It was, indeed, the very bill which Western
had given his daughter the night before her departure; and a Jew would
have jumped to purchase it at five shillings less than L100.
The eyes of Partridge sparkled at this news, which Jones now
proclaimed aloud; and so did (though with somewhat a different aspect)
those of the poor fellow who had found the book; and who (I hope
from a principle of honesty) had never opened it: but we should not
deal honestly by the reader if we omitted to inform him of a
circumstance which may be here a little material, viz., that the
fellow could not read.
Jones, who had felt nothing but pure joy and transport from the
finding the book, was affected with a mixture of concern at this new
discovery; for his imagination instantly suggested to him, that the
owner of the bill might possibly want it, before he should be able
to convey it to her. He then acquainted the finder, that he knew the
lady to whom the book belonged, and would endeavour to find her out as
soon as possible, and return it her.
The pocket-book was a late present from Mrs. Western to her niece;
it had cost five-and-twenty shillings, having been bought of a
celebrated toyman; but the real value of the silver which it contained
in its clasp, was about eighteen-pence; and that price the said
toyman, as it was altogether as good as when it first issued from
his shop, would now have given for it. A prudent person would,
however, have taken proper advantage of the ignorance of this
fellow, and would not have offered more than a shilling, or perhaps
sixpence, for it; nay, some perhaps would have given nothing, and left
the fellow to his action of trover, which some learned serjeants may
doubt whether he could, under these circumstances, have maintained.
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