that some intercourse
took place between the youth and the bearer of the news, in the course
of which the latter had persuaded the nephew to return to his family,
and that the youth had given some tokens of compliance. The
letter-writer, who was father to the fugitive, had written to certain
friends at Charleston, entreating them to use their influence with the
runaway to the same end, and, at any rate, to cherish and protect him.
Thus, I hope you will admit that the duplicity of Mervyn is
demonstrated."

"The facts which you have mentioned," said I, after some pause, "partly
correspond with Mervyn's story; but the last particular is
irreconcilably repugnant to it. Now, for the first time, I begin to feel
that my confidence is shaken. I feel my mind bewildered and distracted
by the multitude of new discoveries which have just taken place. I want
time to revolve them slowly, to weigh them accurately, and to estimate
their consequences fully. I am afraid to speak; fearing that, in the
present trouble of my thoughts, I may say something which I may
afterwards regret, I want a counsellor; but you, Wortley, are unfit for
the office. Your judgment is unfurnished with the same materials; your
sufferings have soured your humanity and biassed your candour. The only
one qualified to divide with me these cares, and aid in selecting the
best mode of action, is my wife. She is mistress of Mervyn's history; an
observer of his conduct during his abode with us; and is hindered, by
her education and temper, from deviating into rigour and malevolence.
Will you pardon me, therefore, if I defer commenting on your narrative
till I have had an opportunity of reviewing it and comparing it with my
knowledge of the lad, collected from himself and from my own
observation?"

Wortley could not but admit the justice of my request, and, after some
desultory conversation, we parted. I hastened to communicate to my wife
the various intelligence which I had lately received. Mrs. Althorpe's
portrait of the Mervyns contained lineaments which the summary detail of
Arthur did not enable us fully to comprehend. The treatment which the
youth is said to have given to his father; the illicit commerce that
subsisted between him and his father's wife; the pillage of money and
his father's horse, but ill accorded with the tale which we had heard,
and disquieted our minds with doubts, though far from dictating our
belief.

What, however, more deeply absorbed o