Mr. Linden was not raving when I arrived.  The violence of the paroxysm of rage and terror by which he was possessed had passed away, and he looked, as I entered, the image of pale, rigid, iron, dumb despair.  He held a letter and a strip of parchment in his hand; these he presented, and with white, stammering lips, bade me read.  The letter was from an attorney of the name of Sawbridge, giving notice of an action of ejectment, to oust him from the possession of the Holmford estate, the property, according to Mr. Sawbridge, of one Edwin Majoribanks; and the strip of parchment was the writ by which the letter had been quickly followed.  I was astounded; and my scared looks questioned Mr. Linden for further information.

“I do not quite understand it,” he said in a hoarse, palpitating voice.  “No possession or title in the venders; a niece not of age—­executors no power to sell—­Palliser discovered it, robbed me, absconded, and I, oh God! am a miserable beggar!”

The last words were uttered with a convulsive scream, and after a few frightful struggles he fell down in a fit.  I had him conveyed to bed, and as soon as he was somewhat recovered, I hastened off to ascertain from Sawbridge, whom I knew very intimately, the nature of the claim intended to be set up for the plaintiff, Edwin Majoribanks.

I met Sawbridge just as he was leaving his office, and as he was in too great a hurry to turn back, I walked along with him, and he rapidly detailed the chief facts about to be embodied in the plaintiff’s declaration.  Archibald Dursley, once a London merchant, and who died a bachelor, had bequeathed his estate, real and personal, to his brother Charles, and a niece, his sister’s child—­two-thirds to the niece, and one-third to the brother.  The Holmford property, the will directed, should be sold by public auction when the niece came of age, unless she, by marriage or otherwise, was enabled, within six months after attaining her majority, to pay over to Charles Dursley his third in money, according to a valuation made for the purpose by competent assessors.  The brother, Charles Dursley, had urged upon the executors to anticipate the time directed by the will for the sale of the property; and having persuaded the niece to give a written authorization for the immediate sale, the executors, chiefly, Sawbridge supposed, prompted by their own necessities, sold the estate accordingly.  But the niece not being of age when she signed the authority to sell, her consent was of no legal value; and she having since died intestate, Edwin Majoribanks, her cousin and undoubted heir-at-law—­for the property could not have passed from her, even by marriage—­now claimed the estate.  Charles Dursley, the brother, was dead; “and,” continued Mr. Sawbridge, “the worst of it is, Linden will never get a farthing of his purchase-money from the venders, for they are bankrupt, nor from Palliser, who has made permanent arrangements for continuing abroad, out of harm’s reach.  It is just as I tell you,” he added, as we shook hands at parting; “but you will of course see the will, and satisfy yourself.  Good-by.”