Prepare yourself to be surprised.

Our old moated house at Sandyseal, in which we have spent so many happy holidays when we were schoolfellows, is sold.
"You will be almost as sorry as I was to hear this; and you will be quite as surprised as I was, when I tell you that Sandyseal Place has become a Priory of English Nuns, of the order of St.Benedict.
"I think I see you look up from my letter, with your big black eyes staring straight before you, and say and swear that this must be one of my mystifications.

Unfortunately (for I am fond of the old house in which I was born) it is only too true.

The instructions in my father's will, under which Sandyseal has been sold, are peremptory.

They are the result of a promise made, many years since, to his wife.
"You and I were both very young when my poor mother died; but I think you must remember that she, like the rest of her family, was a Roman Catholic.
"Having reminded you of this, I may next tell you that Sandyseal Place was my mother's property.