onfidence promised; he had not made him aware
of the existence of those important documents of proof, on which the
whole fate of his negotiation appeared now to hinge, and in so far had
deceived him. Yet, when he pulled from his pocket, and re-read Lord
Etherington's explanatory letter, Jekyl could not help being more
sensible than he had been on the first perusal, how much the present
possessor of that title felt alarmed at his brother's claims; and he had
some compassion for the natural feeling that must have rendered him shy
of communicating at once the very worst view of his case, even to his
most confidential friend. Upon the whole, he remembered that Lord
Etherington had been his benefactor to an unusual extent; that, in
return, he had promised the young nobleman his active and devoted
assistance, in extricating him from the difficulties with which he
seemed at present surrounded; that, in quality of his confidant, he had
become acquainted with the most secret transactions of his life; and
that it could only be some very strong cause indeed which could justify
breaking off from him at this moment. Yet he could not help wishing
either that his own obligations had been less, his friend's cause
better, or, at least, the friend himself more worthy of assistance.

"A beautiful morning, sir, for such a foggy, d----d climate as this,"
said a voice close by Jekyl's ear, which made him at once start out of
his contemplation. He turned half round, and beside him stood our honest
friend Touchwood, his throat muffled in his large Indian handkerchief,
huge gouty shoes thrust upon his feet, his bobwig well powdered, and the
gold-headed cane in his hand, carried upright as a sergeant's halberd.
One glance of contemptuous survey entitled Jekyl, according to his
modish ideas, to rank the old gentleman as a regular-built quiz, and to
treat him as the young gentlemen of his Majesty's Guards think
themselves entitled to use every unfashionable variety of the human
species. A slight inclination of a bow, and a very cold "You have the
advantage of me, sir," dropped as it were unconsciously from his tongue,
were meant to repress the old gentleman's advances, and moderate his
ambition to be hail fellow well met with his betters. But Mr. Touchwood
was callous to the intended rebuke; he had lived too much at large upon
the world, and was far too confident of his own merits, to take a
repulse easily, or to permit his modesty to interfere wit