Freda.—­Then as now, you may be certain.

They were on the steps before the door of the house; again their hands were firmly clasped.

Rowland.—­Till then, farewell, and God bless you.

Freda.—­Will you not come in?

Rowland.—­No, I would rather not now.

Freda.—­Then God bless you, and be with you during your coming trial.

And thus they parted, happy, and having perfect faith in one another.

CHAPTER LI.

THE CONVICT.

Forgeries of all sorts are so much the taste of genteel rogues of the present age, that the reader will readily dispense with a detailed account of the trial and conviction of Howel Jenkins.  Any one of the various cases that fill those columns of the Times, devoted to such criminalities, will give a very good general idea of his.  All that his mother’s remnant of his father’s hoarded wealth could do, was done, to prove him guiltless, but in vain.  Counsel pleaded, some of his turf friends, themselves of doubtful reputation, spoke to his character, and he sat through his trial as imperturbably as if he had been at a dinner-party.  The prosecutors, Sir Samuel Spendall and Sir Horatio Simpson, met with deserved reproofs for allowing themselves to be swindled, almost before their faces, out of money and property to an enormous amount.

Long before his father’s death, Howel had begun a system of betting-book cheating, and forgery on a small scale, which had ceased for a short time when he came into his enormous wealth, but recommenced as that wealth dwindled.  Numerous instances came out from various sources whilst he was in America,—­all his former associates being ready to leave his setting sun, for the rising one of his accusers.

Sir S. Spendall and Sir H. Simpson were sole prosecutors, and between forgeries on banks, and in betting-books, and the unjust acquisition of Spendall Lodge, Howel was found guilty of forgeries to the amount of some fifty or sixty thousand pounds, and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years.  So much general villainy transpired amongst the set in which these crimes were committed, and the prosecutors themselves were so weak and dissipated, that the sentence was supposed to be less severe than it might have been under other circumstances.

The nefarious conduct of Mr Deep as Howel’s attorney, and the enormous interest he was found to have received, caused him to be struck off the rolls, and very little evidence was wanting to prove him an accomplice in Howel’s villainy.  However, it was not forthcoming, and so Howel suffered alone.

It was generally rumoured that Howel had forged his mother’s name, at various times, to a very large amount; but, as she vigorously denied the fact, and acknowledged every signature as her own, the case was, of course, not brought forward.