"There goes ten of \'em. Old Hoskyns can never want me at this time of night. At all events, if he don\'t come soon he won\'t find me here. If a man can\'t call the time his own after ten o\'clock at night, he\'s no better than a slave."

The speaker was Jabez Creede, and he was sitting, with a short black pipe in his mouth, over a handful of fire--although the evening was a summer one--in the meanly furnished room which he called his home. In one hand he held a crumpled scrap of paper, the writing on which he now proceeded to read over again for the twentieth time.

"Please not to be out of the way this evening, as I may possibly want you on important business.--T. Hoskyns."

"Ugh!" growled Creede in disgust, as he flung the paper into the fire. "One might work one\'s heartstrings out for old Hoskyns, and there would never be an extra half quid for a poor devil on pay-day. I wish Mr. Bristow would take to the business. He\'s one of the right sort, he is. I wish----"

Here he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Presently his landlady entered. "Mr. Hoskyns is waiting below," said the woman. "He wants you to put on your hat and coat, and go with him."

Creede growled, put down his pipe, rose, yawned, stretched himself, inducted himself into a shabby grease-stained brown overcoat, pulled his battered hat over his gloomy brows, and stumbled downstairs. He had been drinking heavily during the day--indeed, the days when he did not drink heavily were few and far between--and both his gait and his tongue were in some measure affected by his potations.

Mr. Hoskyns was standing at the door, carrying in one hand the old blue bag with which Creede had been familiar for years.

"Make haste, man alive," said the lawyer, impatiently. "I want you to go with me to the prison. Some most important evidence in our favour has just turned up, and I must see Mr. Dering at once. Here, catch hold of this."

"It\'s precious heavy," grumbled Creede, as he took the bag.

"I dare say it is," answered Hoskyns, dryly.

"A good many clever brains have been at work on the contents of that bag. It\'s weighty with wisdom and common sense--two commodities, Jabez Creede, with which you have never been overburdened."

Not a word more passed between them till they reached the prison. The distance they had to walk was not great, and Mr. Hoskyns seemed anxious to get over the ground as quickly as possible, turning his face neither to right hand nor left, but going straight on till they halted at the gates. The great prison looked as black, silent, and deserted as some City of the Dead. Hoskyns gave a tug at the bell-pull, and was just refreshing himself with a pinch of his favourite mixture, when a little wicket in the door was opened, and through the bars two keen eyes peered out into the semi-darkness.

"Ha, Warde, is that you?" he said, nodding cheerfully to the pair of eyes. "Rather late to look in upon you, eh? But it\'s a matter of life and death--nothing less--that has brought us. Some most important evidence in our favour has turned up at the last moment, and it is imperative that I should see my client without a moment\'s delay."

"It\'s long past the hour for visitors, Mr. Hoskyns, as you know; and it would be as much as my place is worth to----"

"Where\'s the governor? where\'s my friend, Mr. Dux?" interrupted Hoskyns, impatiently. "Fetch him. He\'ll put the matter right in a moment."

"Mr. Dux, sir, is somewhere in the town, and has not yet got home. But I\'ll fetch Mr. Jackson, sir; perhaps he may be able to do something for you."

Jackson, the chief night-warder, was quickly on the spot, and the case explained to him in a few words.

"It\'s against the regulations, of course, Mr. Hoskyns," said Jackson; "but considering the emergency of the case, and in the absence of Mr. Dux, I will take upon myself the responsibility of allowing you to see Mr. Dering."

"Thank you very much, Jackson--very much indeed," said the lawyer, with a flourish of his huge yellow silk pocket-handkerchief. "I give you my word of honour that it\'s nothing less than a case of life and death."

The little low-browed side-door had been opened by this time, and Mr. Hoskyns went in, followed by Jabez Creede carrying the bag of papers. Creede had accompanied his employer to the gaol several times before, and his face was well known to the warders.

"I can only ask that, under the circumstances, you will make your visit as short a one as possible; and I hope, with all my heart, that you will be able to extricate Mr. Dering from his difficulty."

"Jackson, you may take my word for it," said Hoskyns, seriously, "that, before to-morrow night at this time, Mr. Dering will be a free man."

"I am heartily glad to hear it, sir, and I wish you a very good-night."

"Great heaven! Hoskyns, what has brought you here at this uncanny hour?" exclaimed Lionel, starting up from his pallet, on which he had thrown himself without undressing, as the lawyer and Creede were ushered into his cell and the door locked behind them.

"I have got great tidings for you, Mr. Dering. Splendid tidings!" said Hoskyns, as he took the bag from Creede. "But sit down, sir, and don\'t excite yourself, because I shall require your very best care and attention during the next few minutes." Speaking thus, he took off his broad-brimmed hat and deposited it tenderly on Lionel\'s bed; then he drew a chair up to the little deal table, motioned Lionel to take the opposite chair, and Creede to take the third and only remaining one. The latter gentleman, either from innate modesty, or because he was afraid that his breath might smell too strongly of rum, took care to plant himself a yard or two away from the table.

