"
"What can I do?" cried Mr. Forster; "it will break his mother's heart;
she can never forget it. He is ruined for life. For a lawyer, I am
strangely unwilling to tell a lie; but it must be done! He must be saved
at any price!" He went to his desk and wrote the following note:
"To the Editor of 'The Times':
"Sir: I beg to call your attention to a paragraph that appears in
'The Times' of today stating that a man, tried under the name of
John Smith for stealing a watch, is no less a person than Basil
Carruthers, Esq., of Ulverston Priory. As the solicitor of that
family, and manager of the Ulverston property, I beg to contradict
it. Mr. Carruthers, himself, informed me of his intention to go
abroad. Without doubt his indignant denial will follow mine. I am,
sir, etc.,
"Herbert Forster."
"That may help him," he said. "I do not like doing it, but I cannot see
my old friend's son perish without trying to save him. I may fail, but I
must try. Perhaps my lie may be blotted out, like Uncle Toby's oath. If
I can persuade him to send a denial, and date it Paris or Vienna, he
will be saved."
Mr. Forster lost no time in applying for an order to see the prisoner.
It was granted at once.
Basil Carruthers--we may use his right name now--looked up in surprise
when Mr. Forster, with the paper in his hand, entered the cell.
"Back again?" he said.
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