office at such an early hour of the morning? I knew that he disliked early rising, and was pretty well satisfied that even the delight of paying me off would not have induced him to leave his soft bed.
Arriving at the post-office, I posted Mr. Stillwell's letters, and then opened the box containing the letters for the firm. There were quite a handful, and I looked at the addresses to see that no mistakes had been made.
In an instant one of them attracted my attention.
It was directed as follows:
Mr. Luke Foster,
Care of Stillwell, Grinder & Co.,
PATENT AGENTS,
New York City.
The letter was addressed to me, and as it was the first foreign epistle I had received since my parents' death, I looked at it with considerable curiosity. It was postmarked London, and the handwriting was cramped and heavy.
Tearing the letter open, I was still more astonished to read the following lines:
"Mr. Luke Foster,
"Dear Sir:
"Of course you will be astonished to receive this, I
