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[Illustration: CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL

OF

POPULAR

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

Fourth Series

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS.

NO. 680.      SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1877.      PRICE 1 1/2_d._]




THE LAST OF THE HADDONS.

BY MRS NEWMAN, AUTHOR OF 'TOO LATE,' &C.


CHAPTER I.--'INCONGRUOUS MATERIALS.'

'No. 81. Yes; this must certainly be the house,' I murmured, turning
my eyes somewhat disappointedly towards it again, after consulting an
address in my hand. A large, gloomy, dilapidated-looking house, in a
respectably dull street in Westminster, its lower windows facing a
dead-wall, and its upper ones overlooking venerable ecclesiastical
grounds. The lower rooms appeared to be the only portion of the house
which was occupied; and, to judge by the shabbiness of the blinds, they
were kept but in a mean condition. None the less dreary was the present
aspect of the house for the suggestions of by-gone prosperity in the
noble proportions of the entrance, with its link-extinguishers on
either side, and great massive doors opening from the centre. It would
require a vivid imagination to picture those doors flung hospitably
open, and light and warmth from within streaming down upon a gay party
of the present generation, alighting before the broad steps.

'Not very promising,' was my mental comment, as I gathered courage to
ascend the steps and lift the heavy iron wreath of flowers, which used
to be considered high-art in the way of knockers. Nor was I certain