 not be,« said Newman;
»it's some secret in which your uncle is concerned, but what, I've not yet been
able to discover, although I have my strong suspicions. I'll not hint 'em now,
in case you should be disappointed.«
    »I disappointed!« cried Nicholas; »am I interested?«
    »I think you are,« replied Newman. »I have a crotchet in my head that it
must be so. I have found out a man, who plainly knows more than he cares to tell
at once. And he has already dropped such hints to me as puzzle me - I say, as
puzzle me,« said Newman, scratching his red nose into a state of violent
inflammation, and staring at Nicholas with all his might and main meanwhile.
    Admiring what could have wound his friend up to such a pitch of mystery,
Nicholas endeavoured, by a series of questions, to elucidate the cause; but in
vain. Newman could not be drawn into any more explicit statement, than a
repetition of the perplexities he had already thrown out, and a confused
oration, showing, How it was necessary to use the utmost caution; how the
lynx-eyed Ralph had already seen him in company with his unknown correspondent;
and how he had baffled the said Ralph by extreme guardedness of manner and
ingenuity of speech; having prepared himself for such a contingency from the
first.
    Remembering his companion's propensity, - of which his nose, indeed,
perpetually warned all beholders like a beacon, - Nicholas had drawn him into a
sequestered tavern. Here, they fell to reviewing the origin and progress of
their acquaintance, as men sometimes do, and tracing out the little events by
which it was most strongly marked, came at last to Miss Cecilia Bobster.
    »And that reminds me,« said Newman, »that you never told me the young lady's
real name.«
    »Madeline!« said Nicholas.
    »Madeline!« cried Newman. »What Madeline? Her other name. Say her other
name.«
    »Bray,« said Nicholas, in great astonishment.
    »It's the same!« cried Newman. »Sad story! Can you stand idly by, and let
that unnatural marriage take place without one attempt to save her?«
    »What do you mean?« exclaimed Nicholas, starting up; »marriage! Are you
mad?«
    »Are you? Is she? Are you blind, deaf, senseless, dead?« said Newman. »Do
you know
