On this occasion Captain Wragge made no attempt to follow him. The
handbill revealed plainly enough that the man's next object was to
complete the necessary arrangements with the local solicitor on the
subject of the promised reward.

Having seen and heard enough for his immediate purpose, the captain
retraced his steps down the street, turned to the right, and entered
on the Esplanade, which, in that quarter of the city, borders the
river-side between the swimming-baths and Lendal Tower. "This is a
family matter," said Captain Wragge to himself, persisting, from sheer
force of habit, in the old assertion of his relationship to Magdalen's
mother; "I must consider it in all its bearings." He tucked the umbrella
under his arm, crossed his hands behind him, and lowered himself
gently into the abyss of his own reflections. The order and propriety
observable in the captain's shabby garments accurately typified the
order and propriety which distinguished the operations of the captain's
mind. It was his habit always to see his way before him through a neat
succession of alternatives--and so he saw it now.

Three courses were open to him in connection with the remarkable
discovery which he had just made. The first course was to do nothing in
the matter at all. Inadmissible, on family grounds: equally inadmissible
on pecuniary grounds: rejected accordingly. The second course was
to deserve the gratitude of the young lady's friends, rated at fifty
pounds. The third course was, by a timely warning to deserve the
gratitude of the young lady herself, rated--at an unknown figure.
Between these two last alternatives the wary Wragge hesitated; not from
doubt of Magdalen's pecuniary resources--for he was totally ignorant
of the circumstances which had deprived the sisters of their
inheritance--but from doubt whether an obstacle in the shape of an
undiscovered gentleman might not be privately connected with her
disappearance from home. After mature reflection, he determined to
pause, and be guided by circumstances. In the meantime, the first
consideration was to be beforehand with the messenger from London, and
to lay hands securely on the young lady herself.

"I feel for this misguided girl," mused the captain, solemnly strutting
backward and forward by the lonely river-side. "I always have looked
upon her--I always shall look upon her--in the light of a niece."

Where was the adopted relative at that moment? In other words, how