Yorkshire; nor of the unpleasant cir-ed of, first, a letter from one James cumstances attending his mother's Oakley to his wife, informing her that marriage, with which the reader has he was dying, and that, having heard just been made acquainted. Nothing she was living with another man, he can be easier than to conceive how exhorted her to leave her wicked Mr Gammon might have been able, courses before she died; secondly, a even if acquainted with the true state letter from one Gabriel Tittlebat Titof the facts, to produce an impreg- mouse to his wife, reproaching her nable case in court, by calling, with with drunkenness and loose conduct, judgment, only that evidence which and saying that she knew as well as was requisite to show the marriage of he did, that he could transport her Titmouse's father with Janet Johnson any day he liked; therefore she had -viz. an examined copy of an entry better mind what she was about. in the parish register of Grilston; of This letter was written in the county the fact of the marriage under the jail, whither he had been sent for names specified; and some slight evi- some drunken assault. Old Blind dence of the identity of the parties. Bess had been very feeble when her How was the Attorney-general, or any niece came to live with her; and, one advising him, to have got at the though aware of her profligate conmystery attending the name of "John- duct, had never dreamed of the conson," in the absence of suspicion nection, between the great family at pointed precisely at that circum- the Hall, and her niece's child. These stance? The defendant in an action were the two documents which Mr of ejectment, is necessarily in a great Titmouse had destroyed, on Gammon's measure in the dark as to the evidence having intrusted them for a moment which will be adduced against him, into his hands!-Though I do not atand must fight it as it is presented to tach so much importance to them as him in court; and the plaintiff's at- Mr Gammon did-since I cannot see torney is generally better advised than how they could have been made availto bring into court witnesses who able evidence for any purpose conmay be able, if pressed, to disclose templated by Gammon - I am not more than is necessary or desirable! surprised at his having done so. They were infinitely too dangerous documents to admit of his taking the opinion of counsel upon; he therefore kept them entirely to himself, as also the discovery to which they led, not trusting his secret, even to either of his partners. Before the case had come into court, Mr Gammon was in possession of the facts now laid for the first time before the reader-contemplating, even then, the use to be thereafter made of the prodigious power he should have acquired, in aid of his own personal advancement. Thus was Titmouse base-born indeed - in fact, doubly illegitimate; for, first, his mother had been guilty of bigamy in marrying his father; and, secondly, even had that not been so, her marrying under a false name† had been sufficient to make the marriage utterly void, and equally of course to bastardise her issue. † Ibid. The way in which Mr Gammon had become acquainted with the true state of the matter, was singular. While engaged in obtaining and arranging the evidence in support of the plaintiff's case, under the guidance of Mr Lynx's opinion, Mr Gammon stumbled upon a witness who dropped one or two expressions suddenly reminding him of two little documents which had been some time before put into his possession, without his having then attached the least importance to them. He was so disturbed at the coincidence, that he returned to town that night, to inspect the papers in question. They had been obtained by Snap from old Blind Bess: in fact, (inter nos), he had purloined them from her, on one of the occasions of his being with her in the manner long ago described, having found them in an old Bible which was in a still older canvass bag; and they consist * See APPENDIX. BOOK THE TENTH. CHAPTER I. GLANCES OF DAYLIGHT INTO A GLEN OF FRAUD, AND REPTILES SEEN "This is a very-very-ugly business, Mr Gammon!" quoth he, with a gloomy countenance. "I look upon it there's an end of the suit-eh? SUCH was the damning discovery ef- fore he was aware of her having done fected by the Ecclesiastical commis- so. On her returning, and informing sion, and which would by - and - by him of what she had done, it roused blazon to the whole world the astound him from his lethargy, and, starting ing fact, that this doubly base-born from the sofa, he desired her to go person had been enabled, by the pro-back and request the medical man not found