TURNS OF FORTUNE. 3]

CHAPTER III.

Mr. Cramp, whom we introduced at the con
clusion of the last chapter, as Miss Bond’s man
of business, was a plain little man, skilled in
the turnings and windings of the law, beside
which he could not be said to know distinctly
any other code of morals.

On this particular morning, after a few com-
mon-place observations, Mr. Cramp made a
somewhat strange inquiry. ‘Had Miss Bond
heard that Mr. Alfred Bond had come over to

“England?” No; she had not heard it. It
' was, Mr. Cramp insinuated (for he never said
anything directly)—it was rather an awkward
circumstance Mr. Alfred Bond’s coming to
England. He thought—he believed—he hoped
it would make no difference to Miss Bond.

Miss Bond opened her wide eyes still more
widely. She knew that Mr. Alfred Bond was
the heir-at-law to the property bequeathed her
father; but what of that? he had never, that
she heard of, dreamed of disputing the will;
and she had never felt one pang of insecurity
as to the possessions which had of late grown
so deeply into her heart. At this unexpected
intimation she felt the blood rush through her
veins mia wild untameable manner. In allher
trials—and they had been many—in all her ill-