Ignorant as she was of what had happened behind her chair,
she saw a change in Mrs. Lecount's look and manner which warned her to
run no more risks, and to trust herself no longer in the house.
"I am not in my pupil's confidence," she said. "Her own acts will answer
your question when the time comes. I can only tell you, from my own
knowledge of her, that she is no boaster. What she wrote to Mr. Michael
Vanstone was what she was prepared to do---what, I have reason to think,
she was actually on the point of doing, when her plans were overthrown
by his death. Mr. Michael Vanstone's son has only to persist in
following his father's course to find, before long, that I am not
mistaken in my pupil, and that I have not come here to intimidate him
by empty threats. My errand is done. I leave Mr. Noel Vanstone with two
alternatives to choose from. I leave him to share Mr. Andrew Vanstone's
fortune with Mr. Andrew Vanstone's daughters--or to persist in his
present refusal and face the consequences." She bowed, and walked to the
door.
Noel Vanstone started to his feet, with anger and alarm struggling which
should express itself first in his blank white face.
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