I knew not how the accumulation of guilt
could contribute to his gratification or security. His actions had been
partially exhibited and vaguely seen. What extenuations or omissions had
vitiated his former or recent narrative; how far his actual performances
were congenial with the deed which was now to be perpetrated, I knew
not. These thoughts lent new rapidity to my blood. I raised my head from the
pillow, and watched the deportment of this man with deeper attention. The paroxysm which controlled him at length, in some degree, subsided. He muttered, "Yes. It must come. My last humiliation must cover me. My
last confession must be made. To die, and leave behind me this train of
enormous perils, must not be. "O Clemenza! O Mervyn! Ye have not merited that I should leave you a
legacy of persecution and death. Your safety must be purchased at what
price my malignant destiny will set upon it. The cord of the
executioner, the note of everlasting infamy, is better than to leave you
beset by the consequences of my guilt. It must not be." Saying this, Welbeck cast fearful glances at the windows and door. He
examined every avenue and listened. Thrice he repeated this scrutiny. Having, as it seemed, ascertained that no one lurked within audience, he
approached the bed. He put his mouth close to my face. He attempted to
speak, but once more examined the apartment with suspicious glances. He drew closer, and at length, in a tone scarcely articulate, and
suffocated with emotion, he spoke:--"Excellent but fatally-obstinate
youth! Know at least the cause of my importunity. Know at least the
depth of my infatuation and the enormity of my guilt. "The bills--surrender them to me, and save yourself from persecution and
disgrace. Save the woman whom you wish to benefit, from the blackest
imputations; from hazard to her life and her fame; from languishing in
dungeons; from expiring on the gallows! "The bills--oh, save me from the bitterness of death! Let the evils to
which my miserable life has given birth terminate here and in myself. Surrender them to me, for----"

There he stopped. His utterence was choked by terror. Rapid glances were
again darted at the windows and door. The silence was uninterrupted,
except by far-off sounds, produced by some moving carriage. Once more he
summoned resolution, and spoke:--

"Surrender them to me--for--_they are forged_! "Formerly I told you, that a scheme of forgery had been conceived. Shame
would not suffer me to add, that my scheme was carried into execution. The bills were fashioned, but my fears contended against my necessities,
and forbade me to attempt to exchange them. The interview with Lodi
saved me from the dangerous experiment. I enclosed them in that volume,
as the means of future opulence, to be used when all other and less
hazardous resources should fail. "In the agonies of my remorse at the death of Watson, they were
forgotten. They afterwards recurred to recollection. My wishes pointed
to the grave; but the stroke that should deliver me from life was
suspended only till I could hasten hither, get possession of these
papers, and destroy them. "When I thought upon the chances that should give them an owner; bring
them into circulation; load the innocent with suspicion; and lead them
to trial, and, perhaps, to death, my sensations were fraught with agony;
earnestly as I panted for death, it was necessarily deferred till I had
gained possession of and destroyed these papers. "What now remains? You have found them. Happily they have not been used. Give them, therefore, to me, that I may crush at once the brood of
mischiefs which they could not but generate." This disclosure was strange. It was accompanied with every token of
sincerity. How had I tottered on the brink of destruction! If I had made
use of this money, in what a labyrinth of misery might I not have been
involved! My innocence could never have been proved. An alliance with
Welbeck could not have failed to be inferred. My career would have found
an ignominious close; or, if my punishment had been transmuted into
slavery and toil, would the testimony of my conscience have supported
me? I shuddered at the view of those disasters from which I was rescued by
the miraculous chance which led me to this house. Welbeck's request was
salutary to me and honourable to himself. I could not hesitate a moment
in compliance. The notes were enclosed in paper, and deposited in a fold
of my clothes. I put my hand upon them. My motion and attention were arrested, at the instant, by a noise which
arose in the street. Footsteps were heard upon the pavement before the
door, and voices, as if busy in discourse. This incident was adapted to
infuse the deepest alarm into myself and my companion. The motives of
our trepidation were, indeed, different, and were infinitely more
powerful in my case than in his. It portended to me nothing less than
the loss of my asylum, and condemnation to an hospital. Welbeck hurried to the door, to listen to the conversation below. This
interval was pregnant with thought. That impulse which led my
reflections from Welbeck to my own state passed away in a moment, and
suffered me to meditate anew upon the terms of that confession which had
just been made. Horror at the fate which this interview had enabled me to shun was
uppermost in my conceptions. I was eager to surrender these fatal bills. I held them for that purpose in my hand, and was impatient for Welbeck's
return. He continued at the door; stooping, with his face averted, and
eagerly attentive to the conversation in the street. All the circumstances of my present situation tended to arrest the
progress of thought and chain my contemplations to one image; but even
now there was room for foresight and deliberation. Welbeck intended to
destroy these bills. Perhaps he had not been sincere; or, if his
purpose had been honestly disclosed, this purpose might change when the
bills were in his possession. His poverty and sanguineness of temper
might prompt him to use them. That this conduct was evil, and would only multiply his miseries, could
not be questioned. Why should I subject his frailty to this temptation? The destruction of these bills was the loudest injunction of my duty;
was demanded by every sanction which bound me to promote the welfare of
mankind. The means of destruction was easy. A lighted candle stood on a table, at
the distance of a few yards. Why should I hesitate a moment to
annihilate so powerful a cause of error and guilt? A passing instant was
sufficient. A momentary lingering might change the circumstances that
surrounded me, and frustrate my project. My languors were suspended by the urgencies of this occasion. I started
from my bed and glided to the table. Seizing the notes with my right
hand, I held them in the flame of the candle, and then threw them,
blazing, on the floor. The sudden illumination was perceived by Welbeck. The cause of it
appeared to suggest itself as soon.