Mr. Payne was the happiest of men over his good fortune, and insisted on deeding to me some very valuable real estate in Kentucky, besides giving me more money than I had the face to ask. He became my fast friend, as he remains to-day. But there was a happier mortal than he in those days, in New York, when all came to be disclosed, and that was the beautiful, noble old lady, his mother, Mrs. Payne. She could hardly contain herself in her joy, when Lewellyn made clean confession of all his misdeeds, all his great sins, and pledged her that he would not only never play cards again for a cent, not even for fun--a pledge which he sacredly keeps to this day. His experiences were too great, his sufferings had been too severe, to be forgotten; and Mr. Payne, in due course of time, went into legitimate business, in which he has proven himself a very capable man. Good old Mrs. Payne lived happily with her reformed son for about four years and a half, and at last died of a fever, which followed a cold contracted one wet day, on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, where she and her son were passing a summer vacation, and her remains were taken back to Kentucky. I had the honor of accompanying Mr. Payne on his mournful journey there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE GENEALOGICAL SWINDLERS. -------------- PRIDE OF ANCESTRY IN THE UNITED STATES--IT IS SOMETIMES MORE PROFITABLE TO OTHERS THAN TO THOSE WHO INDULGE IT--"PROPERTY IN CHANCERY"--A WESTERN MERCHANT, HIS STORY, AND HOW HE TOLD IT--A FAMILY MEETING AT NEW HAVEN, AND WHAT A MEMBER LEARNED THERE--THE GREAT "LORD, KING, & GRAHAM" SWINDLE--THE WAY IN WHICH THE FRAUD WAS ACCOMPLISHED--A CUNNING LETTER FROM "WILLIS KING," OF THE FIRM OF "LORD, KING, & GRAHAM," TO ONE OF HIS RELATIVES--THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THIS NOTED FIRM--THE SEARCH--THE TRAP LAID--THE SHARPERS CAUGHT, AND FOUND TO BE EDUCATED YOUNG MEN OF THE HIGHEST SOCIAL STATUS--THEY ARE MADE TO DISGORGE--A PARADOX, WITH A MORAL IN IT.