acting, by which it appeared that the said
Honorable James Kingston was, in fact, the true Earl of Seyton, he, Mr.
Jackson, junior, would be happy to hear what I had to say upon the
subject! It needed but this. Chilton had, as I feared he would, after
finding we had been consulted, sold his secret, doubtless advantageously,
to the heir-at-law. There was still, however, a chance that something
favorable might turn up, and, as I had no notion of throwing that chance
away, I carelessly replied that we had reason to believe Chilton's story
was a malicious fabrication, and that we should of course throw on them
the onus of judicial proof that Gosford was still alive when the late
earl's marriage was solemnized. Finally, however, to please Mr. Jackson,
who professed to be very anxious, for the lady's sake, to avoid
unnecessary eclat, and to arrange the affair as quietly as possible, I
agreed to meet him at Lady Seyton's in four days from that time, and hear
the evidence upon which he relied. This could not at all events render
our position worse; and it was, meanwhile, agreed that the matter should
be kept as far as possible profoundly secret.

Three days passed without any further tidings from Mr. Flint, and I
vehemently feared that his journey had proved a fruitless one, when, on
the evening previous to the day appointed for the conference at Seyton
House, a hackney-coach drove rapidly up to the office door, and out
popped Mr. Flint, followed by two strangers, whom he very watchfully
escorted into the house.

"Mr. Patrick Mullins and Mr. Pierce Cunningham," said Flint as he shook
hands with me in a way which, in conjunction with the merry sparkle of
his eyes, and the boisterous tone of his voice, assured me all was right.
"Mr. Pierce Cunningham will sleep here to-night," he added; "so Collins
had better engage a bed out."

Cunningham, an ill-looking lout of a fellow, muttered, that he chose "to
sleep at a tavern."

"Not if I know it, my fine fellow," rejoined Mr. Flint. "You mean well, I
dare say; but I cannot lose sight of you for all that. You either sleep
here or at a station-house."

The man stared with surprise and alarm; but knowing refusal or resistance
to be hopeless, sullenly assented to the arrangement, and withdrew to the
room appointed for him, vigilantly guarded. For Mr. Mullins we engaged a
bed at a neighboring tavern.

Mr. Flint's mission had been skillfully and successfully accomplished. He
was convi