"Then I was to ask you for the first letter of the gentleman's Christian name." "F." "That is correct." And the man handed Becky the packet. "Where is the gentleman staying?" asked Becky, offering the man a shilling. "No, thank you. I am well paid for what I am doing, and I was told not to accept anything. 'Where is the gentleman staying?' I have no instructions to answer the question. There is nothing else, I think. Yes, there _is_ something else. Are you well?" "Quite well." "I am to say that? 'Quite well.'" "Yes, say 'Quite well, but very anxious.'" "Ah! 'Quite well, but very anxious.' Good night, miss." Then Becky went to her little bedroom, and lighting a candle, opened the packet. Fanny was asleep, and Becky read until late in the night. [Decoration] CHAPTER XXIV. FREDERICK HOLDFAST'S STATEMENT. The extraordinary story which has appeared in the columns of the _Evening Moon_, and the dreadful intelligence it conveys to me of the murder of my dear father, render it imperatively necessary that I should place upon permanent record certain particulars and incidents relating to my career which will incontestibly prove that the Romance in Real Life which is now being inserted in every newspaper in the kingdom is an infamous fabrication. I am impelled to this course by two strong reasons. First,--Because I wish to clear myself in the eyes of the woman I love, from whom I have concealed my real name and position. Second,--Because life is so uncertain that I might not be able to do to-morrow what it is in my power to do to-day. I pledge myself, in the name of my dear mother, whose memory I revere, that I will set down here nothing but the truth--that I will not strive to win pity or grace by the faintest glossing of any particulars in which I may not appear to advantage--that I will not swerve by a hair's breadth from my honest intention to speak of the matters treated herein in a plain, unvarnished style. The dear one who will be the first to peruse these lines is as precious to me as ever woman was to man, but I will not retain her love by subterfuge or pretence, although it would break my heart to lose it. To her I am known as Frederick Maitland. To a number of persons I am--in connection with the murder of my father--known as Antony Cowlrick. My true name is Frederick Holdfast.