‘It is most unlikely. Twenty-four hours’ reflection will convince Mr Bowden how unwise it would be for him to spend his own money without the hope of getting anybody else’s. You may rely on being undisturbed in your good fortune.—And now, let me say how glad I am to make the acquaintance of the man for whose kindness to my poor father I have always felt grateful, and express my hope that I may enjoy the privilege of your friendship.’ Before my dull brain could furnish any reply to Mr Godding’s words, he spoke again: ‘By-the-bye, there is in the will, not a charge, but merely a recommendation that you should make some adequate provision for a Miss May Atherton, whom Mrs Bowden describes as her “beloved companion and adopted child.” I hope you have no objection to doing so?’ I blushed like a school-girl as I explained how I had already proposed to provide for Miss Atherton; and I think I may truthfully say that she has hitherto—and several years have passed since my aunt’s death—been satisfied with her share in Mrs Bowden’s property. We live in the house at Hampstead, and often speak of the strange woman who dwelt there before us, and to whom we owe the comforts of our life. ‘Her heart was kinder and her conscience more acute than she would avow,’ May declares. ‘When she learned your history from me, Dick, she determined to atone to you for what your parents had suffered, and at the same time punish the Bowden family for their unscrupulous fortune-hunting. I have no doubt she found a grim pleasure in knowing, as she must have done, that her will was in your hands, ready to descend like a thunderbolt on the heirs-expectant; and I think it was this knowledge that made her so earnest in her insistence that you should not open the envelope which contained it.’ ‘I think,’ adds Gerald, who, though he has lately taken a wife and a house of his own, is still emphatically one of us—‘I think the old lady must have got a great deal of satisfaction out of the anticipation of her brother-in-law’s disappointment. How she would have enjoyed being present at that interview in Godding’s office! Well, let who will grumble, we three have no cause to grieve over the contents of that wandering document—the Will of Mrs Anne Bowden.’ THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS. Near the village of Burgbrohl, on the Rhine, there is a cavity in the ground which has for a long time yielded a copious supply of carbonic acid gas. Apparatus has recently been erected close to this borehole by which the gas can be compressed to the liquid state, and one hundred and ten gallons of gas are so compressed into a pint and three-quarters of liquid every minute. Iron bottles holding about eight times that quantity are used for purposes of storage and transport.