e my child with me," Mrs.
Linley persisted, "who has any right to prevent me?"

Mr. Sarrazin reluctantly reminded her that the father had a right. "No
person--not even the mother--can take the child out of the father's
custody," he said, "except with the father's consent. His authority is
the supreme authority--unless it happens that the law has deprived him
of his privilege, and has expressly confided the child to the mother's
care. Ha!" cried Mr. Sarrazin, twisting round in his chair and fixing
his keen eyes on Mrs. Presty, "look at your good mother; _she_ sees what
I am coming to."

"I see something more than you think," Mrs. Presty answered. "If I know
anything of my daughter's nature, you will find yourself, before long,
on delicate ground."

"What do you mean, mamma?"

Mrs. Presty had lived in the past age when persons occasionally used
metaphor as an aid to the expression of their ideas. Being called
upon to explain herself, she did it in metaphor, to her own entire
satisfaction.

"Our learned friend here reminds me, my dear Catherine, of a traveler
exploring a strange town. He takes a turning, in the confident
expectation that it will reward him by leading him to some satisfactory
result--and he finds himself in a blind alley, or, as the French put
it (I speak French fluently), in a _cool de sack_. Do I make my meaning
clear, Mr. Sarrazin?"

"Not the least in the world, ma'am."

"How very extraordinary! Perhaps I have been misled by my own vivid
imagination. Let me endeavor to express myself plainly--let me say that
my fancy looks prophetically at what you are going to do, and sincerely
wishes you well out of it. Pray go on."

"And pray speak more plainly than my mother has spoken," Mrs. Linley
added. "As I understood what you said just now, there is a law, after
all, that will protect me in the possession of my little girl. I don't
care what it costs; I want that law."

"May I ask first," Mr. Sarrazin stipulated, "whether you are positively
resolved not to give way to your husband in this matter of Kitty?"

"Positively."

"One more question, if you please, on a matter of fact. I have heard
that you were married in Scotland. Is that true?"

"Quite true."

Mr. Sarrazin exhibited himself once more in a highly unprofessional
aspect. He clapped his hands, and cried, "Bravo!" as if he had been in a
theater.

Mrs. Linley caught the infection of the lawyer's excitement. "How dull
I am!" she exclaime