internal evidence went—of being fairly copied
from a genuine original.

Resuming his own letter, Doctor Chennery
proceeded to say that he must now leave it
entirely to Mr. and Mrs. Frankland to decide
what course they ought to adopt. He had
already compromised himself a little in his
own estimation, by assuming a character
which really did not belong to him, when he
made his application to Andrew Treverton;
and he felt that he could personally venture
no further in the affair, either by expressing
an opinion or giving any advice, now that it
had assumed such a totally new aspect. He
felt quite sure that his young friends would
arrive at the wise and the right decision, after
they had maturely considered the matter in
all its bearings. In that conviction, he had
instructed his man of business not to stir in
the affair until he had heard from Mr.
Frankland, and to be guided entirely by any
directions which that gentleman might give.

"Directions!" exclaimed Rosamond,
crumpling up the letter in a high state of excitement
as soon as she had read to the end of
it. "All the directions we have to give may
be written in a minute and read in a second!
What in the world does the vicar mean by
talking about mature consideration? Of
course," cried Rosamond, looking, womanlike,
straight on to the purpose she had in view,
without wasting a thought on the means by
which it was to be achieved,—" Of course we
give the man his five pound note and get the
plan by return of post!"

Mr. Frankland shook his head gravely.
"Quite impossible," he said. "If you think
for a moment, my dear, you will surely see
that it is out of the question to traffic with
a servant for information that has been
surreptitiously obtained from his master's
library."

"O, dear! dear! don't say that!"
pleaded Rosamond, looking quite aghast at
the view her husband took of the matter.
"What harm are we doing, if we give the
man his five pounds? He has only made
a copy of the Plan: he has not stolen
anything."

"He has stolen information, according to
my idea of it," said Leonard.

"Well, but if he has," persisted Rosamond.
"what harm does it do to his master? In my
opinion his master deserves to have the
information stolen, for not having had the
common politeness to send it to the vicar. We
must have the Plan—O, Lenny, don't shake
your head, please!—we must have it, you
know we must! What is the use of being
scrupulous with an old wretch (I must call
him so, though he is my uncle), who won't
conform to the commonest usages of society?
You can't deal with him—and I am sure the
vicar would say so, if he was here—as you
would with civilised people, or people in
their senses, which everybody says he is not.
What use is the Plan of the north rooms to
him? And, besides, if it is of any use, he has
got the original; so his information is not
stolen, after all, because he has got it the
whole time—has he not, dear?"

"Rosamond! Rosamond!" said Leonard,
smiling at his wife's transparent sophistries,
"you are trying to reason like a Jesuit."

"I don't care who I reason like, love, as
long as I get the Plan."

Mr. Frankland still shook his head. Finding
her arguments of no avail, Rosamond
wisely resorted to the immemorial weapon of
her sex—Persuasion; using it at such close
quarters and to such good purpose, that she
finally won her husband's reluctant consent
to a species of compromise which granted
her leave to give directions for purchasing
the copied plan, on one condition. This
condition was, that they should send back the
plan to Mr. Treverton as soon as it had
served their purpose; making a full
acknowledgment to him of the manner in which it
had been obtained, and pleading in justification
of the proceeding his own want of
courtesy in withholding information of no
consequence in itself, which any one else in his
place would have communicated as a matter
of course. Rosamond tried hard to obtain
the withdrawal, or modification, of this
condition; but her husband's sensitive pride
was not to be touched, on that point, with
impunity, even by her light hand. "I have
done too much violence already to my own
convictions," he said, "and I will now do
no more. If we are to degrade ourselves by
dealing with this servant, let us at least
prevent him from claiming us as his
accomplices. Write in my name, Rosamond, to
Doctor Chennery's man of business, and say
that we are willing to purchase the
transcribed Plan, on the condition that I have
stated—which condition he will of course
place before the servant in the plainest
possible terms."

"And suppose the servant refuses to risk
losing his place, which he must do if he
accepts your condition?" said Rosamond,
going rather reluctantly to the writing-table.

"Let us not worry ourselves, my dear, by
supposing anything. Let us wait and hear
what happens, and act accordingly. When
you are ready to write, tell me, and I will
dictate your letter on this occasion. I wish
to make the vicar's man of business
understand that we act as we do, knowing, in the
first place, that Mr. Andrew Treverton cannot
be dealt with according to the established
usages of society; and knowing, in the second
place, that the information which his servant
offers to us, is contained in an extract from a
printed book, and is in no way, directly or
indirectly, connected with Mr. Treverton's
private affairs. Now that you have made me
consent to this compromise, Rosamond, I must
justify it as completely as possible to others
as well as to myself."

Seeing that his resolution was firmly settled,