"The excitement and delight which followed this discovery were so great
that I could do nothing at all for a time. I then engaged the services
of an able barrister, and within six months the judgment of outlawry,
forfeiture, attainder, and corruption of blood, pronounced eighty-five
years ago upon Samuel Wickham by the Court of the King's Bench, was,
upon a writ of error, reversed by the Court of the King's Exchequer. I
then proved that I was the only surviving heir of the wrongfully
convicted man, and in a short time the estate became mine. After
consideration I decided best not to keep the property, and just before
my departure from England I sold it for ninety-two thousand pounds
sterling. Four months after my return Cecilia married a man whose blood
was, at least, free from the inherited taint of treason.
"And now, my dear fellow, you have the story. To be sure there are some
things connected with it not entirely clear; as, for instance, why did
my ancestor leave England when he did, and how came he to be travelling
over these hills? And, in regard to the traitorous officer, where did he
go after he had written the letter of confession?--that is a question,
although it has been said that he fled to America and settled in
Virginia.
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