And what could be the remedy of the Earl de
Mowbray? He could scarcely bring an action against the
hundred for the destruction of the castle, which we would
prove was not his own. And the most he could do would be to
transport some poor wretches who had got drunk in his
plundered cellars and then set fire to his golden saloons."
"You amaze me," said Morley, looking with an astonished
expression on the person who had just delivered himself of
these suggestive details with the same coolness and arid
accuracy that he would have entered into the details of a
pedigree.
"'Tis a practical view of the case," remarked Mr Hatton.
Morley paced the chamber disturbed; Hatton remained silent and
watched him with a scrutinizing eye.
"Are you certain of your facts?" at length said Morley
abruptly stopping.
"Quite so; Lord de Mowbray informed me of the circumstances
himself before I left London, and I came down here in
consequence."
"You know him?"
"No one better."
"And these documents--some of them I suppose," said Morley
with a cynical look, "were once in your own possession then?"
"Possibly. Would they were now! But it is a great thing to
know where they may be found.
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