him of this was by my poor dear wife's advice; for she said, very
sensibly,--and she was a shrewd woman on money matters,--"If he knows he
has such a large sum all in the lump, who knows but he may grow idle and
extravagant, and spend it at once, like his father before him? Whereas,
some time or other he will want to marry, or need money for some
particular purpose,--then what a blessing it will be!"

However, my dear madam, as you know the world better than I do, you can
now do as you please, both as to communicating to John all the
information herein contained as to his parentage, and as to apprising him
of the large sum of which he is lawfully possessed.
MATTHEW FIELDEN.

P.S.--In justice to poor John Ardworth, and to show that whatever whim he
may have conceived about his own child, he had still a heart kind enough
to remember mine, though Heaven knows I said nothing about them in my
letters, my eldest boy received an offer of an excellent place in a West
India merchant's house, and has got on to be chief clerk; and my second
son was presented to a living of 117 pounds a year by a gentleman he
never heard of. Though I never traced these good acts to Ardworth, from
whom else could they come?

Ardworth put down the paper without a word; and Lucretia, who had watched
him while he read, was struck with the self-control he evinced when he
came to the end of the disclosure. She laid her hand on his and said,--

"Courage! you have lost nothing!"

"Nothing!" said Ardworth, with a bitter smile. "A father's love and a
father's name,--nothing!"