302
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
"Both alike! — blanks left when the letters were
written, and the dates filled in afterward — not the same
hand I think — no, not the same — positively a different
hand."
Then Jos Larkin examined these mysterious epistles
once more.
"There may be something in what Larcom said — a
very great deal, possibly. If he was shut up somewhere
they could make him write a set of these letters off at a
sitting, and send them from place to place to be posted,
to make us think he was travelling, and prevent our finding
whe re they keep him. Here it is plain there was a slip
in posting the wrong one first."
Well, if Stanley Lake were at the bottom of this hor-
rid conspiracy, he certainly had a motive in clearing the
field of his rival. And then — for the attorney had all
the family settlements present to his mind — there was
this clear motive for prolonging his life, that by the slip in
the will under which Dorcas Brandon inherited, the bulk
of her estate would terminate with the life of Mark Wyl-
der; and this other motive too existed for retaining him
in the house of bondage, that by preventing his marriage,
and his having a family to succeed him, the reversion of his
brother William was reduced to a certainty, and would
become a magnificent investment for Stanley Lake when-
ever he might choose to purchase. Upon that purchase,
however, the good attorney had cast his eye. He thought
he now began to discern the outlines of a gigantic and
symmetrical villany emerging through the fog. If this
theory were right, William Wylder's reversion was cer-
tain to take effect; and it was exasperating that the na-
tive craft and daring of this inexperienced Captain should
forestall so accomplished a man of business as Jos Larkin.
On the other hand, it was quite possible that Wylder