eft any effort untried.
When I wrote to Michael Vanstone, in the first instance, I did not
confine myself to the usual formal statement. I put before him, plainly
and earnestly, every one of the circumstances under which he has
become possessed of his brother's fortune. When I received the answer,
referring me to his written instructions to his lawyer in London--and
when a copy of those instructions was placed in my hands--I positively
declined, on becoming acquainted with them, to receive the writer's
decision as final. I induce d the solicitor, on the other side, to
accord us a further term of delay; I attempted to see Mr. Noel Vanstone
in London for the purpose of obtaining his intercession; and, failing
in that, I myself wrote to his father for the second time. The answer
referred me, in insolently curt terms, to the instructions already
communicated; declared those instructions to be final; and declined any
further correspondence with me. There is the beginning and the end
of the negotiation. If I have overlooked any means of touching this
heartless man--tell me, and those means shall be tried."

He looked at Norah. She pressed her sister's hand encouragingly, and
answered for both of them.

"I speak for my sister, as well as for myself," she said, with her color
a little heightened, with her natural gentleness of manner just touched
by a quiet, uncomplaining sadness. "You have done all that could be
done, Mr. Pendril. We have tried to restrain ourselves from hoping too
confidently; and we are deeply grateful for your kindness, at a time
when kindness is sorely needed by both of us."

Magdalen's hand returned the pressure of her sister's--withdrew
itself--trifled for a moment impatiently with the arrangement of her
dress--then suddenly moved the chair closer to the table. Leaning
one arm on it (with the hand fast clinched), she looked across at Mr.
Pendril. Her face, always remarkable for its want of color, was now
startling to contemplate, in its blank, bloodless pallor. But the light
in her large gray eyes was bright and steady as ever; and her voice,
though low in tone, was clear and resolute in accent as she addressed
the lawyer in these terms:

"I understood you to say, Mr. Pendril, that my father's brother had
sent his written orders to London, and that you had a copy. Have you
preserved it?"

"Certainly."

"Have you got it about you?"

"I have."

"May I see it?"

Mr. Pendril hesitated, and looke