These better tidings
encouraged Miss Garth to withdraw to her own room, and to take the rest
which she needed sorely. Worn out in body and mind, she slept from sheer
exhaustion--slept heavily and dreamless for some hours. It was between
three and four in the afternoon when she was roused by one of the female
servants. The woman had a note in her hand--a note left by Mr. Clare
the younger, with a message desiring that it might be delivered to Miss
Garth immediately. The name written in the lower corner of the envelope
was "William Pendril." The lawyer had arrived.
Miss Garth opened the note. After a few first sentences of sympathy and
condolence, the writer announced his arrival at Mr. Clare's; and then
proceeded, apparently in his professional capacity, to make a very
startling request.
"If," he wrote, "any change for the better in Mrs. Vanstone should take
place--whether it is only an improvement for the time, or whether it
is the permanent improvement for which we all hope--in either case
I entreat you to let me know of it immediately. It is of the last
importance that I should see her, in the event of her gaining strength
enough to give me her attention for five minutes, and of her being able
at the expiration of that time to sign her name.
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