I cannot tell you all she was - " and here the old man drew his hand across his eyes."By the death of my father, the only obstacle to our happiness appeared to be removed.We agreed, therefore, that our marriage should take place within the course of a year; and I forthwith commenced enlarging my house and getting my affairs in order.Having been left in the easy circumstances which I have described, I determined to follow no business, but to pass my life in a strictly domestic manner, and to be very, very happy.Amongst other property derived from my father were several horses, which Idisposed of in this neighbourhood, with the exception of two remarkably fine ones, which I determined to take to the next fair at Horncastle, the only place where I expected to be able to obtain what I considered to be their full value.At length the time arrived for the commencement of the fair, which was within three months of the period which my beloved and myself had fixed upon for the celebration of our nuptials.To the fair I went, a couple of trusty men following me with the horses.I soon found a purchaser for the animals, a portly, plausible person, of about forty, dressed in a blue riding coat, brown top boots, and leather breeches.There was a strange-looking urchin with him, attired in nearly similar fashion, with a beam in one of his eyes, who called him father.The man paid me for the purchase in bank-notes - three fifty-pound notes for the two horses.As we were about to take leave of each other, he suddenly produced another fifty-pound note, inquiring whether I could change it, complaining, at the same time, of the difficulty of procuring change in the fair.As I happened to have plenty of small money in my possession, and as I felt obliged to him for having purchased my horses at what Iconsidered to be a good price, I informed him that I should be very happy to accommodate him; so I changed him the note, and he, having taken possession of the horses, went his way, and I myself returned home.
"A month passed; during this time I paid away two of the notes which I had received at Horncastle from the dealer -one of them in my immediate neighbourhood, and the other at a town about fifteen miles distant, to which I had repaired for the purpose of purchasing some furniture.All things seemed to be going on most prosperously, and I felt quite happy, when one morning, as I was overlooking some workmen who were employed about my house, I was accosted by a constable, who informed me that he was sent to request my immediate appearance before a neighbouring bench of magistrates.
Concluding that I was merely summoned on some unimportant business connected with the neighbourhood, I felt no surprise, and forthwith departed in company with the officer.
The demeanour of the man upon the way struck me as somewhat singular.I had frequently spoken to him before, and had always found him civil and respectful, but he was now reserved and sullen, and replied to two or three questions which I put to him in anything but a courteous manner.On arriving at the place where the magistrates were sitting - an inn at a small town about two miles distant - I found a more than usual number of people assembled, who appeared to be conversing with considerable eagerness.At sight of me they became silent, but crowded after me as I followed the man into the magistrates' room.There I found the tradesman to whom I had paid the note for the furniture at the town fifteen miles off in attendance, accompanied by an agent of the Bank of England; the former, it seems, had paid the note into a provincial bank, the proprietors of which, discovering it to be a forgery, had forthwith written up to the Bank of England, who had sent down their agent to investigate the matter.A third individual stood beside them - the person in my own immediate neighbourhood to whom I had paid the second note; this, by some means or other, before the coming down of the agent, had found its way to the same provincial bank, and also being pronounced a forgery, it had speedily been traced to the person to whom I had paid it.It was owing to the apparition of this second note that the agent had determined, without further inquiry, to cause me to be summoned before the rural tribunal.
"In a few words the magistrates' clerk gave me to understand the state of the case.I was filled with surprise and consternation.I knew myself to be perfectly innocent of any fraudulent intention, but at the time of which I am speaking it was a matter fraught with the greatest danger to be mixed up, however innocently, with the passing of false money.The law with respect to forgery was terribly severe, and the innocent as well as the guilty occasionally suffered.Of this I was not altogether ignorant; unfortunately, however, in my transactions with the stranger, the idea of false notes being offered to me, and my being brought into trouble by means of them, never entered my mind.Recovering myself a little, I stated that the notes in question were two of three notes which I had received at Horncastle, for a pair of horses, which it was well known I had carried thither.
