“Far too little.  I’ll not speak a word for the chance of a sum like that; I must have 2,000 pounds.  What is 1,000 pounds?”

“Why, at your years, it would buy you a very handsome annuity, or you could lend it out at interest, and get ten per cent. for it, and have the principal to leave to any one you liked; or you might start in business with such a capital.  Many handsome fortunes have been made in Melbourne on a smaller beginning; but if you think it insufficient, I can go away.  My clients are not so very anxious about the property as to accede to such a demand as yours, and Francis Hogarth may be left in peaceable possession of the estate,” said Brandon, coolly.

“He must not be left with it.  I must not let him sit there in the place he ain’t got no rights to, after the way he has served me,” said Mrs. Peck.

“I believe it is more a piece of spite than anything else,” said Brandon.  “Well, here is the agreement for the payment of a thousand pounds.  Will you accept of that, or shall I go?”

“You are too sharp for with me, a great deal too sharp on a poor old woman like me, but I’ll take your offer in the meantime.  Miss Melville said I was to trust to her honour to pay me as much as it is worth, and if she finds out as it’s worth more, I expect she’ll keep that saying of hers in mind, and act accordingly.”

Mrs. Peck signed the paper, and Brandon signed it also, as agent for Jane and Alice Melville.

“Now for your part of the bargain, Mrs. Peck, and stick to the truth if you can.  I know that your imagination is apt to run away with you; but here it will be a disadvantage to have any flights of fancy,” said Brandon.

Mrs. Peck had for more than a week thought of nothing but this disclosure of her past life, and now that the opportunity had arrived, she really enjoyed telling it as much as if it had been wholly fictitious.  It was quite as romantic as any of her fabrications, and it was a subject on which her lips had been sealed for thirty-four years, except to give vent to some occasional allusions, to Peck.  It was interesting in itself, it was damaging to Francis, and it was likely to be lucrative to herself, for she hoped for a further reward from the grateful nieces, in addition to the thousand pounds which their agent offered on their behalf.  She had thought a good deal over the story she had to tell, and gave a more consecutive and consistent narrative than was usual with her, for she felt the importance of making it appear to be a perfectly true story.

“Well,” said she, “it’s an old story and a queer one, but I do keep it in mind, and I will tell you the truth; for as you say, it is what will answer us both best.  My name, as you know, was Elizabeth Ormistown, and I was born in the next county to-----shire, where Cross Hall is.  I have never seen Cross Hall myself, but I have heard of it.  We had seen better days, for my father was a small shopkeeper, and my mother was a schoolmaster’s