s own inquiries, and renewed,
as peremptorily as he dared, his demand for candour and plain dealing.
Now, it so happened that in stumbling upstairs to bed, Mr. Grabman
passed the room in which his mysterious fellow-seeker was lodged, and
as is the usage in hotels, a pair of boots stood outside the door, to
be cleaned betimes in the morning. Though somewhat drunk, Grabman still
preserved the rays of his habitual astuteness. A clever and a natural
idea shot across his brain, illuminating the fumes of the brandy; he
stooped, and while one hand on the wall steadied his footing, with the
other he fished up a boot, and peering within, saw legibly written:
"John Ardworth, Esq., Gray's Inn." At that sight he felt what a
philosopher feels at the sudden elucidation of a troublesome problem.
Downstairs again tottered Grabman, re-opened his letter, and wrote,--

"P.S.--I have wronged you, Jason, by my suspicions; never
mind,--jubilate! This interloper who made me so jealous, who think you
it is? Why, young Ardworth himself,--that is, the lad who goes by such
name. Now, is it not clear? Of course no one else has such interest
in learning his birth as the lost child himself,--here he is! If old
Ardworth lives (as he says), old Ardworth has set him to work on his own
business. But then, that Fielden,--rather a puzzler that! Yet--no. Now I
understand,--old Ardworth gave the boy to Mrs. Joplin, and took it away
from her again when he went to the parson's. Now, certainly, it may
be quite necessary to prove,--first, that the boy he took from Mr.
Braddell's he gave to Mrs. Joplin; secondly, that the boy he left with
Mr. Fielden was the same that he took again from that woman: therefore,
the necessity of finding out Mother Joplin, an essential witness. Q. E.
D., Master Jason!"

It was not till the sun had been some hours risen that Mr. Grabman
imitated that luminary's example. When he did so, he found, somewhat to
his chagrin, that John Ardworth had long been gone. In fact, whatever
the motive that had led the latter on the search, he had succeeded in
gleaning from Grabman all that that person could communicate, and their
interview had inspired him with such disgust of the attorney, and so
small an opinion of the value of his co-operation (in which last
belief, perhaps, he was mistaken), that he had resolved to continue his
inquiries alone, and had already, in his early morning's walk through
the village, ascertained that the man with whom