"Yes, sir, some splendid news--something that will astonish the world to-morrow," continued the lawyer, as he dived into his bag, and fished therefrom a carefully folded sheet of foolscap. "Read that, Mr. Dering--read that carefully through," he said, as he handed the paper in question to Lionel. "But, above all things, control your feelings."

Lionel took the paper, opened it, and read. Mr. Hoskyns, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, took a pinch of snuff slowly and artistically, staring across, meanwhile, very hard at Lionel.

The paper ran as under:--


"Be careful not to betray me by word or look. I am here to effect your escape. Follow my lead in everything, and show no surprise at anything that I may say or do.

"T. B."

Despite all his efforts to the contrary, Lionel could not keep his face from changing colour during the reading of these words.

"Very extraordinary, is it not," said the lawyer, as he took back the paper, "that this evidence should not have been forthcoming till the very last moment?"

"Very extraordinary, indeed," said Lionel, gravely.

He could hardly believe the evidence of his senses. The voice, the features, the hair, the whiskers, the dress, the snuff-box, and the pocket-handkerchief, were all part and parcel of the genuine Hoskyns; but when he looked intently through the gold-rimmed spectacles, he saw there the eyes--not to be mistaken for the eyes of any other man--of his faithful friend, Tom Bristow.

"I have shown the paper to Tressil," said Tom, still keeping up his assumed character, for it is hardly necessary to observe that Creede was not in the secret, "and he is quite agreed with me as to its vital importance. In fact it is at his request that I have come here to-night. There will be two or three telegrams to send off, and at least a couple of witnesses to hunt up, and all before the court opens in the morning. But before going into these details, I mean to drink your health--yes, sir, to drink your very good health, and to the happy acquittal which is sure to be yours in a few hours from the present time."

"I am much obliged to you, my dear Hoskyns," said Lionel, "but I\'m afraid that my means of hospitality at present are limited to a copious supply of cold water."

"I\'ve provided for that contingency, my dear sir, by bringing with me a bottle of prime old Burgundy from my own cellar," and he produced from his bag a tempting-looking black bottle with the cork already half-drawn. "And now for a wineglass."

"I\'ve nothing better to offer you than a tea-cup."

"Under the circumstances we will make shift with the tea-cup."

It was handed to him by Lionel. "The tea-cup turns out to be a coffee-cup," said Tom. With that, he went down on one knee, drew the cork, half filled the cup with wine, and then offered it to Lionel.

"Not till you and Creede have both drunk to my health and acquittal," said the latter.

Tom took back the cup, gave utterance to an appropriate sentence or two, and tossed off the wine. Then going down again on one knee, he proceeded to refill the cup. The table was between him and Creede, and the latter, who had not failed to prick up his ears at the mention of something to drink, could not see clearly how Tom was engaged. He could hear the wine gurgle from the bottle into the cup, and that as enough for him. He did not see Tom\'s nimble fingers extract a tiny phial from his waistcoat pocket, and pour the contents into the wine.

"Creede grumbled because my bag was so heavy," said Tom, with a chuckle. "He wouldn\'t have said a word had he known what was inside it. Here, man, drink this off to Mr. Dering\'s very good health, and tell me whether you ever tasted anything better in your life."

He handed the cup to Creede, who rose somewhat unsteadily from his chair to take it. "I drink to your very good health, Mr. Dering," he said, in a loutish sort of way, "and may you have a good deliverance." And carrying the cup to his mouth with a shaking hand, he drank off the contents at a draught.

Both Tom and Lionel were watching him keenly. He crossed the cell and put the cup down on the window-ledge, making a wry face as he did so. Then he sat down again on his chair.

"I am afraid, Creede, that you have vitiated your palate by accustoming it to inferior drinks," said Tom, "and that you don\'t know a good wine when you taste it."

"I\'d sooner have one quartern of real old Jamaica than a gallon of that rubbish," growled Creede, with ill-disguised contempt.

"Now for business," said Tom. "There\'s not a minute to lose." And with that he fished a formidable-looking heap of documents from the depths of his bag. "Of course, the first thing to do," he went on, "is to get hold of our two new witnesses, Robinson and Davis. I think I can lay hands on them without much difficulty." And with that he went off into a long rigmarole respecting the supposed steps which it would be needful to take in the new state of affairs, but keeping a careful watch on Creede, meanwhile, out of the corners of his eyes.

Presently Creede\'s eyes began to glaze a little. Then they closed. Then they opened and closed again. Then his head sank forward on his breast, and his arms fell limply by his sides. Both the men were watching him intently. Suddenly Tom sprang from his seat and was just in time to catch the inanimate body in his arms, as it was sliding from the chair to the floor.

Tom held up a warning finger to Lionel, who had also started from his chair. For full two minutes he rested on one knee without moving, supporting Creede in his arms. "He is fast now, I think," he sai............