it; as alſo for keeping it out of the tenacious clutches of Stephen.
After a long pauſe of deliberation, he ſpoke in this manner: ‘Hearken to me, my daughter, I have thought of a ſcheme for managing the whole matter. Weigh out all thy gold to me, that I may keep it faithfully for thee: then I will write a letter in Italian, which ſhall run in this manner—that thy brother, who went abroad ſeveral years ago, had ſailed for the Eaſt Indies in the Venetian ſervice, and that he died there, having firſt made a will, leaving thee all his property, under condition that the parſon of the pariſh ſhould be thy truſtee, that it might be for thy uſe alone, and that of no other perſon. I do not deſire fee or recompence for myſelf; only conſider that thou art indebted to the ſupplications of holy mother church for the bleſſing Heaven has ſhowered down upon thy head; therefore preſent our chancel with a rich ſurplice for maſs.’ This ſcheme
