neither excitement nor investigation.

"Meanwhile, Lord Hawley had returned to town. No sooner was I apprised
of the fact, than I sent him the following blunt and somewhat rude
epistle--for I felt too keen a thirst for vengeance on my enemies to
admit of my being very choice or respectful in my language, even to a
nobleman:--

"'My lord,--you are a cuckold. Do you doubt it? I can prove it,
beyond the shadow of a doubt. Captain Eugene St. Clair is your
lady's lover--she is his mistress. For a long time past, she has,
during your absence, received him into her chamber. You are laughed
at by the pretty pair, as a withered, impotent old dotard. You know
the handwriting of your late valet, Lagrange. Accompanying this is a
letter written by him, to you; before he had an opportunity of
sending it to you, he was _made away with_, through the
instrumentality of your amiable wife, who had every reason to
suppose that he would betray her. The tale trumped up by the noble
harlot about the Frenchman's having stolen your property and fled,
is a lie. My lord, I think you have reason to be grateful to me for
exposing the guilty parties; if so, any pecuniary reward which you
may see fit to send me, by one of your servants, (I am at the _Jolly
Thieves_, in St. Giles,) will be gratefully accepted by

MICHAEL SIMPSON.'

"I thus freely disclosed my place of concealment to his lordship,
because I apprehended no danger to myself, knowing that the nobleman
was a man of honor, who would not injure the person who had rendered
him such an important service as to put him on the track to avenge his
wrongs. And I also anticipated receiving a liberal reward for my
information; nor was I disappointed,--for that very evening a servant
in the Hawley livery called at the _Jolly Thieves_, and presented me
with a small package, which on opening I found to contain bank notes
to the amount of five hundred pounds, and the following note, which
though in his lordship's handwriting, bore neither address nor
signature:--

"'Here is the reward of your information. Accept, also, my thanks.
The proof you have furnished of the truth of your statement, admits
of no doubt. I know how to punish the w**e and her blackguard
paramour. You had better leave the country, for I can surmise what
agency _you_