My resolution rests on other motives than the
motives which you might naturally suppose would influence me. I only
tell you this, in case you feel inclined to remonstrate. There is good
reason for what I say, when I assure you that remonstrance will be
useless.
"I ask for no assistance in this matter; I will trouble nobody for
advice. You shall not be involved in any rash proceedings on my part.
Whatever danger there may be, I will risk it. Whatever delays may
happen, I will bear them patiently. I am lonely and friendless, and
surely troubled in mind, but I am strong enough to win my way through
worse trials than these. My spirits will rise again, and my time will
come. If that Secret Trust is in Admiral Bartram's possession--when you
next see me, you shall see me with it in my own hands. Yours gratefully,
"MAGDALEN VANSTONE."
THE SIXTH SCENE.
ST. JOHN'S WOOD.
CHAPTER I.
IT wanted little more than a fortnight to Christmas; but the weather
showed no signs yet of the frost and snow, conventionally associated
with the coming season. The atmosphere was unnaturally warm, and the old
year was dying feebly in sapping rain and enervating mist.
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