.
Meanwhile, there is no hurry. Don't sign yet."

"Nonsense! I don't doubt your good faith," said Erskine, hastily
disavowing suspicions which he felt but could not account for. "Here
goes!" And he signed.

"Well done!" said Trefusis. "This will make Brown happy for the rest of
the month."

"It is time for us to go now," said Erskine gloomily.

"Look in upon me at any time; you shall be welcome," said Trefusis. "You
need not stand upon any sort of ceremony."

Then they parted; Sir Charles assuring Trefusis that he had never spent
a more interesting morning, and shaking hands with him at considerable
length three times. Erskine said little until he was in the Riverside
Road with his friend, when he suddenly burst out:

"What the devil do you mean by drinking two tumblers of such staggering
stuff at one o'clock in the day in the house of a dangerous man like
that? I am very sorry I went into the fellow's place. I had misgivings
about it, and they have been fully borne out."

"How so?" said Sir Charles, taken aback.

"He has overreached us. I was a deuced fool to sign that paper, and so
were you. It was for that that he invited us."

"Rubbish, my dear boy. It was not his paper, but Donovan Brown's."

"I doubt it. Most likely he talked Brown into signing it just as he
talked us. I tell you his ways are all crooked, like his ideas. Did you
hear how he lied about Miss Lindsay?"

"Oh, you were mistaken about that. He does not care two straws for her
or for anyone."

"Well, if you are satisfied, I am not. You would not be in such high
spirits over it if you had taken as little wine as I."

"Pshaw! you're too ridiculous. It was capital wine. Do you mean to say I
am drunk?"

"No. But you would not have signed if you had not taken that second
goblet. If you had not forced me--I could not get out of it after
you set the example--I would have seen him d--d sooner than have had
anything to do with his petition."

"I don't see what harm can come of it," said Sir Charles, braving out
some secret disquietude.

"I will never go into his house again," said Erskine moodily. "We were
just like two flies in a spider's web."

Meanwhile, Trefusis was fulfilling his promise to write to Donovan
Brown.

"Sallust's House.

"Dear Brown: I have spent the forenoon angling for a couple of very
young fish, and have landed them with more trouble than they are worth.
One has gaudy scales: he is a baronet, and an amateur artist,