He looked doubtingly at his visitor;
he showed a nervous anxiety to conciliate her until Mrs. Lecount's
return.
"Pray remember, ma'am, I never denied that this case was a hard one," he
began. "You said just now you had no wish to offend me--and I'm sure I
don't want to offend you. May I offer you some strawberries? Would
you like to look at my father's bargains? I assure you, ma'am, I am
naturally a gallant man; and I feel for both these sisters--especially
the younger one. Touch me on the subject of the tender passion, and you
touch me on a weak place. Nothing would please me more than to hear that
Miss Vanstone's lover (I'm sure I always call her Miss Vanstone, and so
does Lecount)--I say, ma'am, nothing would please me more than to hear
that Miss Vanstone's lover had come back and married her. If a loan of
money would be likely to bring him back, and if the security offered was
good, and if my lawyer thought me justified--"
"Stop, Mr. Vanstone," said Magdalen. "You are entirely mistaken in your
estimate of the person you have to deal with. You are seriously wrong
in supposing that the marriage of the younger sister--if she could be
married in a week's time--would make any difference in the convictions
which induced her to write to your father and to you.
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