"Certainly, Mr. Gammon"--said Mr. Aubrey, in a very different tone and manner from that which he had till then adopted--"I will not disguise from you that the letter you have mentioned, has occasioned me--and my family--deep distress and dismay; for it is utterly out of my power to comply with its requisitions: and if it be intended to be really acted on, and followed up"--he paused, and with difficulty repressed his emotions, "all my little plans are forever frustrated--and I am at your mercy--to go to prison, if you choose, and there end my days."--He paused--his lip trembled, and his eyes were for a moment obscured with starting tears. So also was it with Mr. Gammon, who looked for some time aside. "But,"--resumed Mr. Aubrey,--"after the explicit and voluntary assurance which you have given me, I feel it impossible not to give you implicit credence. I can imagine no motive for what would be otherwise such elaborate and dreadful deception!" "_Motive_, Mr. Aubrey! The only motive I am conscious of, is one supplied by profound sympathy for your misfortunes--admiration of your character--and my sole object is, your speedy extrication from your very serious embarrassments. I am in the habit, Mr. Aubrey," he continued in a lower tone, "of concealing and checking my feelings--but there _are_ occasions"--he paused, and added with a somewhat faltering voice--"Mr. Aubrey, it pains me inexpressibly to observe that your anxieties--your severe exertions--I trust in God I may not rightly add, your _privations_--are telling on your appearance. You are certainly much thinner." It was impossible any longer to distrust the sincerity of Mr. Gammon--to withstand the arts of this consummate actor. Mr. Aubrey held out long, but at length surrendered entirely, and fully believed all that Gammon had said:--entertaining, moreover, commensurate feelings of _gratitude_, towards one who had done so much to protect him from rapacious avarice, and the ruin into which it would have precipitated him; and of _respect_, for one who had evinced such an anxious, scrupulous, and sensitive jealousy for his own honor and reputation, and resolute determination to vindicate it against suspicion. Subsequent conversation served to strengthen his favorable disposition towards Gammon, and the same effect was also produced when he adverted to his previous and unwarrantable distrust and disbelief of that gentleman. He looked fatigued and harassed; it was growing late; he had come, on his errand of courtesy and kindness, a great distance: why should not Mr. Aubrey ask him up-stairs, to join them at tea? To be sure, Mr. Aubrey had hitherto felt a disinclination--he scarce knew why--to have any more than mere business intercourse with Mr. Gammon, a member of such a firm as Quirk, Gammon, and Snap--and, moreover, Mr. Runnington had more than once let fall expressions indicative of vehement suspicion of Mr. Gammon; so had the Attorney-General; but what had Gammon's _conduct_