What a triumph it would be to her mother!' That is a dreadful thing to say, Robert.' 'But nevertheless true.

Think of her warnings and refusals, and of my persistence! But if it be so, not the less must we all insist upon--destroying him.

If it be so, he must be punished to the extent of the law.' William Bolton, however, would not admit that it could be so, and Robert declared that though he suspected,--though in such a case he found himself bound to suspect,--he did not in truth believe that Caldigate had been guilty of so terrible a crime.

All probability was against it;--but still it was possible.

Then, after much deliberation, it was decided that an agent should be sent out by them to New South Wales, to learn the truth, as far as it could be learned, and to bring back whatever evidence might be collected without making too much noise in the collection of it.