A DISCOVERY. 73 



screwed up as if to keep in some bit of intelligence bursting to 

 come forth. 



" So, my lad, you 've found them !' J But Joe shook his 

 head, put his hand in his jacket-pocket, dived, and fumbled 

 long, as though on purpose to keep us on the tenter-hooks of 

 curiosity, and at last drew forth a something coated with 

 the river mud, from which it had been just exhumed. It 

 proved to be an iron hand, a small rusty gauntlet, in which 

 something rattled loosely as Joe threw it on the table. 



" Oh ! it's Sir Timothy's ! the very same," screamed Tim, 

 stretching forward to take it, then recoiling as if with terror. 



Without his superstitious awe, but with an interest and 

 curiosity other certainly than merely antiquarian, we took it 

 up for our own examination. It was undoubtedly an iron 

 gauntlet, of the same style and fashion as the suit of armour 

 represented in Sir Timothy's monumental effigy ; and, although 

 the metal was nearly eaten through with rust, part of a 

 skeleton hand of the smallest possible masculine proportions 

 yet remained within. 



The discovery of this ancient relic was at least a curious 

 coincidence, following as a sequel on Tim's tale; and the dis- 

 covery itself was followed up by a further one near the same spot 

 (by the river-side and under the stump of alder) of other corre- 

 sponding pieces of armour, with other of their wearer's bones. 

 This looked certainly much like a verification of the legend of 

 the Tomkins' Tomb, and seemed no less a confirmation of Tim's 



F2 



