'
I took an end of candle which stood on the mantelpiece and did as he bid
me, and he went on: 'I shall read you this letter which I received near
eight years ago, and of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.'
I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me,
but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with
long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover
afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace
Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England,
and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the
Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn
Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent
for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn
Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that
he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard,
of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved
to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no
children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make
full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once
obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for
it.
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