English; but, if he had yielded to this temptation
at any time, it would have been on receiving these bills at Jamaica.
Instead of coming hither, it would have been infinitely more easy and
convenient to have embarked directly for London; but none who thoroughly
knew him can, for a moment, harbour a suspicion of his truth.

"'If he be dead, and if the bills are not to be recovered, yet to
ascertain this will, at least, serve to vindicate his character. As long
as his fate is unknown, his fame will be loaded with the most flagrant
imputations, and, if these bills be ever paid in London, these
imputations will appear to be justified. If he has been robbed, the
robber will make haste to secure the payment, and the Maurices may not
unreasonably conclude that the robber was Watson himself.' Many other
particulars were added by the stranger, to show the extent of the evils
flowing from the death of his brother, and the loss of the papers which
he carried with him.

"I was greatly at a loss," continued Wortley, "what directions or advice
to afford this man. Keysler, as you know, died early of the pestilence;
but Keysler was the only resident in this city with whom Williams had
any acquaintance. On mentioning the propriety of preventing the sale of
these bills in America, by some public notice, he told me that this
caution had been early taken; and I now remembered seeing the
advertisement, in which the bills had been represented as having been
lost or stolen in this city, and a reward of a thousand dollars was
offered to any one who should restore them. This caution had been
published in September, in all the trading-towns from Portsmouth to
Savannah, but had produced no satisfaction.

"I accompanied Williams to the mayor's office, in hopes of finding in
the records of his proceedings, during the last six months, some traces
of Watson; but neither these records nor the memory of the magistrate
afforded us any satisfaction. Watson's friends had drawn up, likewise,
a description of the person and dress of the fugitive, an account of the
incidents attending his disappearance, and of the papers which he had in
his possession, with the manner in which these papers had been secured.
These had been already published in the Southern newspapers, and have
been just reprinted in our own. As the former notice had availed
nothing, this second expedient was thought necessary to be employed.

"After some reflection, it occurred to me that