"Sir,--
"_Your last words to me were_:--`I hope the time may come when you will
look less severely on my conduct!' Mine to you, if I remember aright,
were `NOT LIKELY!'
"_Older than yourself, I deemed myself wiser. But the oldest and wisest
may be at times mistaken. I do not deem it a humiliation to confess
that I have been so, and about yourself. And, sir, if you do not think
it such to forgive my abrupt--I should rather say, barbarous--behaviour,
it would rejoice me once more to welcome you as my guest. Captain
Maynard! I am much changed since you last saw me--in the pride both of
spirit and person. I am upon my deathbed; and wish to see you before
parting from the world_.
"_There is one by my side, watching over me, who wishes it too. You
will come_!
"George Vernon."
In the afternoon train of that same day, from London to Tunbridge Wells,
there travelled a passenger, who had booked himself for Sevenoaks, Kent.
He was a gentleman of the name of _Maynard_!