This lady died--" 'Oh, mamma, if you read it in that way I shall certainly cry,' said Katie.
'Well, my dear, if your heart is so susceptible you had better indulge it.' "This lady died and left behind her----" 'What ?' said Linda.
'A diamond ring ?' said Katie.
'A sealed manuscript, which was found in a secret drawer ?' suggested Linda.
'Perhaps a baby,' said Uncle Bat.
"And left behind her a will----" 'Did she leave anything else ?' asked Norman.
'Ladies and gentlemen, if I am to be interrupted in this way, I really must resign my task,' said Mrs.Woodward; 'we shall never get to bed.' 'I won't say another word,' said Katie.
"In his early years Macassar had had a maiden aunt.

This lady died and left behind her a will, in which, with many expressions of the warmest affection and fullest confidence, she left L3,000 in the three per cents----" 'What are the three per cents ?' said Katie.
'The three per cents is a way in which people get some of their money to spend regularly, when they have got a large sum locked up somewhere,' said Linda.
'Oh!' said Katie.
'Will you hold your tongue, miss ?' said Mrs.Woodward.
"Left L3,000 in the three per cents to her nephew.

But she left it on these conditions, that he should be married before he was twenty-five, and that he should have a child lawfully born in the bonds of wedlock before he was twenty-six.

And then the will went on to state that the interest of the money should accumulate till Macassar had attained the latter age; and that in the event of his having failed to comply with the conditions and stipulations above named, the whole money, principal and interest, should be set aside, and by no means given up to the said Macassar, but applied to the uses, purposes, and convenience of that excellent charitable institution, denominated the Princess Charlotte's Lying-in Hospital.
"Now the nature of this will had been told in confidence by Macassar to some of his brother clerks, and was consequently well known at the Episcopal Audit Board.

It had given rise there to a spirit of speculation against which the senior clerk had protested in vain.