but friends, almost
members of one family, around this table, but the habits of my calling
impose reserve; and, besides, I am unwilling to make revelations until,
by certain inquiries, I can affirm that they may be relied on."

"Oh, Mr. Sedley, if you have a gleam--even a gleam--of hope, do give it
us. Don't you think our long-suffering and patience have made us worthy
of it?"

"Stop, Nelly," cried Augustus, "I will have no appeals of this kind. Mr.
Sedley knows our anxieties, and if he does not yield to them he has his
own good reasons."

"I don't see that," broke in Jack. "We are not asking to hear our
neighbor's secrets, and I take it we are of an age to be intrusted with
our own."

"You speak sharply, sir," said Sedley, "but you speak well. I would only
observe that the most careful and cautious people have been known to
write letters, very confidential letters, which somehow get bruited
about, so that clews are discovered and inferences traced which not
unfrequently have given the most serious difficulties to those engaged
in inquiry."

"Have no fears on that score, Mr. Sedley," said Jack. "There are no four
people in Europe at this moment with fewer correspondents. I believe I
might say that the roof of this house covers our whole world."

"Jack is right, there," added Augustus. "If we don't write to the
'Times' or the 'Post,' I don't see to whom we are to tell our news."

"George has n't even a pulpit here to expound us from," cried Jack,
laughingly.

"You have an undoubted right to know what is strictly your own concern.
The only question is, shall I be best consulting your interests by
telling it?"

"Out with it, by all means," said Jack. "The servants have left the room
now, and here we are in close committee."

Sedley looked towards Augustus, who replied by a gesture of assent; and
the lawyer, taking his spectacles from his pocket, said, "I shall simply
read you the entry of my notebook. Much of it will surprise, and much
more gratify you; but let me entreat that if you have any doubts to
resolve or questions to put, you will reserve them till I have finished.
I will only say that for everything I shall state as fact there
appears to me to be abundant proofs, and where I mention what is simply
conjecture I will say so. You remember my condition, then? I am not to
be interrupted."

"Agreed," cried Jack, as though replying for the most probable
defaulter. "I 'll not utter a word, and the others a