For an instant there was perfect silence, accompanied by a fixed stare on both sides, Maybee being uncertain whether he was dreaming or awake; then Nathan grinned, whereupon Maybee uttered a roar of fright, and would have leaped out of bed, but that Nathan restrained him, bade him lie down again, and not be terrified. He called upon him to preserve his calmness, as he desired to have a long conversation with him. He also told him that he would have occasion to exercise his memory with patient perseverance, and to communicate the result of the examination to him. He added, that he might expect immediate remuneration for his revelations, equivalent to their value, as well as the prospect of a speedy liberation from the den in which he had so long been incarcerated. Josh Maybee listened in silent amazement. He looked distrustfully and suspiciously at his mysterious visitor; and, notwithstanding the grand promises of pecuniary recompense and release from imprisonment, he did not seem disposed to entertain the proposition, or to do anything, indeed, to prolong the interview. His flesh crawled as he looked upon the singular features of the strange being before him, who nodded and grinned at him very much after the manner of the gnomes of the Golden Harz, of whom, in his younger days, he had read with awe; and he could hardly help thinking that the awful-looking little stranger was, at least, a native of a lower world, gifted with the power of appearing on earth, adopting, when he availed himself of the advantage he possessed, a form and deportment calculated to fling into hysterics of terror all whom he honoured with his presence. It was not until Hathan Gomer perceived the alarm his appearance excited, that he more clearly explained the nature of his visit, and displayed his knowledge of the information obtained from Chewkle, then Maybee became more composed, quitted his squalid bed, and dressed himself in his greased and faded habiliments. By the liberality of Gomer, he was provided with a breakfast the like of which he had not tasted for years; and when he had finished his repast, and emotions stole over him of a right royal and monarchical character, Nathan commenced enlisting his sympathies in favour of Wilton and his daughter, whom he remembered on his attention being drawn to them. He followed up his observations by reverting to the earlier periods of Maybee’s life, extorted from him a complete history of past events, and elicited as he proceeded all that was essential to the establishment of Wilton’s claim to the estates left by old Eglinton. This done, Nathan Gomer, being beyond a doubt satisfied on all-points, even to the production of documents, entered into a compact with Joshua Maybee, which the latter swore to fulfil. The amber-visaged dwarf, having supplied the poor old prisoner with funds, arranged when he would again see him, and then took his departure.