machinations of Mr Gammon, to come, as it was unnecessary. Heavnot only to deprive Mr Aubrey of the ing profound sighs, he proceeded to Yatton estates, but also to intermarry his dressing-room, got through his with the Lady Cecilia, the last of the toilet, and then sate down to the direct line of the noble Dreddlingtons breakfast-table, and for the first time and Drelincourts-to defile the blood, made a powerful effort to address his and blight the honour, of perhaps the thoughts steadily to the awful nature oldest and the proudest of the nobility of the emergency into which he was of England. Upon Mr Gammon it driven. Mr Quod soon after made his descended like a thunderbolt. For appearance. many hours he seemed to have been utterly crushed and blasted by it. He was totally incapable of realising his position of contemplating the prodigious and appalling consequences which must inevitably, and almost immediately, ensue upon this discovery of his secret. He lay upon the sofa the whole night without closing his eyes, or having moved a muscle since he had thrown himself down upon it. His laundress came in with his bed-candle, trimmed the lamp, stirred the fire, and withdrew, supposing him asleep. The fire went outthen the lamp-and when, about eight o'clock the next morning, his laundress reappeared, he still lay on the sofa; and a glimpse of his pale and haggard face alarmed her greatly, "How could all this have escaped and she went for a medical man be-me, in getting up the case for the "It is not likely that we shall stir further, certainly," replied Mr Gammon, with a desperate effort to speak calmly: then there was a pause. "And I should think the matter can't end here;" presently added Mr Quod. "With such evidence as this, of course they'll attack Yatton!" "Then I am prepared to resist them," said Gammon; convinced in his own mind that the sole object of little Mr Quod's visit was to see after the payment of his bill-a reasonable anxiety, surely, considering the untoward issue of the proceedings. trial?" said Gammon after a while, | copies of the "Declaration "Ay-I hope this will teach you common-law fellows that there's a trick or two worth knowing at Doctor's Commons!" replied Mr Quod. "D'ye remember what I told you at starting ?-How was it, d'ye say, you couldn't find it out? No one could, till we did!—But, by the way, do we fight any more in the cause? Because we must decide at once-it's no use, I should say, going to the expense of a hearing" to be served on Mr Titmouse, and every tenant in possession upon the estate. Then he served notices on them, calling upon each and every of them not to pay rent in future to any one except Charles Aubrey, Esquire, or his agents by him lawfully appointed; and caused a formal demand of the title-deeds of the estate to be forthwith made upon Mr Titmouse, Messrs Bloodsuck and Son, and Messrs Quirk, Gammon, and Snap; and also advertisements to be inserted in the newspapers, to caution all persons against advancing money "I will give you an answer in the on mortgage or other security of the course of the day, Mr Quod," replied Yatton property, "formerly in possesGammon with an air of repressed sion of, and now claimed by, Charles fury; and succeeded in getting rid, for Aubrey, Esq., but at present wrongthe present, of his matter-of-fact but fully held by Tittlebat Titmouse, Esq. anxious visitor. He then reperused the M.P., and for the recovery of which an whole of the evidence, and considered action of ejectment has been comwithin himself, as well as he was able, menced, and is now pending ;" and what course he ought to pursue. He also from advancing money on the had need, truly, to do so; for he faith or security of a certain bond quickly found that he had to deal with conditioned in the penalty of £20,000 an enemy, in Mr Runnington, uncom- for the payment to the aforesaid Titpromising and unrelenting, and whose tlebat Titmouse, Esquire, M.P., of movements were equally prompt, vigo- £10,000, with interest, on or before rous, and skilful. That gentleman, the 24th day of January next, and datfollowing up his blow, and acting ed the 26th July 18—, and signed by under the advice of Sir Charles Wol- Lord De la Zouch and Charles Aubrey, stenholme, who had just returned to Esq., the same having been obtained town for the commencement of the by undue means, and on a false and legal year-viz. Michaelmas Term-fraudulent pretence of money being first of all gave notice, through Mr Pounce, of his intention to proceed with the suit for administration; but found that the enemy in that quarter, These advertisements, and certain had already struck; Mr