clergyman and not directly interested i might be more calm than she could be and give a little less pain that s all stuff if she is afraid to come herself she knows it s an abominable falsehood bring her here with whatever evidence she has got that this walter is my son and then we will go into this matter seriously was equal to the occasion you are quite right sir said he and what business has she to put me forward as evidence of a transaction i never witnessed i shall tell her you expect to see her and that it is her duty to clear up the affair in person suppose it should be another mr after all when shall i bring her supposing i have sufficient influence bring her to morrow as early as you can well you know ladies are not early will twelve o clock do twelve o clock to morrow sir said the colonel the sham parson took his leave and drove away in a well appointed carriage and pair for we must inform the reader that he had written to mr for another � not much expecting to get it and that it had come down by return of post in a � on a bank in stout colonel was now a very unhappy man the soul of honor himself he could not fully believe that his own son had been guilty of and crime but how could he escape and very grave doubts too the communication was made by a gentleman who did not seem really to know more about it than he had been told but then he was a clergyman with no appearance of heat or partiality he had been easily convinced that the lady herself ought to have come and said more about it and had left an copy of the in his colonel s hands with a sort of simplicity that looked like one gentleman dealing with another one thing however puzzled him sore in this � the witness being william hope william hope was not a very name but still somehow that one and the same document should contain the names of walter and william hope roused a suspicion in his mind that this witness was the william hope lying in his own house so weak and ill that he did not like to go to him and enter upon such a terrible discussion as this he sent for mrs milton and asked her if mrs walter was quite recovered mrs milton reported she was quite well and reading to her father the by a perilous secret colonel went upstairs and beckoned her out my child said he i am sorry to renew an subject but you are a good girl and a brave girl and you mean to confide in me sooner or later can you pity the agitation and distress of a father who for the first time is compelled to doubt his son s honor i can said grace ah something has happened since we parted somebody has told you that man with a what h hen said the colonel is it really true did he really show you that he did and warned you not to marry walter he did and told me walter would be put into prison if i did and would die in prison for a gentleman can not live there nowadays ob sir don t let anybody know but you and me and my father he won t hurt him for my sake he has wronged me cruelly but i ll be torn to pieces before i ll own my marriage and throw him into a come to my arms you pearl of goodness and nobility and unselfish love cried colonel how can i ever part with you now i know you there don t let us despair let s fight to the last i have one question to submit to you of course you examined the very carefully i saw enough to break my heart i saw that on a certain day many years ago one had married walter and who witnessed the marriage asked the colonel her keenly oh i don t know that said grace when i came to walter everything swam before my eyes it was all i could do to keep from fainting away i into my father s study and as soon as i came to myself what had i to do why to creep out again with my broken heart and face such � ah it is a wonder i did not fall dead at their feet my poor girl i said colonel then he reflected a moment have you the courage to read that document again and to observe in particular who witnessed it i have said she he handed it to her she took it and held it in both hands though they trembled who is the witness the witness said grace is william hope is that your father it s my father s name said grace beginning to turn her eyes inward and think very hard but is it your father do you think no sir it is not was he in that part of the world at the time did he know the clergyman who brought me this � the clergyman yes my dear it was a clergyman apparently a and he told are you sure he was a clergyman quite sure he had a white tie a broad hat a clergyman all over don t go off on that did your father and my son know each other in that they did you are right said grace this witness was my father see that now but if don t speak to me don t touch me let me think � there is something hidden here and mrs walter showed her father in law that which we have seen in her more than once but it was 