Wilkie Collins

My Lady's Money Wilkie Collins

OLD Lady Lydiard sat meditating by the fireside, with three letters lying open on her lap. Time had discolored the paper, and had turned the ink to a brownish hue. The letters were all addressed to the same person-"THE RT. HON. LORD LYDIARD"-and were all signed in the same way-"Your affectionate cousin, James Tollmidge." Judged by these specimens of his correspon-dence, Mr. Tollmidge must have possessed one great merit as a letter-writer-the merit of brevity. He will weary nobody's patience, if he is allowed to have a hearing. Let him, therefore, be permitted, in his own high-flown way, to speak for himself. First Letter.-"My statement, as your Lordship requests, shall be short and to the point. I was doing very well as a portrait-painter in the country; and I had a wife and children to consider. Under the circumstances, if I had been left to decide for myself, I should certainly have waited until I had saved a little money before I ventured on the serious expense of taking a house and studio at the west end of London. Your Lordship, I positively declare, encouraged me to try the experiment without waiting.