thing not to be questioned; and it is not necessary to believe in supernatural agency to give all parties credit for having faithfully narrated their impressions.”  The main facts of this strange story are briefly told:  Walter Long of Draycot had two wives, the second being Catherine, daughter of Sir John Thynne, of Longleat.  On their arrival at Draycot after the honeymoon, there were great rejoicings into which all entered save the heir of the houses of Draycot and Wraxhall, who was silent and sad.  Once arrived in her new home, the mistress of Draycot lost no time in studying the character of her step-son, for she had an object in view which made it necessary that she should completely understand his character.  Her design was, in short, that the young master of Draycot, “the heir of all his father’s property—­the obstruction in the way of whatever children there might be by the second marriage—­must be ruined, or at any rate so disgraced as to provoke his father to disinherit him.”  Taking into her confidence her brother, Sir Egremont Thynne, of Longleat, with his help she soon discovered that the youthful heir of Draycot was fond of wine and dice, and that he had on more than one occasion met with his father’s displeasure for indulgence in such acts of dissipation.  Having learnt, too, that the young man was kept on short supplies by his parsimonious father, and had often complained that he was not allowed sufficient pocket-money for the bare expenses of his daily life; the crafty step-mother seized this opportunity for carrying out her treacherous and dishonourable conduct.  Commiserating with the inexperienced youth in his want of money, and making him feel more than ever dissatisfied at his father’s meanness to him, she quickly enlisted him on her side, especially when she gave him liberal supplies of money, and recommended him to enjoy his life whilst it was in his power to do so.

With a full rather than an empty purse, the young squire was soon seen with a cheerful party over the wine bottle, and, at another time, with a gambling group gathered round the dice box.  But this kind of thing suited admirably his step-mother, for she took good care that such excesses were brought under the notice of the lad’s father, and magnified into heinous crimes.  From time to time this unprincipled woman kept supplying the unsuspecting youth with money, and did all in her power to encourage him in his tastes for reckless living.  Fresh stories of his son’s dissipated conduct were continually being told to the master of Draycot, until at last, “influenced by the wiles of his charming wife, on the other by deeper wiles of his brother-in-law, he agreed to make out a will disinheriting his son by his first wife, and settling all his possessions on his second wife and her relations.”