s I gave your lordship
twenty-five--the balance I kept myself. Of course, then, you can fairly
say, or swear, if you like, that she brought you in nothing but the fair
value. In fact, I kept you completely out of the transaction; but, after
all, I only paid myself for the twenty-five I won off you."

Dunroe was by no means in anything like good-humor this morning. The
hints which Norton had communicated to him at breakfast, respecting the
subject of M'Bride's private interviews with his father, had filled him
with more alarm than he wished to acknowledge. Neither, on the other
hand, had he any serious apprehensions, for, unhappily for himself, he
was one of those easy and unreflecting men who seldom look beyond the
present moment, and can never be brought to a reasonable consideration
of their own interests, until, perhaps, it is too late to secure them.

All we can communicate to the reader with respect to the conference
between these three redoubtable individuals is simply its results. On
that evening Norton and M'Bride started for France, with what object
will be seen hereafter, Birney having followed on the same route the
morning but one afterwards, for the purpose of securing the documents in
question.

Dunroe now more than ever felt the necessity of urging his marriage with
Lucy. He knew his father's honorable spirit too well to believe that
he would for one moment yield his consent to it under the circumstances
which were now pending. With the full knowledge of these circumstances
he was not acquainted. M'Bride had somewhat overstated the share of
confidence to which in this matter he had been admitted by his master.
His information, therefore, on the subject, was not so accurate as he
wished, although, from motives of dishonesty and a desire to sell his
documents to the best advantage, he made the most of the knowledge he
possessed. Be this as it may, Dunroe determined, as we said, to bring
about the nuptials without delay, and in this he was seconded by Sir
Thomas Gourlay himself, who also had his own motives for hastening them.
In fact, here were two men, each deliberately attempting to impose
upon the other, and neither possessed of one spark of honor or truth,
although the transaction between them was one of the most solemn
importance that can occur in the great business of life. The world,
however, is filled with similar characters; and not all the misery and
calamity that ensue from such fraudulent and d