Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/317

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PAUL CLIFFORD.
309

occasion no stale and profitless delays to his wearied reader, but conduct him, with as much brevity as convenient, without the labyrinth which has ceased to retain the interest of a secret.

We shall therefore, in pursuance of the cit's policy, relate as rapidly as possible that part of our narrative which yet remains untold. On Brandon's person was found the paper which had contained so fatal an intelligence of his son; and when brought to Lord Mauleverer, the words struck that person, (who knew Brandon had been in search of his lost son, whom we have seen that he had been taught however to suppose illegitimate, though it is probable that many doubts whether he had not been deceived, must have occurred to his natural sagacity,) as sufficiently important to be worth an inquiry after the writer. Dummie was easily found, for he had not yet turned his back on the town when the news of the Judge's sudden death was brought back to it, and taking advantage of that circumstance, the friendly Dunnaker remained altogether in the town, (albeit his long companion deserted it as hastily as might be,) and whiled the time by pre-