"Anything?" replied Handyside, who, in the position which he had last occupied, undertook to speak for both. "Anything?" he repeated, and then, with the same sort of smile which Mr. Woodman had noticed shortly before, added: "Everything."

"Explain yourself, sir, at greater length," said the magistrate, gravely.

"In the first place," observed Handyside, "I object altogether to the circumstances of the arrest."

"No doubt on it," muttered Mr. Woodman; "prisners always does."

"For what reason?" asked the magistrate.

"Because neither I, nor my servant"-pointing to Graysteel-" are the individuals of whom he is in search."

Mr. Woodman whistled, very gently, twittering to himself like some extremely small bird.

"Can you give me any proof of that?"

"It will be quite sufficient, I presume, if I produce my passport?" The magistrate paused for a moment.

He then said:

"If properly signed and visé it will be important evidence in your favour. Be so good as to let me see it."

Handyside put his hand in his breast-pocket and drew forth a redmorocco case, profusely gilt and made up in the form of a pocket-book, with the cyphers " H. W. H." and a coat-of-arms stamped on it in gold, and the word "Passe-port" across the tongue-strap. He handed it with a bow to the magistrate, who opened it and began to read.

"This passport," he said, after a close examination, "has been delivered from the Foreign Office to a gentleman named Hodding and his servant, whose name is not stated, and bears the signature of Lord Clarendon, with which I am myself sufficiently familiar. But it purports to have been issued fifteen months back"-Mr. Woodman opened his eyes-"and bears on it several visas, none of which, except two or three of the latest, correspond in any degree with places where you"-addressing Mr. Woodman-" allege these persons to have recently been. It begins, I perceive, at Ostend, in May last year"-Mr. Woodman imitated the small bird rather more audibly than before-" in June, the bearers seem to have left Brussels

"Last June!" said Mr. Woodman, steadily.

"No, the year before," observed the magistrate. "Then I find it visé at Verviers-at Spa-where two months appear to have been passed; next comes Berlin, quite late in the year, Dresden in February, Vienna in April, Venice in June, and Genoa in July-the only point at which your statement and these particulars assimilate."

Mr. Woodman's face was by this time the colour of beetroot. Frenchman seeing him at that moment would have cut him up salad.

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"Every one on 'em's lies," he exclaimed, "except that 'ere last." "It is your turn," said the magistrate, "to make this apparent." Well," replied Mr. Woodman, "here's my companion, little Jack,— he can swear he seed 'em at Antwerp and Axleychapel only two months ago. We both on us seed 'em at Nooshattle, when they give us the slip. I've heerd of 'em in dozens of places only just a week a head, and lastly

we comes right down upon 'em in Naples, and brings 'em to a stand-still. He never thought of denying of it there!"

"Permit me," said Handyside, calmly, "to remind you that I entered a protest against false imprisonment. I did not object to make the voyage to Malta, because it was my intention to proceed to Egypt; besides, I had another reason for acquiescing; namely, that I felt sure of receiving justice at the enlightened tribunal before which I have the honour-however unpleasantly-to stand. I have no desire to be hard on this person, who doubtless believes he is doing his duty, but I owe it to myself, as well as to my faithful servant, to observe that it is altogether a case-and a very extraordinary one-of mistaken identity."

"Werry indeed!" ejaculated Mr. Woodman.

"What!" interposed the Belgian commissioner, who had for the last ten minutes been bursting with suppressed rage-"what! will that schelm there deny that he knocked me into the mud on the Quay Vandyke at Antwerp, because I wanted to carry his great-coat to the hotel St. Antoine! Myn God, what for a liar he must be! Ah, do you think, sir, I could forget so beastly a man ?"

The magistrate was evidently perplexed. There was the steadfast assertion of Mr. Woodman, and the fiery accusation of his companion, on the one hand, and on the other, the resolute denial of the English gentleman, supported by the evidence of his passport, which had every appearance of being quite correct. He had noticed, however, that the second prisoner, who was called the other's servant, had bitten his lip and manifested considerable confusion when the Belgian suddenly spoke-as if some forgotten occurrence had suddenly flashed across his mind-and the thought moreover occurred that the passport, genuine enough in itself, might have been stolen. But these suspicions, the magistrate felt, were not strong enough to warrant him in pronouncing against the accused. Still, he was called upon to decide. Mr. Woodman pressed for a formal committal, the order from the Foreign Office being only one of detention, until an examination of a strictly legal character could be gone into. In his difficulty, he took a middle course.

