closure with which I am about to end,
and that you believe this doomed man, Hugh, to be your son.'

'Nay,' said Sir John, bantering him with a gay air; 'the wild gentleman,
who died so suddenly, scarcely went as far as that, I think?'

'He did not,' returned the locksmith, 'for she had bound him by some
pledge, known only to these people, and which the worst among them
respect, not to tell your name: but, in a fantastic pattern on the
stick, he had carved some letters, and when the hangman asked it, he
bade him, especially if he should ever meet with her son in after life,
remember that place well.'

'What place?'

'Chester.'

The knight finished his cup of chocolate with an appearance of infinite
relish, and carefully wiped his lips upon his handkerchief.

'Sir John,' said the locksmith, 'this is all that has been told to me;
but since these two men have been left for death, they have conferred
together closely. See them, and hear what they can add. See this Dennis,
and learn from him what he has not trusted to me. If you, who hold the
clue to all, want corroboration (which you do not), the means are easy.'

'And to what,' said Sir John Chester, rising on his elbow, after
smoothing the pillow for its reception; 'my dear, good-natured,
estimable Mr Varden--with whom I cannot be angry if I would--to what
does all this tend?'

'I take you for a man, Sir John, and I suppose it tends to some pleading
of natural affection in your breast,' returned the locksmith. 'I suppose
to the straining of every nerve, and the exertion of all the influence
you have, or can make, in behalf of your miserable son, and the man
who has disclosed his existence to you. At the worst, I suppose to your
seeing your son, and awakening him to a sense of his crime and danger.
He has no such sense now. Think what his life must have been, when he
said in my hearing, that if I moved you to anything, it would be to
hastening his death, and ensuring his silence, if you had it in your
power!'

'And have you, my good Mr Varden,' said Sir John in a tone of mild
reproof, 'have you really lived to your present age, and remained so
very simple and credulous, as to approach a gentleman of established
character with such credentials as these, from desperate men in their
last extremity, catching at any straw? Oh dear! Oh fie, fie!'

The locksmith was going to interpose, but he stopped him:

'On any other subject, Mr Varden, I shall be delighted--I shal