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tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or
interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this
Beddoes?'

"'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember
that my poor father used to have an invitation from
him to shoot over his preserves every autumn.'

"'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note
comes,' said I. 'It only remains for us to find out
what this secret was which the sailor Hudson seems to
have held over the heads of these two wealthy and
respected men.'

"'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and
shame!' cried my friend. 'But from you I shall have
no secrets. Here is the statement which was drawn up
by my father when he knew that the danger from Hudson
had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese
cabinet, as he told the doctor. Take it and read it
to me, for I have neither the strength nor the courage
to do it myself.'

"These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to
me, and I will read them to you, as I read them in the
old study that night to him. They are endorsed
outside, as you see, 'Some particulars of the voyage
of the bark _Gloria Scott_, from her leaving Falmouth on
the 8th October, 1855, to her destruction in N. Lat.
15 degrees 20', W. Long. 25 degrees 14' on Nov. 6th.'
It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this way:

"'My dear, dear son, now that approaching disgrace
begins to darken the closing years of my life, I can
write with all truth and honesty that it is not the
terror of the law, it is not the loss of my position
in the county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all
who have known me, which cuts me to the heart; but it
is the thought that you should come to blush for
me--you who love me and who have seldom, I hope, had
reason to do other than respect me. But if the blow
falls which is forever hanging over me, then I should
wish you to read this, that you may know straight from
me how far I have been to blame. On the other hand,
if all should go well (which may kind God Almighty
grant!), then if by any chance this paper should be
still undestroyed and should fall into your hands, I
conjure you, by all you hold sacred, by the memory of
your dear mother, and by the love which had been
between us, to hurl it into the fire and to never give
one thought to it again.

"'If then your eye goes on to read this line, I know
that I shall already have been exposed and dragged
from my home, or as is more likely, for you know that
my heart is weak, by lying with my tongue sealed
forever in death. In either case the time for
suppression is past, and every word which I tell you
is the naked truth, and this I swear as I hope for
mercy.

"'My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James
Armitage in my younger days, and you can understand
now the shock that it was to me a few weeks ago when
your college friend addressed me in words which seemed
to imply that he had surprised my secret. As Armitage
it was that I entered a London banking-house, and as

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