It is not the pleasing office of the writer of fiction to unfold for the delectation of his readers the pages and pictures of the volume of life; and none know better than the true novelist that the wildest schemes which his imagination can conceive, the marvellous combinations which a turn of the magic kaleidoscope of eventualities, and what we misname fortune, may produce, are again and again out acted in real life. With this apology the incidents of the following story are committed to the criticism of an indulgent, and the writer trusts, a not too severely critical world. THE AUTHOR "The hardiest spirit may well quail before the stupendous task of giving any accurate idea of what is, apparently, the first-fruits of Mr. Duthie-Lisle's imagination" (The Saturday Review Dec. 30, 1893) "...obtrudes itself on almost every page as deficient in sense as of grammar" (The Academy Oct., 21, 1893) "...this incredibly foolish book" (The Speaker Sept. 16, 1893) "One of the missions of the literary critic is to warn off intending readers from books that are utterly worthless, and 'The Heirloom' comes within this category" (The Athenaeum Sept. 9, 1893).