a set of
rascals,--every man of them." +'

"And is this the way you speak of your dear friend Niccolo Baldassare?"
asked Nelly.

"He was a capital fellow at the galleys; but I suspect he 'd prove a
very shady acquaintance in more correct company."

"And, Mr. Sedley, do you really say that all this can be proven?" cried
Nelly. "Do you believe it all yourself?"

"Every word of it. I shall test most of it within a few days. I have
already telegraphed to London for one of the clever investigators of
registries and records. I have ample means of tracing most of the events
I need. These papers of old Lami's are full of small details; they form
a closer biography than most men leave behind them."

"There was, however, a marriage of my grandfather with Enrichetta Lami?"
asked Augustus.

"We give them that," cried the lawyer, who fancied himself already
instructing counsel. "We contest nothing,--notice, registry, witnesses,
all are as legal as they could wish. The girl was Mrs. Bramleigh, and
her son, Montague Bramleigh's heir. Death, however, carried away both,
and the claim fell with them. That these people will risk a trial now
is more than I can believe; but if they should, we will be prepared
for them. They shall be indicted before they leave the court, and Count
Pracontal de Bramleigh be put in the dock for forgery."

"No such thing, Sedley!" broke in Bramleigh, with an energy very rare
with him. "I am well inclined to believe that this young man was no
party to the fraud,--he has been duped throughout; nor can I forget the
handsome terms he extended to us when our fortune looked darkest."

"A generosity on which late events have thrown a very ugly light,"
muttered Sedley.

"My brother is right. I 'll be sworn he is," cried Jack. "We should be
utterly unworthy of the good luck that has befallen us, if the first use
we made of it was to crush another."

"If _your_ doctrines were to prevail, sir, it would be a very puzzling
world to live in," said Sedley, sharply.

"We 'd manage to get on with fewer lawyers, anyway."

"Mr. Sedley," said Nelly, mildly, "we are all too happy and too
gratified for this unlooked-for deliverance to have a thought for what
is to cause suffering anywhere. Let us, I entreat you, have the full
enjoyment of this great happiness."

"Then we are probably to include the notable Mr. Cutbill in this act of
indemnity?" said Sedley, sneeringly.

"I should think we would, sir," replied Jack.