448
WYLDER'S H.1JVD.
He was glad they had a moment to themselves. He had
brought the money, which he knew would be acceptable
at such a moment, and he thought it would be desirable
to sign and seal forthwith, to which the Captain, a little
anxiously, agreed. So he got in one of the clerks who
were directing the canvassing circulars, and gave him the
draft, approved by his counsel, to read aloud, while ho
followed with his eye upon the engrossed deed.
The attorney told down the money in bank bills. He
fancied that exception might be taken to his cheque for so
large a sum, and was eager to avoid delay, and came from
London so provided.
The Captain was not sorry, for in truth he was in rath-
er imminent jeopardy just then. He had spoken truth,
strangely enough, when he mentioned his gambling debts
as an incentive to his marriage with the heiress of Bran-
don, in that Sunday walk with Rachel in the park; and
hardly ten minutes had passed when Melton Hervey, trust-
iest of aide-de-camps was on his way to Dollington to make
a large lodgment to the Captain's credit in the county bank,
and to procure a letter of credit for a stupendous sum in
favor of Messrs. Hiram and Jacobs, transmitted under cov-
er to Captain Lake's town solicitor. The Captain had sign-
ed, sealed, and delivered, murmuring that formula about
hand and seal, and act and deed, and Dorcas glided in like a
ghost, and merely whispering an enquiry to Lake, did like-
wise, the clerk deferentially putting the query, "this is
your hand and seal, &c?" and Jos Larkin drawing a
step or two backward.
Of course the lady saw that lank and sinister man of
God quite distinctly, but she did not choose to do so, and
Larkin, with a grand sort of prescience, foresaw a county
feud between the Houses of Five Oaks and Brandon, and
now the lady had vanished. The money, carefully count-