I opened the packet of papers then and there, and sat up until six o'clock the next morning, reading Mrs. Haygarth's letters in Mr. Goodge's parlour. Very fatiguing occupation for a man of my years. Mr. Goodge's hospitality began and ended in a cup of coffee. Such coffee! and I remember the mocha I used to get at Arthur's thirty years ago,--a Promethean beverage, that illumined the dullest smoking-room bore with a flash of wit or a glimmer of wisdom. I enclose the ten letters which I have selected. They appear to me to tell the history of Mrs. Haygarth and her husband pretty plainly; but there is evidently something mysterious lurking behind the commonplace existence of the husband. That is a matter for future consideration. All I have to do in the present is to keep you as well informed as your brother. It may strike you that the letters I forward herewith, which are certainly the cream of the correspondence, and the notes I have made from the remaining letters, are scarcely worth the money paid for them. In reply to such an objection, I can only say that you get more for _your_ money than your brother George will get for his. The hotel at which I have taken up my quarters is but a few paces from the commoner establishment where Hawkehurst is stopping. He is to call on Goodge for the letters to-day; so his excursion will be of brief duration. I find that the name of Haygarth is not unknown in this town, as there are a family of Judsons, some of whom call themselves Haygarth Judson. I intend inviting my landlord--a very superior person for his station--to discuss a bottle of wine with me after my chop this evening, and hope to obtain some information from him. In the meantime I shall keep myself close. It is of vital consequence that I should remain unseen by Hawkehurst. I do not believe he saw me on the platform last night, though we were as close to each other as we well could be. Let me know what you think of the letters, and believe me to be, my dear sir, very faithfully yours, H. N. C. PAGET. PHILIP SHELDON, Esq., &c. &c. &c. * * * * * _Philip Sheldon to Horatio Paget_. Bayswater, Oct. 8,186-. DEAR PAGET,--The letters are mysterious, and I don't see my way to getting much good out of them, but heartily approve your management of matters, and give you _carte blanche_ to proceed, according to your own lights. Yours truly, P.S. * * * * * _Horatio Paget to Philip Sheldon_. Royal Hotel, Oct. 9, 186-.