All those signs I remembered now,
and I blushed pain fully. When her hand was on my forehead I still
thought that she was a man! I declare that at this moment I felt a
stronger disinclination to face my late companion than I did to
encounter her angry uncle.
"Your niece!" I said, speaking with a sheepish bewilderment which
should have convinced him at once of my innocence. She had asked
me, too, whether I was a married man, and I had denied it. How was
I to escape from such a mess of misfortunes? I declare that I began
to forget her troubles in my own.
"Yes, my niece,--Miss Julia Weston. The disgrace which you have
brought upon me must be wiped out; but my first duty is to save that
unfortunate young woman from further misery."
"If it be as you say," I exclaimed, "by the honour of a gentleman--"
"I care nothing for the honour of a gentleman till I see it proved.
Be good enough to inform me, sir, whether Miss Weston is in this
house."
For a moment I hesitated; but I saw at once that I should make
myself responsible for certain mischief, of which I was at any rate
hitherto in truth innocent, if I allowed myself to become a party to
concealing a young lady.
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