Addressing the pseudo Mr. Hodding, he said :

"You deny, then, altogether, sir, that your name is Handyside, and that you are quite unacquainted with the transactions in which, it is stated, yourself and your attendant are implicated ?"

"If I had the opportunity," replied Handyside, with the greatest ease, "I could furnish you with a thousand satisfactory proofs that I am Henry William Hodding, of Hodding Hall, in the county of Norfolk ; and that my servant here-Aaron Gratwicke, whom I admit to be my own foster-brother-is the son of one of my late revered father's oldest tenants."

"What opportunity do you desire ?"

"The presence of friends who have known me from infancy."

"Do you happen to have any acquaintances in Malta?"

"I believe-in fact, I am pretty sure-I have not."

"Where then are they to be found?"

"At home and in London there are hundreds who

But before Handyside could finish the sentence, Graysteel, who guessed the magistrate's drift, put his hand before his partner's mouth. "I ask

your pardon, sir," he said, hastily, "but my master is subject to fits: he can't bear any excitement-and I see an attack coming on. I'll answer anything else you may please to want to know."

"Very good," said the magistrate, "but I think I shall not have occasion to trouble you. I see my way pretty clearly now. Mr. Hodding," he continued, turning to Handyside, who, taking Graysteel's hint, had staggered to a seat and fallen heavily into it as if about to swoon—“ Mr. Hodding”—the magistrate raised his voice-"as you have so many friends in London, and as I am perfectly aware that the honour of an English gentleman is dearer to him than any other earthly consideration, my only course is to direct that you immediately proceed to England by the first steamer, and at once exculpate yourself from the grave charges which have here been brought against you."

Mr. Hodding revived at these words as if by electricity.

"What, sir!" he exclaimed, "is my word then to be weighed in the balance against that of a common police agent-if really he does belong to the police? This is a conspiracy, and an outrage on the liberty of the subject! I shall appeal to the governor of the island."

"If I belongs to the police?" said Mr. Woodman; "come, that's a good 'un. You knows what I belongs to fast enough. Not so common neither! Them as is familiar with John Woodman considers him oncommon!"

"With respect to the appeal of which you speak," said the magistrate, calmly, "you are perfectly at liberty to make it if you think proper. I apprehend, however, that the governor will come to the same conclusion as myself, and his advice will be observe, there is no coercion intended -that you must return to England."

Handyside and Graysteel were both silent for a few moments; they looked round them savagely, as if they could gladly have annihilated the magistrate, the Detective, little Jack, and every one present; they were fairly at bay; driven to their last shift; nothing, indeed, remained but to put the best face on the matter; and at last Handyside spoke.

"Well, sir," he said, "if you take upon yourself, in violation of all right, to impede my journey eastward, the consequences will rest on your head, for you may depend upon it, as sure as you are sitting there, that four-and-twenty hours will not have passed after I arrive in London without my bringing the subject before the British House of Commons." "As you please," said the magistrate, quietly.

"Before the 'Ouse o' Commons!" ejaculated Mr. Woodman.

less time than that you'll be before the Beak."

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I hope, sir," resumed Handyside, "that I shall experience no further molestation while I remain in Malta."

"Certainly not," replied the magistrate; "but your stay in the island will be brief-for I perceive that the Indus steamer leaves for Southampton this evening."

Back again to Dunsford's Hotel the whole party accordingly went, and I should say that Mr. Woodman and little Jack ate a far better dinner that day than Archibald Graysteel and William Handyside.

CHAPTER XII.

IN AT THE DEATH.

THE Indus left Malta with her freight, homeward-bound. What a home for the fraudulent bankrupts! Was it possible even yet, they asked each other, to avoid their fate? Only one opportunity of evasion presented itself: the steamer would touch at Gibraltar, and then-if they could reach terra firma-all Spain lay open before them.

It was worth while, at all events, to make the attempt; and when the Indus had blown off her steam and lowered her boats, Graysteel and Handyside stepped into the first that pushed off for shore. In the second boat, however, were Mr. Woodman and little Jack, and both parties landed at the same time.

The Detective, who had entirely recovered his temper, which had been slightly ruffled in the police-court at Valetta, saluted the Fugitives with the utmost politeness.

"Morning, gents," he said: "euros to have a look at the Rock' and give your baggage a hairing? Well, me and my companion is curos too! I'm told the munkeys is wonderful. Extremely like conwicts. I suppose, gents, as you're acquainted with the fact that nobody as once euters this here bristly-fied fortification ever leaves it without a pass from the governor ? Well, I'm a going to call upon his lordship, and perhaps it may be a convenience if I arsts for passes for you two! What's to be the names this time ?"

