and abominable arrogance!"

"I do not regard it in the slightest," said Edith, serenely. "It is only
assumption on his part. You are to come with me. If I pass through that
gate you are to come also. Come."

"Oh, my dearest, my own dearest Edith, do not!--wait!--come back and let
us talk over what we ought to do. Let us see a lawyer. Let us wait till
to-morrow, and see if a stranger like Wiggins can refuse admission to
the mistress of Dalton Hall."

"Beg pardon, mum," said the porter, "but Mr. Wiggins ain't refusin'
admission to Miss Dalton--it's others that he don't want, that's all.
The lawyers can't do any thin' agin that."

"My child," said Miss Plympton, "do you hear that? You shall not go.
This man knows well what he can do. He understands all the worst
injustice that can be done in the name of law. His whole life has been
lived in the practice of all those iniquities that the law winks at. You
see now at the outset what his purpose is. He will admit you, but not
your friends. He wishes to get you alone in his power. And why does he
not come himself? Why does he use such an agent as this?"

Miss Plympton spoke rapidly, and in excited tones, but her excitement
did not affect Edith in the slightest degree.

"I think you are altogether too imaginative," said she. "His orders are
absurd. If I go through that gate, you shall go too. Come."

"Edith! Edith! I implore you, my darling," cried Miss Plympton, "do not