“But I couldn't have left it; the interest was intense, and nothing would have persuaded me to leave the case without seeing how it ended.”
“It will be necessary to authenticate these,” said he, laying his hand on the papers; “and then we must show how we came by them.”
“Jack can tell you this,” said she; and now her strength failed her outright, and she lay back, overcome, and almost fainting. Sedley hurriedly rang for help; but before any one arrived Julia rallied, and with a faint smile, said, “Don't make a fuss about me. You have what is really important to occupy you. I will go and lie down till evening;” and so she left him.
CHAPTER LXVI. SEDLEY'S NOTES.
Julia found herself unable to come down to dinner, and Mr. Sedley had to confess that he had overtaxed her strength and imposed too far upon her zeal. “To tell truth,” added he, “I forgot she was not a colleague. So shrewd and purpose-like were all her remarks, such aptitude she displayed in rejecting what was valueless, and such acuteness in retaining all that was really important, it went clean out of my head that I was not dealing with a brother of the craft, instead of a very charming and beautiful young lady.”
“And you really have fallen upon papers of importance?” asked Nelly, eagerly; for Julia had already, in answer to the same question, said, “Mr. Sedley has pledged me to silence.”
“Of the last importance, Miss Bramleigh.” He paused for an instant, and then added, “I am well aware that I see nothing but friends, almost members of one family, around this table, but the habits of my calling impose reserve; and, besides, I am unwilling to make revelations until, by certain inquiries, I can affirm that they may be relied on.”
“Oh, Mr. Sedley, if you have a gleam—even a gleam—of hope, do give it us. Don't you think our long-suffering and patience have made us worthy of it?”
“Stop, Nelly,” cried Augustus, “I will have no appeals of this kind. Mr. Sedley knows our anxieties, and if he does not yield to them he has his own good reasons.”