wife appeared to faintly remonstrate against.  The directors had consequently resolved non obstante Dr. Parkinson’s declaration, who might, they argued, have been deceived, to have the body exhumed in order to a post-mortem examination as to the true cause of death.  If the parents voluntarily agreed to this course, a judicial application to enforce it would be unnecessary, and all doubts on the matter could be quietly set at rest.  I thought the proposal, under the circumstances, reasonable, and called on Mr. and Mrs. Andrews to obtain their concurrence.  Mrs. Andrews was, I found, absent in the country, but her husband was at home; and he, on hearing the proposal, was, I thought, a good deal startled—­shocked rather—­a natural emotion perhaps.

“Who—­who,” he said, after a few moments’ silent reflection—­“who is to conduct this painful, revolting inquiry?”

“Dr. Parkinson will be present, with Mr. Humphrey the surgeon, and Dr. Curtis the newly-appointed physician to the assurance office, in place of Dr. Morgan who died, as you are aware, a short time since of cholera.”

“True.  Ah, well, then,” he answered almost with alacrity, “be it as they wish.  Dr. Parkinson will see fair-play.”

The examination was effected, and the result was a confirmation, beyond doubt or quibble, that death, as Dr. Parkinson had declared, had been solely occasioned by cholera.  The assurance company still hesitated; but as this conduct could now only be looked upon as perverse obstinacy, we served them with a writ at once.  They gave in; and the money was handed over to Mr. Jesse Andrews, whose joy at his sudden riches did not, I was forced to admit, appear to be in the slightest degree damped by any feeling of sadness for the loss of an only child.

We wrote to inform Mr. Archibald Andrews of these occurrences, and to request further instructions with regard to the annuity hitherto paid to his cousin.  A considerable time would necessarily elapse before an answer could be received, and in the meantime Mr. Jesse Andrews plunged headlong into the speculation he had been long hankering to engage in, and was as he informed me a few weeks afterwards, on the royal road to a magnificent fortune.

Clouds soon gathered over this brilliant prospect.  The partner, whose persuasive tongue and brilliant imagination had induced Mr. Andrews to join him with his four thousand pounds, proved to be an arrant cheat and swindler; and Mr. Andrews’s application to us for legal help and redress was just too late to prevent the accomplished dealer in moonshine and delusion from embarking at Liverpool for America, with every penny of the partnership funds in his pockets!