Under other
circumstances I dare say I should have thought the matter over, and
perhaps I should have been induced even to go so far as to survey the
lady from a distance, and argue the point with my mother pro and con.
But the fact is, the thing was distasteful, and wouldn't bear thinking
about, much less arguing. I was too lazy to go and explain the matter,
and writing was not my forte. Besides, I didn't want to thwart my
mother in her plans, or hurt her feelings; and so the long and the
short of it is, I solved the difficulty and cut the knot by crossing
quietly over to Norway. I wrote a short note to my mother, making no
allusion to her project, and since then I've been gradually working my
way down to the bottom of the map of Europe, and here I am."
"You didn't see the lady, then?"
"No."
"Who was she?"
"I don't know."
"Don't know the lady?"
"No."
"Odd, too! Haven't you any idea? Surely her name was mentioned?"
"No; my mother wrote in a roundabout style, so as to feel her way. She
knew me, and feared that I might take a prejudice against the lady. No
doubt I should have done so. She only alluded to her in a general
way."
"A general way?"
"Yes; that is, you know, she mentioned the fact that the lady was a
niece of Sir Gilbert Biggs."
"What!" cried Dacres, with a start.
"A niece of Sir Gilbert Biggs," repeated Hawbury.
"A niece--of--Sir Gilbert Biggs?" said Dacres, slowly. "Good Lord!"
"Yes; and what of that?"
"Very much.
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