“Unfortunately--” “Hold your tongue, and hear me out. Well, the inquest jury--I omitted to say he was found dead one morning in his room;--the inquest jury returned a verdict of' 'died by the visitation--'” “But I thought it was generally believed that he died of a broken heart, produced by grief.” “We have nothing to do with broken hearts and grief, as a man of your standing on the rolls ought to feel; we can only be governed by the record. But if the coroner's return had been _felo de se_, there would have been little for the crown to take but his wife; and she, I think, from all I know of her, would have been deemed an incumbrance, by most people; although she soon got another husband.” “What! pauper as she was?” “I said no such thing: if you interrupt me, I shall punish you by being prolix. Joshua Kesterton departed this life very shortly after his friend and benefactor, Winpennie, and, in a spirit of gratitude to the founder of his fortune, bequeathed a legacy of ten thousand pounds to Paul's widow.” “Bravo!” “No, sir, it was not 'bravo!'--he acted like an ass; for his own daughter, whom he left residuary legatee, was beggared by the bequest. Partly through his own ignorance of the actual state of his affairs,--partly through unexpected but apparently valid claims, made on his estate after his death, and the failure of a firm, who were his principal creditors,--when we obtained a tolerable insight to his affairs, we discovered that, after satisfying the creditors, and paying the legacy to Mrs. Winpennie, which, you perceive, was a positive bequest, whereby she had a clear claim of priority over his residuary legatee, the poor girl, instead of having, as her father doubtlessly expected, a fine fortune, will scarcely get enough to pay for her mourning.” “A had case,” said Waters; “but won't Mrs. Winpennie do something for the girl?”