Help me to sweep him off. Take the elder sister along with you
and the lawyer, and leave me here to have it out with the younger. I
want to see what metal she's really made of."
While Mr. Clare was addressing these words to Miss Garth, Mr. Pendril
had taken the opportunity of speaking to Norah. "Before I go back to
town," he said, "I should like to have a word with you in private. From
what has passed today, Miss Vanstone, I have formed a very high opinion
of your discretion; and, as an old friend of your father's, I want to
take the freedom of speaking to you about your sister."
Before Norah could answer, she was summoned, in compliance with Mr.
Clare's request, to the conference with the servants. Mr. Pendril
followed Miss Garth, as a matter of course. When the three were out in
the hall, Mr. Clare re-entered the room, closed the door, and signed
peremptorily to Magdalen to take a chair.
She obeyed him in silence. He took a turn up and down the room, with his
hands in the side-pockets of the long, loose, shapeless coat which he
habitually wore.
"How old are you?" he said, stopping suddenly, and speaking to her with
the whole breadth of the room between them.
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