said, tho’ ’tis still perpetually found out yt. his Thefts was euen worse yn. yn. appear’d. I han’t herd no more concerng. hym for som Yeares, but beg. returnd. too _England_, & vizitg. upon my Cossen _Willsford_, I did heere by Chance yt. hee was prickt for Shirreff. Yn. beg. assurd. yt. ys. hd. not ought take Place, I did make yse. Matters publick, bot out of no Malis, bot only Lov of Right. Wit. ye highest Respect, I haue ye Honor too be, Sirr, Yor. Honr.’s most obedt. Servt., V. Spender.” “Ned,” says Dorothy, “this is worse than the worst I had feared. Tell me, is there, in all that this person says, that one grain of truth, whereby he might hope to establish these charges?” “None,” says I; “at least in the charges respecting money, and in the rest such twisting and turning of things innocent or at most only foolish as makes ’em appear crimes.” And this I said without any grief or bitterness that my wife should seem to doubt me, for in truth, after reading this letter that with such devilish cunning (for indeed no other word will name it fitly), sought to turn into evil all the deeds and intentions of my life, I could scarce myself believe but that I was guilty of the shameful things attributed to me. “If they ben’t true, sure there’s some means to disprove ’em,” says Dorothy. “Let us see what those be.” “To my rescue at Goa,” says I, “Captain Freeman can speak, but that is but a very small part of the whole. There’s no one nearer than Surat could testify the falsehood of those charges that concern my life and conversation there, and but one man even there that hath both the power and the will to do’t.” “And who is that?” says she. “Mr Martin,” said I; “but, as you know, my life, he seemed to have no present design of returning when he writ to me last, and I doubt whether a letter should serve this turn.” For my good friend had not yet carried out his purpose of retiring from the service, but remained still at Surat, whence, on hearing of our marriage, he had sent my wife a collar of pearls such as for their fineness and whiteness had not their equal in the county, and later, when we writ him word that we had named our second son for him, he did despatch to us, by the hand of a sea-captain of his acquaintance, a cap of goldsmith’s work for his godson, such as the Indian babes are wont to bear. “And a letter should need a year and a half at the least, and more like two years, for to go and come back,” says Dorothy. “We can scarce look for our enemies to hold over their threatened action for that time,” says I.