"I did not mean to frighten you! Never mind what I said; but you can
surely guess whereabouts he is, or what means of life he pursues.
Perhaps,"--and a momentary paleness crossed Brandon's swarthy visage,--
"perhaps he may have been driven into dishonesty in order to maintain
himself!"

The informant replied with great naivete that such a thing was not
impossible! And Brandon then entered into a series of seemingly careless
but artful cross-questionings, which either the ignorance or the craft of
the man enabled him to baffle. After some time Brandon, disappointed and
dissatisfied, gave up his professional task; and bestowing on the man
many sagacious and minute instructions as well as a very liberal
donation, he was forced to dismiss his mysterious visitor, and to content
himself with an assured assertion that if the object of his inquiries
should not already be gone to the devil, the strange gentleman employed
to discover him would certainly, sooner or later, bring him to the judge.

This assertion, and the interview preceding it, certainly inspired Sir
William Brandon with a feeling like complacency, although it was mingled
with a considerable alloy.

"I do not," thought he, concluding his meditations when he was left
alone,--"I do not see what else I can do! Since it appears that the boy
had not even a name when he set out alone from his wretched abode, I fear
that an advertisement would have but little chance of even designating,
much less of finding him, after so long an absence. Besides, it might
make me the prey to impostors; and in all probability he has either left
the country, or adopted some mode of living which would prevent his
daring to disclose himself!" This thought plunged the soliloquist into a
gloomy abstraction, which lasted several minutes, and from which he