"Isn't that your business?" Mrs. Presty asked slyly. "Suppose you
write a little note, and I will send it up to her room." The
worldly-wisdom which prompted this suggestion contemplated a
possible necessity for calling a domestic council, assembled to
consider the course of action which Mrs. Linley would do well to
adopt. If the influence of her mother was among the forms of
persuasion which might be tried, that wary relative maneuvered to
make the lawyer speak first, and so to reserve to herself the
advantage of having the last word.

Patient Mr. Sarrazin wrote the note.

He modestly asked for instructions; and he was content to receive
them in one word--Yes or No. In the event of the answer being
Yes, he would ask for a few minutes' conversation with Mrs.
Linley, at her earliest convenience. Tha t was all.

The reply was returned in a form which left Yes to be inferred:
"I will receive you as soon as you have finished your breakfast."


Chapter XXVII.


Resolution.


Having read Mrs. Linley's answer, Mr. Sarrazin looked out of the
breakfast-room window, and saw that the fog had reached the