the copy of the deposition had
been attested by the magistrate, he and McShane ordered horses, and set
off for London. They knocked up Mr Trevor at his private house in the
middle of the night, and put the document into his hands.

"Well, Major McShane, I would gladly have risen from a sick bed to have
had this paper put into my hands; we must call upon the Secretary of
State to-morrow, and I have no doubt but that the poor lad will be
speedily released, take possession of his property, and be an honour to
the county."

"An honour to old England," replied McShane; "but I shall now wish you
good night."

McShane, before he went to bed, immediately wrote a letter to Mrs
Austin, acquainting her with what he had done, and the intentions of Mr
Trevor, sending it by express; he simply stated the facts, without any
comments.

But we must now return to Portsmouth. The advertisement of Mr Small
did not escape the keen eye of the police-constable who had arrested our
hero--as the reader must recollect the arrest was made so quietly that
no one was aware of the circumstance, and as the reward of 100 pounds
would be a very handsome addition to the 200 pounds which he had already
received--the man immediately set off for Portsmouth on the outside of
the coach, and went to Mr Small, where he found him in the
counting-house with Mr Sleek. He soon introduced himself; and his
business with them; and such was Mr Small's impatience that he
immediately signed a cheque for the amount, and handed it to the
police-officer, who then bluntly told him that our hero had been tried
for murder, and sentenced to transportation, his real name being
Rushbrook, and not O'Donahue.

This was a heavy blow to Mr Small: having obtained all the particulars
from the police-constable, he dismissed him, and was for some time in
consultation with Mr Sleek; and as it would be impossible long to
withhold the facts, it was thought advisable that Mrs Phillips and Emma
should become acquainted with them immediately, the more so as Emma had
acknowledged that there was a mystery about our hero, a portion of which
she was acquainted with.

Mrs Phillips was the first party to whom the intelligence was
communicated, and she was greatly distressed. It was some time before
she could decide upon whether Emma, in her weak state, should be made
acquainted with the melancholy tidings, but as she had suffered so much
from suspense, it was at last considered advisable