ld not dream of such an act, madam,' said he, with great
seriousness; 'it would amount to a forgery. Now for one last question,'
said he, after a little interval of silence: 'what would you deem a
suitable reward to the person who should discover this missing will, and
restore this property to the rightful owner? Would twenty per cent on
the value appear to you too much?'

"'I should say that the sum was a high one, but if the individual
acquitted himself with all the integrity and all the delicacy the
situation demanded, never by even an implication involving any one
who trusted him, conducting the transaction to its end on his own
responsibility and by his own unaided devices, why, then, it is more
than probable that I would judge the reward to be insufficient.'

"So much, dear papa, will put you in possession of the treaty then
ratified between us. I was to supply all the funds for present expenses;
Mr. Trover to incur all the perils. He was invested with full powers, in
fact, to qualify himself for Botany Bay; and I promised to forward his
views towards a ticket of leave if the worst were to happen him. It was
a very grave treaty very laughingly and playfully conducted. Trover
had just tact enough for the occasion, and was most jocose wherever the
point was a perilous one. From the letters and papers in my possession,
he found details quite ample enough to give him an insight into the
nature of the property, and also, what he deemed of no small importance,
some knowledge of the character of this Mr. Winthrop, Clara's uncle.
This person appeared to be an easy-tempered, good-natured man, not
difficult to deal with, nor in any way given to suspicion. Trover was
very prompt in his proceedings. On the evening after our conversation he
showed me the draft of Hawke's will, dated at Jersey, about eight days
before his death. It was then, for the first time, I learned that Trover
knew the whole story, and who _I_ was. This rather disconcerted me at
first. There are few things more disconcerting than to find out that
a person who has for a long intercourse never alluded to your past
history, has been all the while fully acquainted with it. The way he
showed his knowledge of the subject was characteristic In pointing out
to me Hawke's signature, he remarked,--

"'I have made the witnesses--Towers, who was executed, and Collier, who,
I have heard, died in Australia.'

"'How familiar you are with these names, sir!' said I, cu