"It was quite dark when I left the spot and went back to the cottage of
the kind woman who had attended my mother. I conversed with her and her
husband till late, and then, as they offered me a bed, I remained with
them that night. Next morning I went to keep my appointment with the
gentleman whom I had met in the coach: I found by the brass plate on
the door that he was a lawyer. He desired me to sit down, and then he
closed the door carefully, and having asked me many questions, to
ascertain if I was really Masterman Ready, he said he was the person
employed at Mr. Masterman's death, and that he had found a paper which
was of great consequence, as it proved that the insurance of the vessel
which had belonged to my father and Mr. Masterman, and which had been
lost, had not been made on Mr. Masterman's share only, but upon my
father's as well, and that Mr. Masterman had defrauded my mother. He
said he had found the paper in a secret drawer some time after Mr.
Masterman's death, and that my mother being dead, and I being supposed
to be dead, he did not see any use in making known so disagreeable a
circumstance; but that, now I had re-appeared, it was his duty so to
do, and that he would arrange the matter for me, if I pleased, with the
corporation of the town, to whom all Mr.
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