It would be useless for anybody
else to undertake the task, and of course I cannot guarantee that even
you will succeed, but I will not mince matters--as you doubtless know,
any man would find it hard to refuse a favour asked by such a
suppliant. And now you must make up your own mind. I have shown you a
path that may lead your family from a position of the most imminent
peril. If you are the woman I take you for, you will not shrink from
following it."
Ida made no reply, and in another moment the Squire came in to take a
couple of glasses of sherry and a biscuit. But Mr. Quest, furtively
watching her face, said to himself that she had taken the bait and
that she would do it. Shortly after this a diversion occurred, for the
clergyman, Mr. Jeffries, a pleasant little man, with a round and
shining face and a most unclerical eyeglass, came up to consult the
Squire upon some matter of parish business, and was shown into the
dining-room. Ida took advantage of his appearance to effect a retreat
to her own room, and there for the present we may leave her to her
meditations.
No more business was discussed by the Squire that afternoon. Indeed it
interested Mr. Quest, who was above all things a student of character,
to observe how wonderfully the old gentleman threw off his trouble.
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