o long in the Maltravers family as he had allowed Mr. Smart to
suppose. So within so short a time it was possible that Sir John
Maltravers of Worth should dread being detected, if not in an absolute
falsehood, at least in having by his silence assented to one.

During the ensuing week John remained in an excited and anxious
condition. He did little work, and neglected his friends, having his
thoughts continually occupied with the strange discovery he had made.
I know also that his sense of honour troubled him, and that he was not
satisfied with the course he was pursuing. The evening of his return
from London he went to Mr. Gaskell's rooms at New College, and spent an
hour conversing with him on indifferent subjects. In the course of their
talk he proposed to his friend as a moral problem the question of the
course of action to be taken were one to find some article of value
concealed in his room. Mr. Gaskell answered unhesitatingly that he
should feel bound to disclose it to the authorities. He saw that my
brother was ill at ease, and with a clearness of judgment which he
always exhibited, guessed that he had actually made some discovery of
this sort in the old cupboard in his rooms. He could not divine, of
course, the exact nature of the object found, and thought it might
probably relate to a hoard of gold; but insisted with much urgency on
the obligation to at once disclose anything of this kind. My brother,
however, misled, I fear, by that feeling of inalienable right which the
treasure-hunter experiences over the treasure, paid no more attention to
the advice of his friend than to the promptings of his own conscience,
and went his way.

From that day, my dear Edward, he began to exhibit a spirit of
secretiveness and reserve entirely alien to his own open and honourable
disposition, and also saw less of Mr. Gaskell. His friend tried, indeed,
to win his confidence and affection in every way in his power; but in
spite of this the rift between them widened insensibly, and my brother
lost the fellowship and counsel of a true friend at a time when he could
ill afford to be without them.

He returned to London the ensuing week, and met Mr. George Smart by
appointment in Bond Street. If the expert had been enthusiastic on a
former occasion, he was ten times more so on this. He spoke in terms
almost of rapture about the violin. He had compared it with two
magnificent instruments in the collection of the late Mr. James Lod