Mr.
Vanstone took his daughter upstairs into her mother's room, and there
placed before her the result of the yesterday's consultation, and of the
night's reflection which had followed it. He spoke with perfect kindness
and self-possession of manner-but in fewer and more serious words than
usual; and he held his wife's hand tenderly in his own all through the
interview.
He informed Magdalen that neither he nor her mother felt themselves
justified in blaming her attachment to Frank. It had been in part,
perhaps, the natural consequence of her childish familiarity with him;
in part, also, the result of the closer intimacy between them which the
theatrical entertainment had necessarily produced. At the same time, it
was now the duty of her parents to put that attachment, on both sides,
to a proper test--for her sake, because her happy future was their
dearest care; for Frank's sake, because they were bound to give him the
opportunity of showing himself worthy of the trust confided in him. They
were both conscious of being strongly prejudiced in Frank's favor.
His father's eccentric conduct had made the lad the object of their
compassion and their care from his earliest years.
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