dea of human
enjoyments; that he would no longer be the rich, the powerful, the
honoured, the magnificent, the envied, the idolized lord of thousands,
but would sink at once into a younger brother, dependent on the man
he most hated for his very subsistence,--since his debts would greatly
exceed his portion,--and an object through life of contemptuous pity
or of covert suspicion; that all this change could happen at a word of
Montreuil's, what wonder that he should be staggered,--should hesitate
and yield? Montreuil obtained, then, whatever sums he required; and
through Gerald's influence, pecuniary and political, procured from
the minister a tacit permission for him to remain in England, under
an assumed name and in close retirement. Since then, Montreuil (though
secretly involved in treasonable practices) had appeared to busy himself
solely in negotiating a pardon at Paris. Gerald had lived the life of a
man who, if he has parted with peace of conscience, will make the best
of the bargain by procuring every kind of pleasure in exchange; and _le
petit_ Jean Desmarais, useful to both priest and spendthrift, had
passed his time very agreeably,--laughing at his employers, studying
philosophy, and filling his pockets; for I need scarcely add that Gerald
forgave him without much difficulty for his share in the forgery. A man,
as Oswald shrewdly observed, is seldom inexorable to those crimes by
which he has profited. "And where lurks Montreuil now?" I asked; "in the
neighbourhood of Devereux Court?"

Oswald looked at me with some surprise. "How learned you that, Sir?
It is true. He lives quietly and privately in that vicinity. The woods
around the house, the caves in the beach, and the little isle opposite
the castle, afford him in turn an asylum; and the convenience with which
correspondence with France can be there carried on makes the scene of
his retirement peculiarly adapted to his purpose."

I now began to question Oswald respecting himself; for I was not warmly
inclined to place implicit trust in the services of a man who had before
shown himself at once mercenary and timid. There was little cant or
disguise about that gentleman; he made few pretences to virtues which
he did not possess; and he seemed now, both by wine and familiarity,
peculiarly disposed to be frank. It was he who in Italy (among various
other and less private commissions) had been appointed by Montreuil to
watch over Aubrey; on my brother's death h