The Forgery; or, Best Intentions.James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
General
The Forgery; or, Best Intentions.
James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
Fiction
"You may say I will give that to the people who have got it," replied
Henry, "and fifty pounds more to whichever of these so-called bankers
gets it for me."
"And no inquiries made," said the pedlar: "that will soon settle the
matter, I think. But now I'll go, sir, for there I see Farmer Graves
coming up the walk, and it's as well he shouldn't know that we've been
talking over these matters."
"I have not the slightest objection to his knowing," replied the young
gentleman; "for it is my intention to tell him this morning a great
deal more concerning myself than I did last night, as I think he will
now be able to talk over the matter more calmly."
"He will like your telling him, and his telling you, much better than
my having anything to do with it," said the pedlar, "and therefore I
had better go. Good-bye, sir: a week shan't pass without your hearing
from me."
Thus saying, he quitted the room, leaving Henry to finish his toilet;
and Henry dressed, and descended the large, wide staircase, which, to
say the truth, occupied nearly a third of the whole house. He entered
the room where he had taken tea the night before; and seeing that,
although it was untenanted, the table was laid for breakfast, he sat
down and gazed out of the window, obtaining a view to the left of the
double row of yew-trees, over the top of the neighbouring copses, to
the wide-extended heath of which he had traversed a part during the
preceding evening. The country lay soft and fair in the hazy morning
light; but, though Henry's eyes were fixed upon it, he saw little,
except that a sweet picture was hung up before him; for his mind was
occupied with thoughts too eager and too active to suffer the volatile
part of the mind to stray after the ordinary sources of enjoyment. He
had not much faith in the success of good Joshua Brown's efforts to
recover his lost pocket-book; and when he came to consider all that it
contained, the necessity of regaining it became every moment more and
more evident to his eyes. There was in it, first, the paper given to
him by his father, immediately before he started for the Continent.
Besides this, there was his passport under the name of Frank
Middleton; and there were documents of various kinds, which went a
great way to establish the identity of the person so named with the
Henry Hayley who had fled from England more than ten years before.
Whether the possession of these papers would ever be of any great
service to himself, he might doubt, in the undecided state of his mind
as to the course he should pursue; but yet he saw clearly that they
might be very dangerous in the hands of another, if ever the person
who had possessed himself of them should obtain a clue to the history
of the real owner. Yet, however much he thought over the
circumstances, he could see no better plan for recovering his property
than that which had been proposed. To employ an officer of police
would have been more dangerous than to leave it where it was. To
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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