OFFICIAL SECRETS THERE WAS a more serious reason than Bervie was aware of, at the time, for the warning which he had thought it his duty to address to Percy Linwood.

The new footman who had entered Mr.Bowmore's service was a Spy.
Well practiced in the infamous vocation that he followed, the wretch had been chosen by the Department of Secret Service at the Home Office, to watch the proceedings of Mr.Bowmore and his friends, and to report the result to his superiors.

It may not be amiss to add that the employment of paid spies and informers, by the English Government of that time, was openly acknowledged in the House of Lords, and was defended as a necessary measure in the speeches of Lord Redesdale and Lord Liverpool.* The reports furnished by the Home Office Spy, under these circumstances, begin with the month of March, and take the form of a series of notes introduced as follows: "MR.

SECRETARY--Since I entered Mr.Bowmore's service, I have the honor to inform you that my eyes and ears have been kept in a state of active observation; and I can further certify that my means of making myself useful in the future to my honorable employers are in no respect diminished.

Not the slightest suspicion of my true character is felt by any person in the house.
FIRST NOTE.
"The young gentleman now on a visit to Mr.Bowmore is, as you have been correctly informed, Mr.Percy Linwood.