rden, "these diabolical frauds are not done upon one
pattern, or, of course, there would soon be an end of their success. But
come now, what proof have we got that what they found in the river at
Hillsborough was the remains of Henry Little?"

"I don't know, I am sure. But nobody seems to doubt it. The situation,
the clothes, the ring--so many coincidences."

"That is all very well, if there were no rogues in the world. But
there are; and I know it, to my cost. The 'Gosshawk' has just lost nine
hundred pounds by not suspecting. It shall not lose five thousand by the
same weakness; I'll take care of that."

He paused a moment, and then proceeded to argue the matter:

"The very idea of an imposture has never occurred to any body; in
Little's case, it did not occur to me until this business of Shifty Dick
enlightened me. But, come now, just admit the idea of imposture into
that honest, unsuspicious mind of yours, and you'll find the whole thing
wears a very doubtful appearance directly. A common workman--he was no
more at the time--insures his life, for how much? three hundred pounds?
no; five thousand. Within one year after that he disappears, under
cover of an explosion. Some weeks afterward--about as many as the Martin
swindle--there is found in the river a fragment of humanity; an arm, and
a hand, and a piece of a human trunk; but no face, mind you: arms are
pretty much alike, faces differ. The fragment is clad in brown tweed,
and Little wore brown tweed: that is all very well; but the marine was
found dressed from head to foot in Shifty Dick's very clothes. But let
us go on. There was a plain gold ring found on the hand in Hillsborough
river, and my poor daughter had given Little a plain gold ring. But
what was there to hinder an impostor from buying some pauper's body,
and putting a plain gold ring on the hand? Why, paupers' bodies are
constantly sold, and the funeral services gabbled over a coffin full
of stones. If I had paper and ink here, and could put Little's case and
Martin's in two columns, I should soon show you that Martin and his gang
faced and overcame more and greater difficulties in the way of imposture
than any that have been overcome in Little's case. The Martin gang dealt
with the face; here, that is shirked. The Martin gang planted a body,
not a fragment. Does it not strike you as very odd that the rest of
Henry Little is not to be found? It may be all right; but, of the two, I
incline to think i