"Although you were quite a child at the time, Harry," said Mr. Wyllys, "eight or ten I believe, still, I should think you must remember the anxiety to discover the real fate of William Stanley. I have numbers of letters in my hands, answers to those I had written with the hope of learning something more positive on the subject. We sent several agents, at different times, to the principal sea-ports, to make inquiries among the sailors; it all resulted in confirming the first story, the loss of the Jefferson, and all on board. Every year, of course, made the point more certain." "Still, we cannot say that is not impossible {sic} he should have escaped," observed Harry. "Why should he have waited eighteen years, before he appeared to claim his property?--and why should he not come directly to his father's executors, instead of seeking out such a fellow as Clapp? It bears on the very face every appearance of a gross imposture. Surely, Harry, you do not think there is a shade of probability as to the truth of this story?" "Only a possibility, sir; almost everything is against it, and yet I shall not rest satisfied without going to the bottom of the matter." "That, you may be sure, we shall be forced to do. Clapp will give us trouble enough, I warrant; he will leave no stone unturned that a dirty lawyer can move. It will be vexatious, but there cannot be a doubt as to the result." "You encourage me," said Mrs. Stanley; "and yet the idea of entering into a suit of this kind is very painful!" "If it be a conspiracy, there is no treatment too bad for those who have put the plot together!" exclaimed Harry. "What a double-dyed villain Clapp must be!" "He will end his career in the State-Prison," said Mr. Wyllys. "The Hubbards, too; that is another disagreeable part of the business," said Harry. "I am truly sorry for them," replied Mr. Wyllys. "It will give them great pain." "What steps shall we first take, sir?" inquired Harry. "We must look into the matter immediately, of course, and find out upon what grounds they are at work." "I am utterly at a loss to comprehend it!" exclaimed Mrs. Stanley. "Such a piece of bare-faced audacity!" "Clapp must rest all his hope of success on our want of positive proof as to the death of William Stanley," observed Harry. "But his having dared to bring forward an individual to personate the dead man, is really a height of impudence that I should never have conceived of." "If I did not know him to be an incarnation of cunning, I should think he had lost his senses," replied Mr. Wyllys; "but happily for honest men, rogues generally overreach themselves; after they have spread their nets, made the mesh as intricate as possible, they almost invariably fall into their own snare. Such will, undoubtedly, be the result in this case." "Had you not better return to Longbridge at once," said Mrs. Stanley, "in order to inquire into the matter?"