e again she found herself in a state of perplexity. Directed to "Mrs. Roderick Westerfield," the letter began abruptly, witho

ms he expres

favor, I shall destroy what I have written. If I am found guilty, I m

y being done) asked leave to go on shore - and never returned. What motive determined him on deserting, I am not able to say. It was my own

ames, and he was reported to be a broken-down gentleman. Whoever he mi

e diamonds - these last being valued at five thousand pounds - I returned to

still) for having stolen the missing diamonds. The second mate, who had been in command of the vessel when she struck on the rock, was similarly charged along with me. Knowing myself t

where to find him. We had separated when the ship reached the port of Falmouth, in Cornwall

on. His agent, writing to him on the subject, had reported the place to be sadly out of repair, and had advised him to find somebody who w

ed to see me. She proved to be the landlady of the house in which Beljames lodged; and she bro

hen one has to write a

- whether in terror of standing his trial, or in remorse of conscience, it is not any business of mine to decide. Most unluckily for me, he first ordered the do

as eager to save me from

ld him so. 'That's how I keep my secret,' he said; 'write from my dictation, and you shall know what it means. Lift me up first.' As I did it, he rolled his head to and fro, evidently in pain. But he managed to point to pen, ink, and paper, on a table hard by, on which his do

pher. The Experts have all failed. They will declare, if they are called as witnesses, that the sig

mouth of a witness. I might prove that the ship's course was changed, contrary to my directions, after I ha

dead against me. The lawyers seem to trust almost entirely in a famous counsel, whom t

you have found somebody who can interpret these cursed signs. Do for me, I say, what I canno

defense of myself and to know that their father, who loved them dearly, was a

CK WEST

once more. She looked at it as if it

berish," she decided, "I know