n, "Miss Gwilt."

Allan opened the letter. The first two words in it were the echo of the
two words the lawyer had just pronounced. It _was_ Miss Gwilt!

Once more, Allan looked at his legal adviser in speechless astonishment.

"I have known a good many of them in my time, sir," explained Pedgift
Senior, with a modesty equally rare and becoming in a man of his age.
"Not as handsome as Miss Gwilt, I admit. But quite as bad, I dare say.
Read your letter, Mr. Armadale--read your letter."

Allan read these lines:

"Miss Gwilt presents her compliments to Mr. Armadale and begs to know if
it will be convenient to him to favor her with an interview, either this
evening or to-morrow morning. Miss Gwilt offers no apology for making
her present request. She believes Mr. Armadale will grant it as an act
of justice toward a friendless woman whom he has been innocently the
means of injuring, and who is earnestly desirous to set herself right in
his estimation."

Allan handed the letter to his lawyer in silent perplexity and distress.

The face of Mr. Pedgift the elder expressed but one feeling when he
had read the letter in his turn and had handed it back--a feeling of
profound admiration. "What a lawyer she would have made," he exclaimed,
fervently, "if she had only been a man!"

"I can't treat this as lightly as you do, Mr. Pedgift," said Allan.
"It's dreadfully distressing to me. I was so fond of her," he added, in
a lower tone--"I was so fond of her once."

Mr. Pedgift Senior suddenly became serious on his side.

"Do you mean to say, sir, that you actually contemplate seeing Miss
Gwilt?" he asked, with an expression of genuine dismay.

"I can't treat her cruelly," returned Allan. "I have been the means of
injuring her--without intending it, God knows! I can't treat her cruelly
after that!"

"Mr. Armadale," said the lawyer, "you did me the honor, a little while
since, to say that you considered me your friend. May I presume on that
position to ask you a question or two, before you go straight to your
own ruin?"

"Any questions you like," said Allan, looking back at the letter--the
only letter he had ever received from Miss Gwilt.

"You have had one trap set for you already, sir, and you have fallen
into it. Do you want to fall into another?"

"You know the answer to that question, Mr. Pedgift, as well as I do."

"I'll try again, Mr. Armadale; we lawyers are not easily discouraged. Do
you think that any state