"A girl! God bless my soul!" said Sir Lionel, thoughtfully. "And does she know about this--this--melancholy business?"
"I deemed it my duty to tell her, Sir Lionel," said Miss Plympton, gravely.
"I don't know about that. I don't--know--about--that," said Sir Lionel, pursing up his lips and frowning. "Best wait a while; but too late now, and the mischief's done. Well, and how did she take it?"
"Nobly, Sir Lionel. At first she was quite crushed, but afterward rallied under it. But she could not remain with me any longer, and insisted on going home--as she called it--to Dalton Hall."
"Dalton Hall! Yes--well? Poor girl! poor little girl!--an orphan. Dalton Hall! Well?"
"And now I come to the real purpose of my visit," said Miss Plympton; and thereupon she went on to give him a minute and detailed account of their arrival at Dalton and the reception there, together with the subsequent events.
To all this Sir Lionel listened without one word of any kind, and at length Miss Plympton ended.
"Well, madam," said he, "it may surprise you that I have not made any comments on your astonishing story. If it had been less serious I might have done so. I might even have indulged in profane language--a habit, madam, which, I am sorry to say, I have acquired from not frequenting more the society of ladies. But this business, madam, is beyond comment, and I can only say that I rejoice and feel grateful that you decided as you did, and have come at once to me."
"Oh, I am so glad, and such a load is taken off my mind!" exclaimed Miss Plympton, fervently.
"Why, madam, I am utterly astounded at this man's audacity," cried Sir Lionel--"utterly astounded! To think that any man should ever venture upon such a course! It's positively almost inconceivable. And so you tell me that she is there now?"
"Under the lock and key, so to speak, of this fellow?"
"And she isn't allowed even to go to the gate?"
"The man's mad," cried Sir Lionel--"mad, raving mad. Did you see him?"
"Why, I tell you, he's a madman," said Sir Lionel. "He must be. No sane man could think of such a thing. Why, this is England, and the nineteenth century. The days of private imprisonment are over. He's mad! The man's mad!"
"But what is to be done, Sir Lionel?" asked Miss Plympton, impatiently.