The trial had occupied the whole day. It was now late in the evening; too late for our party to think of going on to Edinboro' that night. Besides, they all needed rest after the exciting scenes of the day; and so they determined to remain in Banff that night.
CHAPTER L.
LADY HURSTMONCEUX'S REVELATION.
For life, I prize it,
As I weigh grief which I would spare; for honor,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for.
—Shakspeare.
That same evening, while our party was assembled at tea in their private parlor, at the "Highlander," a letter was brought to Judge Merlin.
It was a formidable-looking letter, with a black border an inch wide running around the envelope, and sealed with a great round of black wax, impressed with an earl's coronet. The judge opened it and read it and passed it to Ishmael.
It proved to be a letter from the Earl of Hurstmonceux and addressed to Judge Merlin. I have not space to give the contents of this letter word for word.
It set forth, in effect, that under the recent distressing circumstances it would be too painful to the Earl of Hurstmonceux to meet Judge Merlin in a personal interview, but that the earl wished to make an act of restitution, and so, if Judge Merlin would dispatch his solicitor to London to the chambers of the Messrs. Hudson, in Burton Street, Piccadilly, those gentlemen, who were the solicitors of his lordship, would be prepared to restore to Lady Vincent the fortune she had brought in marriage to her husband, the late Lord Vincent.
"You will go to London and attend to this matter for me, Ishmael?" inquired the Judge, as he received the letter back, after the young man had read it.
"Why, certainly, Judge Merlin. Who should act for you but myself?" said Ishmael, with an affectionate smile.