h man's
horde and the poor man's pittance, making market of all, even to his
patriotism. I would print this worthy document with no other comment
than the words, 'Received by me, Sybella Kellett, this day of September,
and sworn to as the handwriting of him whose initials it bears,
Davenport Dunn.' I would publish it in such type that men might read
it as they went, that all should take warning and put no faith in these
unprincipled tricksters. Ay, sir, and I would cling, as my hope of
safety from the world's scorn, to that insulting mention of myself,
and claim as my vindication that I am the girl to be 'got rid of.' None
shall dare to call me complice, since the little I once called my own
is lost. But I would do more, sir. The world I have unwittingly aided
to deceive has a full right to an expiation at my hands. I would make
public the entire correspondence I have for months back been engaged in.
You seem to say 'No' to this. Is it my right you dispute, or my courage
to assert the right?"

"You must be aware, Miss Kellett," said he, deprecatingly, "that you
became possessed of this letter by a mistake; that you had no right
to the intelligence it contains, and, consequently, have none to avail
yourself of that knowledge. It may be perfectly true that you can employ
it to our detriment. It would, I have little doubt, serve to shake our
credit for a day or two; but do you know what misery, what utter ruin,
your rashness will have caused meanwhile? By the fall of our securities
you will beggar hundreds. All whose necessities may require them to sell
out on the day of your disclosures will be irretrievably ruined. You
meditate a vengeance upon Mr. Dunn, and your blow falls on some poor
struggling creatures that you never so much as heard of. I do not
speak," continued he, more boldly, as he saw the deep effect his words
produced,--"I do not speak of the destitution and misery you will spread
here,--all works stopped, all enterprise suspended, thousands thrown out
of employment. These are the certain, the inevitable evils of what you
propose to do. And now, let me ask, What are to be the benefits? You
would depose from his station of power and influence the only man in
the kingdom who has a brain to conceive, or a courage to carry out these
gigantic enterprises,--the only man of influence sufficient to treat
with the Government, and make his own terms. You would dethrone him, to
install in his place some inferior intelli