TURNS OF FORTUNE. 39

moment she unclasped her cloak, loosened the
wrapping from her throat, threw back her veil,
and asked for a glass of water.

‘Bless me, Miss Bond, is it you? Iam sure
I am much honoured—very much!”

‘‘ No honour, sir,” she replied, “ but necessi-
ty. Ihave been to Doctors Commons; have
seen the will—it is my father’s writing !”

‘You confess this to me?”’ said Mr. Cramp,
drawing back on his chair, and almost gasping
for breath.

‘‘] do,’ she answered; “I proclaim it; itis
my father’s copy of the original will. But how
the copy could have been substituted for the
real will, I can only conjecture.”

‘‘Surmise is something,” replied the lawyer,
a little relieved ;_“* conjecture sometimes leads
to proof.”

‘‘ My father and uncle lived together when
the will came into their possession. They were
in partnership as farmers. My father’s habits
were precise : he always copied every writing,
and endorsed his copies with a large C; the
very Cis marked upon the will I have just seen
at Doctors Commons.”

‘‘ That is singular,” remarked Cramp ; “ but
it does not show us the way out of the difficul-
ty; on the contrary, thatincreases. Somebody
—I don’t for an instant suppose Mr. Jacob
Bond—in proving the will must have sworn
that, to the best of their knowledge and belief,