"A little, sir," replied the pedlar; "but I am sorry to say it is not all good. About the pocket-book----"
"Oh, never mind the pocket-book for the present," said Colonel Middleton; "that is of very little consequence, compared with the certificate."
"I am glad to hear you say so, sir," answered the pedlar: "I hope you may think so still, when I've told you all. As to the certificate, there it is. I thought I should know my way back. I don't forget very easily; and I walked yesterday, straight as a line, to the place where I thought it was to be found. The old clerk's dead, and a dapper young fellow in his place, who found it out in a minute. You owe me half-a-crown, sir, for that."
"A great deal more," said Colonel Middleton, his eyes fixed thoughtfully upon the paper. "St. Mary's, Westfield," he continued, reading aloud: "how far is that from town?"
"About sixteen miles, sir," replied the man. "Is that the gentleman's name you expected to find?"
"Exactly," replied Henry, placing the paper in his writing-desk: "it only confirms what I knew before."
"Humph!" said the pedlar, in a very peculiar tone; but he added something more, and Henry, looking up, said--
"Now for the pocket-book, my good friend."
"Why, I suppose you guess, sir, by this time, that I have not got it," replied the pedlar; "and I am sorry to say we shall never get it now."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Colonel Middleton, in a tone of surprise and disappointment. "How has that happened? Have they destroyed it?"