a will--the favourable decision of the Court. Alec sat down and seized a pen. He wrote hurriedly to his printers: 'Let the present arrangements,' he said, continue unchanged. I shall be in a position in two or three days to make a very considerable payment, and, after that, we will start on a more regular understanding.' Another knock, and again the discreet man-servant came in on tiptoe. 'Lady refused her card,' he whispered. The lady was none other than Armorel herself--in morning dress, wearing a hat.