"Infernal luck!" exclaimed Graysteel," foiled again !"

As he spoke, he drew a revolver from beneath his cloak and levelled it at Mr. Woodman's head. But little Jack, whose eyes had never quitted Graysteel since he left the steamer, sprang forward at the same moment like a wild cat, and dashed the pistol out of his hand: it fell harmlessly into the water.

"Much obleeged to you, Jack," said the Detective; then, turning to Graysteel: "I suppose, Mr. G., that this here's about your last dodge! It ain't a handsum way of doing business, yours aint; and if we was anywheres else, perhaps the darbies might have come into play. But I'm above rewenge! And now, gents," he added, in a sharper tone, "the long and the short of it is this: you're known here; the capten of the Indus signalled you, and got an answer before you left the wessel; if you walk in that direction," pointing to the town, "you'll find yourselves in ten minutes in the common gaol-for the governor of this town don't stand no nonsense. So my adwice is, that you just hand your traps into the boat again and go back to the steamer along of me and little Jack— your werry perticler friend, Mr. G."

Sullenly the Fugitives turned away and seated themselves in the boat; discontentedly the porters threw in the baggage they had seized; and most methodically, as if all coups de théâtre were alike to him, Mr. Woodman followed with the inseparable Jacques.

But desperate as the case now appeared, all hope had not abandoned Handyside: there was still the last resource of the law. With money in his possession, with unscrupulous solicitors and clever counsel, consequently, at his command, much might still be done on the day of trial; and this view of their situation he at last succeeded in impressing on Graysteel, who, naturally of a gloomy habit, had meditated a briefer

solution of the difficulty-a plunge overboard and an end of all! With their minds thus finally made up to abide the issue, no further effort was made by either to escape from it.

Though baffled in his immediate purpose at Malta, Mr. Woodman's professional foresight never abandoned him. On the same day that he left Valetta, a French steamer took her departure for Marseilles, and by her the Detective wrote to his employers, informing them of all that had occurred, and advising them to be on the look-out for the arrival of the Indus at Southampton. The advice was too good to be neglected. Armed with a warrant of indefeasible authority, two fellow-labourers in the vineyard which Mr. Woodman tilled so successfully boarded the vessel before she had well taken up her berth in the harbour, and took Messrs. Graysteel and Handyside into custody.

The shifting game of flight and pursuit was at an end. More specious wiles-the advocacy of acknowledged wrong, the quirks and subtleties of tortuous ingenuity-were the means now to be employed, and none of them were spared. The indictments against the prisoners were numerous: misdemeanour, embezzlement, fraud, felony, were severally arrayed by those engaged in the prosecution, but, owing to a flaw here, a technicality there, defective evidence in this case, and a point reserved in that for the judicial wisdom of the whole Bench, it was a moot question for several months whether any conviction would ensue. It was a dirty business altogether, and the respectable house of Godsend, Stiff, and Soaper, who, as they stated in court, had remained "passive" after being aware that the Dock Warrants in circulation were forged, did not come out of it altogether with flying colours; the drab in their escutcheon was a little soiled.

In the city of London, in the absence of "briskness" in the money market, bets are laid upon everything that wears, in the slightest degree, a commercial complexion. Our old acquaintances, Ruddle, of Turnbullalley, and Honeyball, of Cateating-street, were always foremost in this sort of transaction. Ruddle offered Honeyball a thousand guineas down to receive back ten per diem until Graysteel and Handyside were convicted. A hundred days went by, and Ruddle pocketed his principal; a hundred more, and Honeyball had been mulcted in the original sum. What was almost worse to Honeyball than the loss of the money, was the insufferable chuckle of Ruddle as he held out his palm for the daily payment surrounded by a circle of grinning stockbrokers, who had all heard of the bargain. At last, Honeyball began to fear that he never should see the end of his unlucky speculation; but one day the tide turned, and the long-withheld blow fell: it was bruited on 'Change, and soon known to be true, that Graysteel and Handyside were "in for it at last."

The judgment recorded against them was :

"PENAL SERVITUDE FOR FOUR YEARS."

"They've been let off easy," said Mr. Woodman to little Jack, as he handed him a twenty-pound note to take back to Antwerp; "I've known the day when Mr. Calcraft would have had something to do with this here affair: but times is werry considerably changed-and I don't much think for the better."

VOL. XXXIX.

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