Lord Ashborough laughed aloud; but Harding maintained the same calm, and somewhat sneering aspect, as if he had made up his mind to every turn that his conference with the earl might take; and could not be turned aside from his direct object for a moment, by either scorn or anger. "And pray, sir," demanded his noble visiter, when he had exhausted his scoffing laugh. "Pray, what has my reputation to do with your situation? Do you intend to accuse me, in your last dying speech and confession, of having committed the murder myself, or of having aided you to commit it?" "Neither one nor the other, my lord," answered the prisoner; "but if I do make any confession at all, which will depend upon your lordship's conduct, I intend to state that the robbery was first suggested to me by the following letter, written to me by your lordship's lawyer on your account, in order to persuade me to delay or carry off a sum of money which my master was to receive through the hands of the old man at Ryebury." Lord Ashborough turned deadly pale; and taking a step forward, while he advanced his hand towards the paper which Harding held, he exclaimed, "Let me see, sir--Let me see!" "Your pardon, my lord!" said the prisoner, drawing back the paper. "One does not usually give such valuable documents out of one's own hand. I will read it to you, however;" and in a calm, sustained voice, he proceeded to treat the ears of Lord Ashborough, sentence by sentence, with the whole of that letter which had been formerly written to him by Mr. Peter Tims, in regard to the money which Beauchamp had expected from London, to pay off the annuity on Sir Sidney Delaware's estate. "Your lordship will see," continued the prisoner, "that such a letter was very well calculated to induce me to commit a robbery; you will see, also, that Mr. Tims uses your lordship as his authority throughout; and I look upon myself as extremely lucky in having always preserved this letter in the lining of my waistcoat; as it now gives me the hope that so highly respected and honourable a nobleman as yourself may interest himself in my favour."