to say, he objected to it a little at first, but I flatter myself it
will make some little noise in the world when it is fairly known."

I looked again at the brazen-faced fellow, and nearly fell off my chair
at hearing him make such a horrid confession.

"I don't believe a word of it, sir," I exclaimed, "as far as Frank
Edwards is concerned."

"I assure you he had very little hand in it," he replied. "The merit, as
you say, is entirely my own."

"And the consequences, too, I hope."

"I hope so. I offered a good deal before I undertook it; and I think it
will pay very well."

"What will pay?"

"The Surrey, when the melodrama is finished."

"Oh! it is a melodrama you're speaking of? I was not aware, I am sure,
or I should"--

"My dear sir, make no apologies. I hate the fuss people make about a man
because he happens to be a successful author. I assure you, the plain
entertainment you have given is better than all the _fêtes_ my friends
Devonshire and Lansdowne gave me, when I published the _Blasted Nun_."

So my murderer had sunk into a writer of plays.