intended to take out letters of administration forthwith; and formal evidence would be furnished to the Company, in due time, of the completion of his legal title to the policy. But here--I am concerned to say--the skittish, frolicsome, and malicious jade, Fortune, after petting and fondling Titmouse, and overwhelming him with her favors, suddenly turned round and hit him a severe slap in the face, without the least provocation on his part, or rhyme or reason on hers. And it happened in this wise. DAPPER SMUG, Esq., the secretary of the Vulture, wrote by return of post, saying that he had laid Mr. Gammon's letter before the directors; and that as soon as he should have learned their pleasure on the subject, he would write to Mr. Gammon again. And so he did--but only to request that gentleman to communicate with Messrs. Screw and Son, the Company's solicitors. This Mr. Gammon did, and in due time received a letter to the astounding purport and effect following--that is to say, that they had carefully considered the case, and regretted sincerely that they could not feel it their duty to recommend the directors to pay the policy!! The directors had a duty, sometimes--they would have it appear--a very painful one, to perform to the public; and in short--in plain English, they intended to _resist the claim altogether_! Gammon wrote in astonishment to know the grounds of their refusal; and at length discovered that that truly respectable Company considered themselves in possession of decisive evidence to show that the policy had been vitiated through the concealment, or rather the _non-communication_, of a material fact on the part of the late Lady Stratton--possibly unintentionally--viz. that she was, at the time of executing the policy, _subject to the_ GOUT. Gammon made anxious inquiries of the servants, of Dr. Goddart, Mr. Parkinson, and of others, who expressed infinite astonishment, declaring that she had never once exhibited the slightest symptoms of the complaint. Messrs. Screw, however, were politely inflexible--they declared that they had the positive testimony of several witnesses, one of them an eminent physician, to the fact that, during the very week in which the policy had been executed, she had experienced an attack of gout which had confined her to the sofa for three days. [The simple fact was, that her Ladyship had about that time certainly been confined to the sofa, but merely from her heel having been galled a little by a tight shoe.] They, moreover, sent to Mr. Gammon the full name of the officer in whose name the Company was to be sued--the aforesaid Dapper Smug; and requested Mr. Gammon to forward process to them in the usual way. Gammon, on inquiry, learned the character of the Company, and almost gnashed his teeth in rage and despair!--So at it they went--TITMOUSE (_Administrator_) v. SMUG. Then came a _Declaration_ as long as my arm; _Pleas_ to match it; then a _Commission_ to examine witnesses abroad, principally a Dr.