There is a wonderful difference, thought Philip, between making a man his heir and not forgetting him. Now, this not forgetting appeared to him more cruel and tormenting than entirely discarding him. It is very true that Mr. John Martindale had made no absolute promise that Philip should be his heir; and even if he had made the promise, and had violated it, there was no such thing as prosecuting him for breach of promise. He had merely given strong indications that such was his intention. Persons who are very rich, and have no legal heirs, may entertain themselves very much at the expense of hungry expectants and lean legacy-hunters. Who has not seen a poor dog standing on his hind legs, and bobbing up and down after a bone scarcely worth picking, with which some mischief-loving varlet has tantalised the poor animal till all its limbs have ached? That poor dog shadows out the legacy-hunter or possible heir. Every body has a right to do as he pleases with his own property, so far as concerns the disposition of unentailed estates; and every body has a right to do a great number of actions which may render his fellow-creatures miserable and uncomfortable. Very few of the annoyances to which man is exposed from his fellow-men have a remedy from law. To be sure, it may be said that the legacy-hunter is a simpleton for giving another power over him; but, alas! how could a young man, situated as the Hon. Philip Martindale, help himself. As he himself observed to his mother, “if I refuse the offer of the Abbey, I may so far offend the old gentleman, as to induce him to leave his property elsewhere.” But the young gentleman forgot that accepting the offer might, and very naturally would, lead him into many difficulties, and fix him as a dependent. He afterwards discovered this, when it was too late to find a remedy for the evil. But to proceed with our narrative.