"I have told you, Sir," replied Miss Longmore,
blushing, " that these facts were
mentioned by my father's counsel: but the whole
thing was so cleverly ridiculed by the opposite
counsel, as a pretty sentimental romance, that
my father, very much in opposition to his
advocate, insisted on this part of the evidence
being abandoned, and on the counsel taking
his stand on the clear integrity of the will."

"These letters, if they are what you say,
Madam," rejoined the young lawyer, " would
prove the case beyond everything else."

"I have always thought so," said Miss
Longmore; "but my father became so
exasperated, that he hardly knew what he did."

"I would give anything to see those letters,"
said young Mr. Broadhurst. " I would not
have such a wrong lie at my father's door for
the world, if those letters are as you describe
them.  Would you allow my father to see
them ?  I mean with every precaution for
their safety."

Miss Longmore paused a moment, and then
said. "I would."

Mary Longmore left the lawyer and the
officers in possession of Longmore Park; but
she did it with a feeling of resignation which
she had believed impossible. There had
sprung up a hope in her bosom, which, though
it seemed to arise from a very minute seed,
she could not prevent taking firm hold. When
young Broadhurst told his father of what
Miss Longmore had said, he only laughed;
and cried, "A most romantic story, truly!"
and added, "That's a pretty girl, Tom; mind
you don't fall in love with her now she has
lost the estate."  But before a month  was
over, Tom had prevailed on his father to meet
Miss Longmore at a friend's house in Boston,
and, in the presence of the lady of the house,
he was permitted to read the numerous letters
of the late John Churton.

From that hour Mr. Broadhurst was an
altered man. He saw that a huge wrong had
been done—a noble-minded man and true
had been cruelly hunted down, shamefully
maligned, and ruined. With this knowledge
in his possession, he made a visit to the
housekeeper, whose deposition had carried the day
against Longmore, and charged her so solemnly
and searchingly with her perjury, that she
trembled in every limb, but remained stedfast
to her tale. In a few months after, the news
came that she was married to Filmer, the new
proprietor of Longmore Park. The man was
a low brute, and his marriage of the
housekeeper came over the country like a flash of
lightning breaking upon the darkness. The
motive of her evidence now stood sufficiently
revealed. In less than twelve months more,
Filmer's savage treatment of her, and the
terrors of conscience, had laid her on her bed.
A hasty message came from her to Mr. Broadhurst;
he hastened to the Park, and there, in
the presence of the clergyman and a
neighbouring magistrate, he took down, and saw
her set her hand to her confession. Her
evidence on the trial was false — Filmer had
bribed her with money and a promise of
marriage.

From the moment that Broadhurst had seen
the letters of the late Mr. Churton, he
resolved, if it was in his power, to remedy the
evil he had so zealously, but so unwittingly,
done. He did not hesitate to declare openly,
that circumstances had now come to his
knowledge, which totally altered his view of
the case. He sent, and candidly confessed
this to Mr. Longmore, begged him to forgive
him, if possible, and promised that not only
his most strenuous professional exertions, but
his fortune should be at his command to rectify
the terrible error that he had committed.

"Rogue! " exclaimed Longmore; " he has
got all he can by wresting the .estate from me,
and now his fingers itch for as much more in
winning it back again!"

More inveterate than ever became his
resentment against the lawyer. But when the
news of the housekeeper's confession came
— and Broadhurst was the first to communicate
it, telling him that the case was now quite
clear, and that the property might be
recovered with ease — every one expected that
Longmore would " forgive and forget," and
that all past differences would be ended by
the happiness in prospect. This was the
joyful feeling of Mrs. Longmore and Mary.
Mrs. Longmore, at first overcome by the glad
tidings, soon began to show symptoms of
returning strength, though this return was
slow in its progress. Mary seemed to breathe
a new atmosphere of happiness.  Life looked
to her like a bright summer morning, the
brighter for the last night's thunder-storm.
There wanted only the restoration of her
father's cheerfulness to complete her felicity.
But that did not come. The mind of Longmore
underwent a change, but it was not such
as was universally expected. He rose from a
degree of darkness and oppression, but it was
not to peace and joy.  He was not without
exultation, but it was dashed with the spirit
of indignant vengeance. "The fools! the
villains! " he exclaimed, when any one
congratulated him on the discovery of the base
plot to defraud him of his property. " Don't
I know it was a base plot? Did not I always
know it?  They knew it themselves — all those
grand friends of mine; they knew me — they
had known me for forty years. Was I likely
all at once to become a scamp and a cheat ?
Do honourable men, become devils all at once?
Was I likely to cajole or compel any one into
a false will ? Let the whole rotten-hearted
world go! — I want none of it. They are all
hollow — hollow as drams, and false and mean
as death and sin! " It was thus that
Longmore felt and reasoned.

But the property was not recovered.
Though two months had passed since the
confession of the housekeeper, Longmore had
not taken a single step. He seemed to have a stern
pleasure in showing the world that he did not