"I hope we shall be as successful as you could wish," replied Mr. Egerton; "and I think it would give me scarcely less pleasure than it would give yourself, to hear that Captain Delaware is innocent, although I will not suffer either a previous good character, or a gallant deportment, or a handsome countenance to weigh with me, except as presumptive testimony in his favor, and as a caution to myself to be on my guard against the natural predilections of man's heart. But what have you discovered regarding the hat?" "Confirmation, I am afraid, too strong, of my worst fears," answered Dr. Wilton; and he related how positively Mrs. Wilson had declared it to have belonged to Mr. Beauchamp. Measures for investigating this event also, were immediately taken, and information of the supposed death, by drowning, of a gentleman lately residing at Emberton, was given to all the stations on that coast. This new catastrophe, of course, furnished fresh food to the gossiping propensities of the people of the town; and the tale, improved by the rich and prolific imaginations of its inhabitants, was sent forth connected by a thousand fine and filmy links with the murder of the miser, and the disappearance of the Delaware family. It instantly appeared in all the public prints, who, to do them but justice, were far too charitable to leave it in its original nakedness. Hence it was transferred, with new scenery, dresses, and decorations, to a broad sheet of very thin paper, and distributed by a man, with a loud voice, on the consideration of one halfpenny, to wondering housemaids, and keepers of chandler's shops, under the taking title of the "Ryebury Tragedy!" and there is strong reason to believe that it was alone owing to the temporary difficulties of Mr. ----, of the ---- theater, that Captain William Delaware was not brought upon the boards, with a knife in his hand, cutting the throat of the miser, while Henry Beauchamp threw himself from the rocks into the sea, for love of the murderer's sister. That this theatrical consummation did not take place is much to be wondered at; and it is to be hoped that, when the managers are furnished with all the correct particulars, they will give the public their version of the matter on every stage from Drury Lane to the very barn at Emberton itself.