"Perfectly, most perfectly, my lord," replied Sir Roger: "my memory never fails on such points; I could swear to every fact."
"Then, do you remember," said the peer, "receiving a note from me on the eighteenth of May, telling you that if you would wait another week I would pay you the whole sum at once, as my brother would be able by that time to call in money to lend me? and do you remember your coming to me the same evening to say that you were quite willing to wait, and our going out together to a party?"
"I remember it all accurately, my lord," replied the poor knight, to whom the recollection of days when the proud man before whom he now sat had been his debtor and his humble servant was too gratifying to be easily forgotten--"I remember it all well--every particular; but you are mistaken in the date, my lord: it was the nineteenth, not the eighteenth, of May."
"No, no; it is you who are mistaken, Sir Roger," replied the peer, with a meaning smile. "It was the eighteenth, I can assure you."
Sir Roger did not comprehend. "Indeed, my lord," he replied, "it was the nineteenth; I remember it from many circumstances. On that very morning the great bet had come off between Colonel Hammerstone and the Nailer, and--"
"Nay, nay, I am positive," said the peer, "from circumstances that I cannot forget either. It was the eighteenth day of May, in the year 17--."
"But, my lord, I have your lordship's own note," said Sir Roger, persevering.
"Have you so?" cried the peer. "I wish you would be so kind as to let me see it."
"Certainly, my lord; I will bring it in a moment," said Sir Roger; and, rising from his chair, he left the room, in order to bring the paper to which he referred. While he was gone, Lord Dewry sat silent and stern, with his hand over his eyes and the upper part of his face; but his lips, which were uncovered, moved as if he were speaking, and the working of the muscles of his cheeks seemed to indicate that he was in bodily pain. As soon as his guest returned, however, he withdrew his hand, and all was clear and smiling, except, perhaps, a slight contraction of the brow, and an anxious intensity of gaze in his eye, which had both become habitual. Sir Roger Millington resumed his place; and, laying down upon the table a bundle of papers which he carried, he selected one, and presented it to the peer, saying, "There, my lord, is the note."
Lord Dewry received it calmly, not only because he knew the contents exactly as well as Roger Millington, but because he felt perfectly satisfied that Sir Roger himself was secured--bound hand and foot his slave--by promises and expectations which no one else had the power or the necessity of holding out to him. The paper, though it bore the marks of age in the yellow hue of its complexion and the paleness of the ink, was in other respects well preserved; and the peer, unfolding it, perused it attentively, and still held it in his hand when he had done.