_not_ intended. It's exactly like a miniature I have in my pocket."

"A miniature! Of whom?"

"That I can't say," replied Jack, mysteriously. "But, I half suspect, of
your father."

"My father!" exclaimed Thames, in the utmost astonishment; "let me see
it!"

"Here it is," returned Jack, producing a small picture in a case set
with brilliants.

Thames took it, and beheld the portrait of a young man,
apparently--judging from his attire--of high rank, whose proud and
patrician features certainly presented a very striking resemblance to
his own.

"You're right Jack," he said, after a pause, during which he
contemplated the picture with the most fixed attention: "this must have
been my father!"

"No doubt of it," answered Sheppard; "only compare it with Winny's
drawing, and you'll find they're as like as two peas in a pod."

"Where did you get it?" inquired Thames.

"From Lady Trafford's, where I took the box."

"Surely, you haven't stolen it?"