things in general? Do you ask
me to swallow that, sir?"

"I ask you to swallow nothing," stammered out Beecher, in whose heart
pride and fear were struggling for the mastery. "I have told you what
we spoke of. If anything else passed between us, perhaps it was of
a private and personal nature; perhaps it referred to family topics;
perhaps I might have given a solemn assurance not to reveal the subject
of it to any one."

"You did,--did you?" said Davis, with a sneer.

"I said, perhaps I might have done so. I did n't say I had."

"And so you think--you fancy--that you 're a going to double on me,"
said Davis, rising, and advancing towards him with a sort of insulting
menace. "Now, look here, my name ain't Davis but if ever you try it--try
it, I say, because, as to doing it, I dare you to your face--but if
you just try it, twelve hours won't pass over till the dock of a
police court is graced by the Honorable Annesley Beecher on a charge of
forgery."

"Oh, Davis!" cried Beecher, as he placed his hands over the other's
lips, and glanced in terror through the room. "There never was anything
I did n't tell you,--you 're the only man breathing that knows me."

"And I do know you, by Heaven, I do!" cried the other, savagely; "and
I know you'd sneak out of my hands to-morrow, if you dared; but this
I tell you, when you leave _mine_ it will be to exchange into the
turnkey's. You fancy that because I see you are a fool that I don't
suspect you to be a crafty one. Ah! what a mistake you make there!"

"But listen to me, Grog,--just hear me."

"My name 's Davis, sir,--Captain Davis,--let me hear you call me
anything else!"

"Well, Davis, old fellow,--the best and truest friend ever fellow had
in the world,--now what's all this about? I 'll tell you every syllable
that passed between Dunn and myself. I'll give you my oath, as solemnly
as you can dictate it to me, not to conceal one word. He made me swear
never to mention it. It was _he_ that imposed the condition on me. What
he said was this: 'It's a case where you need no counsel, and where any
counsel would be dangerous. He who once knows your secret will be in a
position to dictate to you. Lord Lackington must be your only adviser,
since his peril is the same as your own.'"

"Go on," said Davis, sternly, as the other seemed to pause too long.

Beecher drew a long breath, and, in a voice faint and broken, continued:
"It's a claimant to the title,--a fellow who pretend