Quod having paragraphs relating to the same matformally notified his abandonment of ter, which found their way into the opposition on the part of Mr Titmouse. newspapers, to the consternation of So far so good. Mr Runnington's Gammon, came under the eye of the next step was to go down into Staf- Duke of Tantallan, and struck him fordshire and Yorkshire, accompanied dumb with dismay and horror at so by Mr Pounce, and by his own ex- decisive and public a corroboration of perienced confidential clerk, in order his worst fears. A similar effect they to ascertain still more distinctly and produced upon Miss Macspleuchan, conclusively the nature of the evi- who, however, succeeded in keeping dence in existence, impeaching the them, for some time, from the obserlegitimacy of Mr Titmouse. His in-vation of the unfortunate Earl of quiries were so satisfactory, that within a week of his return to town, he had caused an action of ejectment to be brought for the recovery of the whole of the Yatton property; and due from the said Charles Aubrey, Esq., to the aforesaid Tittlebat Titmouse.' Dreddlington. But there were certain other persons in whom these announcements produced an amazing degree of consternation; viz. three Jewish gentlemen-to wit, MORDECAI GRIPE, MEPHIBOSHETH MAHAR-SHALAL-ing at the mouth, and with impasHASH-BAZ, and ISRAEL FANG, who were sioned gesticulation, protesting that at present the depositaries of Mr Tit- he would have them both transported mouse's title-deeds, with a lien upon to Botany Bay on the morrow. They them, as they had fondly imagined, to laughed at him good-humouredly, and the extent of nearly seventy thousand in due time deposited him safely in pounds-that being the amount of the lock-up of Mr Vice; who on seemoney they had advanced, in hard ing that he was disposed to be troublecash, to Mr Titmouse, upon mortgage some, thrust him unceremoniously of his Yatton estates. The last of into the large room in which, it may these unfortunate gentlemen-old Mr be recollected, Mr Aubrey had been Fang-had advanced thirty thousand for a few minutes incarcerated, and pounds. He had been the first ap- left him, telling him he might write plied to, and had fortunately taken a to his attorney. There he continued collateral security for the whole sum for a long while in a state bordering advanced-viz. a bond-the bond of on frenzy. our old friend, "THOMAS TAG-RAG, draper and mercer, of No. 375 Oxford Street, and Satin Lodge, Clapham, in the county of Surrey.' He must indeed have fancied that the devil had made it, just then, his particular business to worry and ruin him; for what do you think had hap. As soon as the dismayed Israelite, pened to him only two days before ? by his attorney, had ascertained at an event which had convulsed Clapthe office of Messrs Quirk, Gammon, ham to its centre-so much, at least, and Snap, where all was confusion, of Clapham as knew of the existence that there really was a claim set up of the Tag-rags, and the Reverend to the whole of the estates, on behalf Dismal Horror, his chapel and conof him who had been so recently and gregation. That young shepherd of suddenly dispossessed of them, he ex- faithful souls having long cherished claimed in an ecstasy, "Oh, ma Got! feelings of ardent fondness towards oh, ma dear Got! Shoo Tag-rag! one gentle lamb in his flock in parShoo on the bond! Looshe no time" ticular, viz. Tabitha Tag-rag, the -and he was obeyed. Terrible to only child of the wealthiest member tell, two big bum-bailiffs the next day of his little church, took upon himwalked straight into the shop of Mr self to lead her, nothing loth, a long Tag-rag, who was sitting in his little and pleasant ramble-in plain English, closet at the further end, with his pen Mr Dismal Horror had eloped with in his hand, busily checking some the daughter of his head deacon-to bills just made out, and without the the infinite scandal and disgust of his least ceremony or hesitation hauled congregation, who forthwith met and him off, hardly giving him time to put deposed him from his pulpit; after his hat on, but gruffly uttering in his which his father-in-law solemnly ear some such astounding words as made his will, bequeathing everything Thirty thousand pounds!" He re he had to a newly-established colsisted desperately, shouting out for lege; and the next day-being just help; on which all the young men about the time that the grim priest of jumped over the counters, and seemed Gretna was forging the bonds of Hyto be coming to the rescue! while one men for the happy and lovely couple or two female customers rushed af before him, Mr Tag-rag was hauled