The old gentleman’s personal expenditure had been but trifling, compared with his actual income. Wishing, however, to be liberal, but still desirous of keeping that liberality within his income, he had made frequent and periodical inquiries of his lawyer as to the extent of the means; and the answers to these inquiries had always been very much within the mark. Very soon after Mr. Martindale had begun to employ Mr. Price as his confidential solicitor, the whim of will-making had seized the old gentleman; and in all the instructions which he had given to his lawyer for that purpose, Mr. Price had been uniformly named as executor and residuary-legatee. The policy of that gentleman had therefore been to keep Mr. Martindale as much in the dark as he conveniently could with respect to the real extent and value of his property. But unfortunately for himself, the confidential solicitor overacted his part; and by causing his employer to apprehend that the residue of his property, after various proposed bequests, would be very much less than it really was, he had led the old gentleman to make the alteration above named. Now it may seem that a legacy of twenty thousand pounds to a provincial solicitor was a bequest by no means to be despised or lamented. It may be said that this was better than nothing; but of that we have our doubts. Money is more or less, according to circumstances; and to ninety-nine persons out of a hundred, the disappointment of an expectation is equivalent to an actual loss. In the present case, however, Mr. Price was not merely disappointed, but he was absolutely embarrassed and perplexed: for he had made purchases of land at a great expense, and had left so large a portion of the purchase-money as a burden on his purchases, that the rent of his estates barely sufficed to pay the interest; and in some cases actually fell short of it. Add to this, that since the property in question had been bought, the change in its value had been by no means in favor of the purchaser. The legacy therefore which had been left him, magnificent as it might appear, compared with his apparent circumstances, was far below the necessities of his actual condition. How the poor man felt under his disappointment, may perhaps be better imagined than described. It is probable, however, that he began to have some suspicion that there was some truth in the proverb which says, “Honesty is the best policy.” CHAPTER XV. “He heap’d up such an ample store, That av’rice could not sigh for more.” SMART.