On the first reading of her letter, Lord Oldborough had been so struck by the idea of the injustice he had done the mother, that he seemed scarcely to advert to the idea of his having a son. Absorbed in the past, he was at first insensible both to the present and the future. Early associations, long dormant, were suddenly wakened; he was carried back with irresistible force to the days of his youth, and something of likeness in air and voice to the Lord Oldborough he had formerly known appeared to Mr. Percy. As the tumult of passionate recollections subsided, as this enthusiastic reminiscence faded, and the memory of the past gave way to the sense of the present, Lord Oldborough resumed his habitual look and manner. His thoughts turned upon his son, that unknown being who belonged to him, who had claims upon him, who might form a great addition to the happiness or misery of his life. He took up the letter again, looked for the passage that related to his son, and read it anxiously to himself, then to Mr. Percy--observing, “that the directions were so vague, that it would be difficult to act upon them.” “The boy was sent when three years old to England or Ireland, under the care of an Irish priest, who delivered him to a merchant, recommended by the Hamburg banker, &c.” “I shall have difficulty in tracing this--great danger of being mistaken or deceived,” said Lord Oldborough, pausing with a look of anxiety. “Would to God that I had means of knowing with certainty _where_, and above all, _what_, he is, or that I had never heard of his existence!” “My lord, are there any more particulars?” inquired Mr. Percy, eagerly. Lord Oldborough continued to read, “Four hundred pounds of your English money have been remitted to him annually, by means of these Hamburg bankers. To them we must apply in the first instance,” said Lord Oldborough, “and I will write this moment.” “I think, my lord, I can save you the trouble,” said Mr. Percy: “I know the man.” Lord Oldborough put down his pen, and looked at Mr. Percy with astonishment. “Yes, my lord, however extraordinary it may appear, I repeat it--I believe I know your son; and if he be the man I imagine him to be, I congratulate you--you have reason to rejoice.” “The facts, my dear sir,” cried Lord Oldborough: “do not raise my hopes.” Mr. Percy repeated all that he had heard from Godfrey of Mr. Henry--related every circumstance from the first commencement of them--the impertinence and insult to which the mystery that hung over his birth had subjected him in the regiment--the quarrels in the regiment--the goodness of Major Gascoigne--the gratitude of Mr. Henry--the attachment between him and Godfrey--his selling out of the regiment after Godfrey’s ineffectual journey to London--his wishing to go into a mercantile house--the letter which Godfrey then wrote, begging his father to recommend Mr. Henry to Mr. Gresham, disclosing to Mr. Percy, with Mr. Henry’s permission, all that he knew of his birth.