revenge? There was no possibility that this could happen, even if
any of his ancient acquaintances, a race of men whose lives are so brief, had
happened to survive the span commonly allotted to evil-doers. Besides, the whole
affair had long fallen asleep, with the angry passions in which it originated.
Nothing is more certain than that persons known to have had a share in that
formidable riot, and to have fled from Scotland on that account, had made money
abroad, returned to enjoy it in their native country, and lived and died
undisturbed by the law.69 The forbearance of the magistrate was, in these
instances, wise, certainly, and just; for what good impression could be made on
the public mind by punishment, when the memory of the offence was obliterated,
and all that was remembered was the recent inoffensive, or perhaps exemplary
conduct of the offender?
    Sir George Staunton might, therefore, tread the scene of his former
audacious exploits, free from the apprehension of the law, or even of discovery
or suspicion. But with what feelings his heart that day throbbed, must be left
to those of the reader to imagine. It was an object of no common interest which
had brought him to encounter so many painful remembrances.
    In consequence of Jeanie's letter to Lady Staunton, transmitting the
confession, he had visited the town of Carlisle, and had found Archdeacon
Fleming still alive, by whom that confession had been received. This reverend
gentleman, whose character stood deservedly very high, he so far admitted into
his confidence, as to own himself the father of the unfortunate infant which had
been spirited away by Madge Wildfire, representing the intrigue as a matter of
juvenile extravagance on his own part, for which he was now anxious to atone, by
tracing, if possible, what had become of the child. After some recollection of
the circumstances, the clergyman was able to call to memory, that the unhappy
woman had written a letter to George Staunton, Esq., younger, Rectory,
Willingham, by Grantham; that he had forwarded it to the address accordingly,
and that it had been returned, with a note from the Reverend Mr. Staunton,
Rector of Willingham, saying, he knew no such person as him to whom the letter
was addressed. As this had happened just at the time when George had, for the
last time, absconded from his father's house to carry off Effie, he was at no
loss to account for the cause of the resentment, under the influence of which
his father had disowned him. This was another