"Yours affectionately,
"LINDA BLANCHEMAIN."
And his registered letter, when at last he opened it, ran thus:—
"DEAR SIR:—Pursuant to instructions received from our client Lady Blanchemain, we beg to hand you herewith our cheque for Seven hundred and fifty pounds (£750 stg.), and to request the favour of your receipt for the same, together with the address of your bankers, that we may pay in quarterly a like sum to your account, it being her ladyship's intention, immediately upon her return to England, to effect a settlement upon yourself and heirs of £100,000 funded in Bk. of Eng. stock.
"We are further to have the pleasure to inform you that by the terms of a will just prepared by us, and to be executed by Lady Blanchemain at the earliest possible date, you are constituted her residuary legatee.
"With compliments and respectful congratulations,
"We have the honour, dear Sir, to be,
"Your obedient servants,
"FARROW, BERNSCOT, AND TISDALE."
And then there came another tap at the door, and it was the postman who had returned, with a third letter which, like the true Italian postman that he was, he had forgotten,—and I fancy, if it hadn't been for that tip still warm in his pocket, the easy-going fellow would have allowed it to stand over till to-morrow. He made, at any rate, a great virtue of having discovered it and of having retraced his steps.