'THIS IS FROM SHADY EGGS. I SHALL READ IT ALOUD.'
Mr. Brimble looked inquiringly at the stranger, who immediately took the note. 'Leave it with me,' he said to the servant. 'This,' he continued, 'is from Shady Eggs. I shall read it aloud.'
'"RESPECTED SIR,—I trust you will excuse the incorrectness of putting a dash before your name, also any mistake I may have made in spelling it, should it be erroneously written. I have to inform you that Mr. Bloodworth, the steward to Sir Valary de la Mark, has pertinaciously endeavoured to discover your address, which I have, to the best of my poor ability, kept from him. If you desire to avoid an interview with him, as I divined was the case from your manner in the portrait gallery, I warn you that he now knows of your abode; that is, if it continues to be in the apartments at Mrs. Sparks', which you bespoke when I had the honour of being with you in the public vehicle. I do not love to interfere in other men's matters; and truly, with no malice to Mr. Bloodworth, but with respectful consideration for you, I write these few lines,
"And am, your servant to command,
"SHADRACH HIGGS.
'"I send this by a trusty messenger, who will return it to me if you are not to be found."'
'Higgs all over,' said Dr. Cruden.
'Stop,' said the squire; 'let us begin at the beginning. What makes him call you Vandercroft?'
'It is not the first name,' said the stranger, 'that has been gratuitously assigned to me, over and above that with which my parents honoured me.'