A likely story! What does it mean, then ?" "Some one who owes him an ill-turn has played this sorry jest upon him; but we shall pay him." "He deserves transportation.

I do not know a nobler young fellow in all the world than Basil Carruthers." A fashionable carriage was standing at his office door when he reached it.
"The Countess of Northdown waiting to see you, sir," said the clerk.
Entering his private room he saw a lovely lady, fashionably attired, who greeted him with exquisite grace.

Her face was very pale and her lips quivered as she spoke to him.
"Good morning, Mr.Forster.You will be surprised to see me, but knowing you are the family solicitor, I called to ask you if this shocking story about Mr.Carruthers is true." "Heaven have mercy on me this day," thought the lawyer, "my soul is steeped in lies." "Certainly not, Lady Northdown.

Mr.Carruthers is abroad.

The fact of the matter is, the prisoner resembles him, as a vile caricature does, at times, resemble the original, and some would-be wag who saw it, thought the writing of this absurd paragraph a great joke." "He deserves shooting," said my lady, angrily.
"That may be his fate, when Mr.Carruthers catches him," was the grim reply.
"I told Lord Northdown it was all nonsense," she continued.