nston. There I overheard him talk of notes he had
never counted, and might never miss; describe the very place where they
were kept; and then the idea came to me irresistibly, 'better rob him
than despoil my own generous father.' Sir, I am not pretending to be
better than I was. I was not quite the novice you supposed. Coveting
pleasures or shows not within my reach, I had shrunk from draining
you to supply the means; I had not had the same forbearance for the
superfluous wealth of others. I had learned with what simple tools old
locks may fly open; and none had ever suspected me, so I had no fear
of danger, small need of premeditation: a nail on your mantelpiece, the
cloven end of the hammer lying beside, to crook it when hot from the
fire that blazed before me! I say this to show you that I did not come
provided; nothing was planned beforehand; all was the project and work
of the moment. Such was my haste, I burnt myself to the bone with the
red iron--feeling no pain, or rather, at that age, bearing all pain
without wincing. Before Gunston left you, my whole plan was then
arranged--my sole instrument fashioned. You groan. But how could I fancy
that there would be detection? How imagine that even if monies, never
counted, were missed, suspicion could fall on you--better gentleman than
he whom you served? And had it not been for that accursed cloak which
you so fondly wrapped round me when I set off to catch the night train
back to--; if it had not been, I say, for that cloak, there could have
been no evidence to criminate either you or me-except that unlucky L5
note, which I pressed on you when we met at ----, where I was to
hide till you had settled with my duns. And why did I press it on
you?--because you had asked me if I had wherewithal about me on which to
live meanwhile; and I, to save you from emptying your own purse, said,
'Yes'; showed you some gold, and pressed on you the bank-note, which I
said I could not want--to go, in small part, towards my debts; it was a
childish, inconsistent wish to please you: and you seemed so pleased to
take it as a proof that I cared for you."

"For me!--no, no; for honour--for honour--for honour! I thought you
cared for honour; and the proof of that care was, thrusting into these
credulous hands the share of your midnight plunder!"

"Sir," resumed Jasper, persisting in the same startling combination of
feeling, gentler and more reverential than could have been supposed to
linge