Only an ensign Author:James Grant Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Mr. w. s. Shakklet's Plot. As Sharkley travelled back towards the little mining hamlet, where the Trevanion Arms stood conspicuously where two... more » roads branched off, one towards Lanteglos, and the other towards the sea, he revolved in his cunning mind several projects for obtaining possession of the papers; but knowing that the old soldier mistrusted him, that he was quite aware of their value, and that he was as obstinate in his resolution to preserve them, as he was faithful and true to the son of Richard Tre- velyan, there was an extreme difficulty in deciding on any one line or plan for proper or honest action, so knavery alone had scope. Could he, out of the five hundred pounds received to account, but bribe Derrick Braddon to lend the papers ostensibly for a time, receiving in return a receipt in a feigned handwriting, with a forged or fancy signature, so totally unlike that used by the solicitor, that he might afterwards safely repudiate the document, and deny he had ever written it! To attempt to possess them by maiii force never came within the scope of Sharkley's imagination, for the old soldier was strong and wiry as a young bull, and had been famous as a wrestler in his youth; and then force was illegal, whatever craft might be. Ultimately he resolved to ignore the subject of the papers, and seem to forget all about them; to talk on other matters, military if possible (though such were not much in Sharkley's way), and thus endeavour to throw Braddon off his guard, and hence get them into his possession by a very simple process?one neither romantic nor melo-dramatic, but resorted to frequently enough by the lawless, in London and elsewhere?in fact by drugging his victim; and for this purpose, by affecting illness and deceiving a medical man, he ...« less