, he had since written to state his full
forgiveness, and though he was an eccentric old gentleman and could not
bear to give away money during his life, Mr. Edward Freely could show Mr.
Palfrey the letter which declared, plainly enough, who would be the
affectionate uncle's heir. Mr. Palfrey actually saw the letter, and
could not help admiring the spirit of the nephew who declared that such
brilliant hopes as these made no difference to his conduct; he should
work at his humble business and make his modest fortune at it all the
same. If the Jamaica estate was to come to him--well and good. It was
nothing very surprising for one of the Freely family to have an estate
left him, considering the lands that family had possessed in time gone
by--nay, still possessed in the Northumberland branch. Would not Mr.
Palfrey take another glass of rum? and also look at the last year's
balance of the accounts? Mr. Freely was a man who cared to possess
personal virtues, and did not pique himself on his family, though some
men would.

We know how easily the great Leviathan may be led, when once there is a
hook in his nose or a bridle in his jaws. Mr. Palfrey was a large man,
but, like Leviathan's, his bulk went against him when once he had taken a
turning. He was not a mercurial man, who easily changed his point of
view. Enough. Before two months were over, he had given his consent to
Mr. Freely's marriage with his daughter Penny, and having hit on a
formula by which he could justify it, fenced off all doubts and
objections, his own included. The formula was this: "I'm not a man to
put my head up an entry before I know where it leads."

Little Penny was very proud and fluttering, but hardly so happy as she
expected to be in an engagement. She wondered if young Towers cared much
about it, for he had not been to the house lately, and her sister and
brothers were rather inclined to sneer than to sympathize. Grimworth
rang with the news. All men extolled Mr. Freely's good fortune; while
the women, with the tender solicitude characteristic of the sex, wished
the marriage might turn out well.

While affairs were at this triumphant juncture, Mr. Freely one morning
observed that a stone-carver who had been breakfasting in the eating-room
had left a newspaper behind. It was the _X-shire Gazette_, and X-shire
being a county not unknown to Mr. Freely, he felt some curiosity to
glance over it, and especially over the advertisements.