e means by which your domestic obtained information
of my name and quality--Is it honourable to avail yourself of that
knowledge which is dishonourably obtained?'

'It is boldly asked,' he replied; 'but, within certain necessary
limits, I dislike not boldness of expostulation. You have, in this short
conference, displayed more character and energy than I was prepared to
expect. You will, I trust, resemble a forest plant, which has indeed,
by some accident, been brought up in the greenhouse, and thus rendered
delicate and effeminate, but which regains its native firmness and
tenacity when exposed for a season to the winter air. I will answer
your question plainly. In business, as in war, spies and informers are
necessary evils, which all good men detest; but which yet all prudent
men must use, unless they mean to fight and act blindfold. But nothing
can justify the use of falsehood and treachery in our own person.'

'You said to the elder Mr. Fairford,' continued I, with the same
boldness, which I began to find was my best game, 'that I was the son of
Ralph Latimer of Langcote Hall? How do you reconcile this with your late
assertion that my name is not Latimer?'

He coloured as he replied, 'The doting old fool lied; or perhaps mistook
my meaning. I said, that gentleman might be your father. To say truth,
I wished you to visit England, your native country; because, when you
might do so, my rights over you would revive.'

This speech fully led me to understand a caution which had been often
impressed upon me, that, if I regarded my safety, I should not cross
the southern Border; and I cursed my own folly, which kept me fluttering
like a moth around the candle, until I was betrayed into the calamity
with which I had dallied. 'What are those rights,' I said, 'which you
claim over me? To what end do you propose to turn them?'

'To a weighty one, you may be certain,' answered Mr. Herries; 'but I do
not, at present, mean to communicate to you either its nature or extent.
You may judge of its importance, when, in order entirely to possess
myself of your person, I condescended to mix myself with the fellows who
destroyed the fishing station of yon wretched Quaker. That I held him in
contempt, and was displeased at the greedy devices with which he ruined
a manly sport, is true enough; but, unless as it favoured my designs on
you, he might have, for me, maintained his stake-nets till Solway should
cease to ebb and flow.'

'Al