This establishment at least was irreproachable. A reference to "Men of the

Time" showed them that Admiral Hay Denver was a most distinguished

officer, who had begun his active career at Bomarsund, and had ended it

at Alexandria, having managed between these two episodes to see as much

service as any man of his years. From the Taku Forts and the Shannon

brigade, to dhow-harrying off Zanzibar, there was no variety of naval

work which did not appear in his record; while the Victoria Cross, and

the Albert Medal for saving life, vouched for it that in peace as in war

his courage was still of the same true temper. Clearly a very eligible

neighbor this, the more so as they had been confidentially assured by

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the estate agent that Mr. Harold Denver, the son, was a most quiet

young gentleman, and that he was busy from morning to night on the Stock

Exchange.

The Hay Denvers had hardly moved in before number two also struck

its placard, and again the ladies found that they had no reason to be

discontented with their neighbors. Doctor Balthazar Walker was a very

well-known name in the medical world. Did not his qualifications, his

membership, and the record of his writings fill a long half-column

in the "Medical Directory," from his first little paper on the "Gouty

Diathesis" in 1859 to his exhaustive treatise upon "Affections of the

Vaso-Motor System" in 1884? A successful medical career which promised

to end in a presidentship of a college and a baronetcy, had been cut

short by his sudden inheritance of a considerable sum from a grateful

patient, which had rendered him independent for life, and had enabled

him to turn his attention to the more scientific part of his profession,

which had always had a greater charm for him than its more practical

and commercial aspect. To this end he had given up his house in Weymouth

Street, and had taken this opportunity of moving himself, his scientific

instruments, and his two charming daughters (he had been a widower for

some years) into the more peaceful atmosphere of Norwood.

There was thus but one villa unoccupied, and it was no wonder that the

two maiden ladies watched with a keen interest, which deepened into a

dire apprehension, the curious incidents which heralded the coming of

the new tenants. They had already learned from the agent that the family

consisted of two only, Mrs. Westmacott, a widow, and her nephew, Charles

Westmacott. How simple and how select it had sounded! Who could have

foreseen from it these fearful portents which seemed to threaten

violence and discord among the dwellers in The Wilderness? Again the two

old maids cried in heartfelt chorus that they wished they had not sold

their field.




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