o
sleep; and of one thing I can assure the reader, that however that
excellent man might have shrunk--and shrink he did--from the sufferings
which seemed in store, not for himself only, but for those who were far
dearer to him than life itself, he did not give way to one repining or
rebellious thought. On the contrary, his real frame of mind, on that
trying occasion, may be discovered in one short prayer, which his
agonized soul was more than once on the point of expressing aloud in
words--"Oh, my God! in my prosperity I have endeavored always to
acknowledge thee; forsake not me and mine in our adversity!"

At an early hour in the morning Mr. Aubrey's carriage drew up at Mr.
Parkinson's door; and he brought with him, as he had promised, a great
number of title-deeds and family documents. On these, as well as on many
others which were in Mr. Parkinson's custody, that gentleman and Mr.
Runnington were anxiously engaged during almost every minute of that day
and the ensuing one; at the close of which, they had between them drawn
up the rough draft of a case, with which Mr. Runnington set off for town
by the mail; undertaking to lay it immediately before the
Attorney-General, and also before one or two of the most eminent
conveyancers of the day, effectually commended to their best and
earliest attention. He pledged himself to transmit their opinions, by
the very first mail, to Mr. Parkinson; and both of those gentlemen
immediately set about active preparations for defending the ejectment.
The "eminent conveyancer" fixed upon by Messrs. Runnington and Parkinson
was Mr. Tresayle, whose clerk, however, on looking into the papers,
presently carried them back to Messrs. Runnington, with the startling
information that Mr. Tresayle had, a few months before, "advised on the
other side!" The next person whom Mr. Runnington thought of,
was--singularly enough--Mr. Mortmain, who, on account of his eminence,
was occasionally employed, in heavy matters, by the firm. _His_ clerk,
also, on the ensuing morning returned the papers, assigning a similar
reason to that which had been given by Mr. Tresayle's clerk! All this
formed a direful corroboration, truly, of Messrs. Quirk and Gammon's
assurance to Mr. Runnington, that they had "had the first conveyancing
opinions in the kingdom;" and evidenced the formidable scale on which
their operations were being conducted. There were, however, other
"eminent conveyancers" besides the two above menti