Pendril's arm. "Not on Michael Vanstone!"
"Yes: on Michael Vanstone."
Miss Garth's hand still mechanically grasped the lawyer's arm. Her whole
mind was absorbed in the effort to realize the discovery which had now
burst on her.
"Dependent on Michael Vanstone!" she said to herself. "Dependent on
their father's bitterest enemy? How can it be?"
"Give me your attention for a few minutes more," said Mr. Pendril, "and
you shall hear. The sooner we can bring this painful interview to a
close, the sooner I can open communications with Mr. Michael Vanstone,
and the sooner you will know what he decides on doing for his brother's
orphan daughters. I repeat to you that they are absolutely dependent
on him. You will most readily understand how and why, if we take up the
chain of events where we last left it--at the period of Mr. and Mrs.
Vanstone's marriage."
"One moment, sir," said Miss Garth. "Were you in the secret of that
marriage at the time when it took place?"
"Unhappily, I was not. I was away from London--away from England at
the time. If Mr. Vanstone had been able to communicate with me when the
letter from America announced the death of his wife, the fortunes of his
daughters would not have been now at stake.
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