frighted into the street. In short, off in the way I have mentioned: there was a perfect panic in the shop; which two occurrences would have the though the young men merely crowd-effect of enabling Mr Dismal Horror ed round, and clamoured loudly, with- to prove the disinterestedness of his out venturing upon a conflict with attachment-an opportunity for which the two burly myrmidons of the law, he vowed that he panted-inasmuch who clapped their prize into a coach as he and she had become, indeed, all standing opposite-Mr Tag-rag froth- the world to each other-i. e. each had nothing on earth, but the other. | heap, especially the Jew; a rattling bankruptcy ensued; the upshot of the whole being-to anticipate, however, a little-that a first and final dividend was declared of three farthings in the pound: for it turned out that friend Tag-rag had been, like many of his betters, speculating a great deal more than any one had had the least idea of. I ought, however, to have mentioned that, as soon as he had become bankrupt, and his assignees had been appointed, they caused an indictment to be preferred against Mr Titmouse, and Messrs Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, for fraud and conspiracy in obtaining the bond from Mr Tag-rag; and on the same grounds, made an application, fortified by strong affidavits, to the Lord Chancellor, to strike the last three gentlemen off the rolls. In addition to all this, the two other unfortunate mortgagees, Mordecai Gripe, and Mephibosheth Maharshalal-hash-baz-who had no security at all for their advances except the title-deeds of the estate, and the personal covenant of Mr Titmouse-beset the office in Saffron Hill from morning to night, like a couple of frantic fiends, and nearly drove poor old Mr Quirk out of his senses. Mr Snap was peremptory and insolent; while Gammon seldom made his appearance-and would see no one at his private residence, pleading serious indisposition. He must now go into some other line of business, in order to support his fond and lovely wife; and, as for Tag rag, his pious purposes were frustrated altogether. There was no impeaching the validity of the bond held by the infuriate and inexorable Jew who had arrested him, and who clearly had been no party to any fraud by which, if any, the signature of Mr Tag-rag had been procured. Mr Tag-rag's attorney, Mr Snout, instantly called upon Messrs Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, to inquire into the particulars of the astounding transaction by which his client had been drawn into so ruinous a liability, but was very cavalierly treated; for he was informed that Mr Tag-rag must, in their opinion, have lost his senses, at all events his memory; for that he had deliberately executed the bond, after its nature had been fully explained to him by Mr Gammon-and his signature was witnessed and attested in the usual way, by a clerk in the office, and also in the presence of all the three partners. On hearing all this and examining Mr Amminadab, who stated without any hesitation, as the fact in truth was, that he had been called in specially to witness Mr Tagrag's execution of the bond, and had seen him sign, and heard him say he delivered it as his act and deed Mr Snout hurried back to his frenzied client, and endeavoured, for a long while, with praiseworthy patience, to reason with him; explaining to him the glaring improbability of his version of the affair. This led to very high words indeed between them, and at length Mr Tag-rag actually spit in his face. Mr Snout, being a little man, and unable to resent the vile insult effectually, instantly quitted the room, expressing his firm belief that Mr Tag-rag was a swindler, and he would no more be concerned for a person of that description. Mr Tagrag could not procure bail for so fearful an amount; so he committed an act of bankruptcy, by remaining in prison for three weeks. Down, then, came all his creditors upon him in a After anxious reflection, Mr Gammon did not absolutely despair of extricating himself from the perils with which he was personally environed. As for certain fond hopes of political advancement, after which, indeed, his soul had so long pined, he did not even yet abandon the hope of being able to prevail on his friend at headquarters, to whom he had undoubtedly rendered considerable political services at no little personal risk, to overlook the accident which had befallen him, in the adverse verdict for the bribery penalties, even should he fail in his motion to defeat that verdict. He had had, indeed, a distinct intimation that, that one ob stacle removed, an important and in. |