r your head. Egad, sir!" cried Mr. Pedgift, looking at his watch,
"it's only seven o'clock now. She's bold enough and clever enough
to catch you unawares this very evening. Permit me to ring for the
servant--permit me to request that you will give him orders immediately
to say you are not at home. You needn't hesitate, Mr. Armadale! If
you're right about Miss Gwilt, it's a mere formality. If I'm right, it's
a wise precaution. Back your opinion, sir," said Mr. Pedgift, ringing
the bell; "I back mine!"

Allan was sufficiently nettled when the bell rang to feel ready to
give the order. But when the servant came in, past remembrances got the
better of him, and the words stuck in his throat. "You give the order,"
he said to Mr. Pedgift, and walked away abruptly to the window.
"You're a good fellow!" thought the old lawyer, looking after him, and
penetrating his motive on the instant. "The claws of that she-devil
shan't scratch you if I can help it."

The servant waited inexorably for his orders.

"If Miss Gwilt calls here, either this evening, or at any other time,"
said Pedgift Senior, "Mr. Armadale is not at home. Wait! If she asks
when Mr. Armadale will be back, you don't know. Wait! If she proposes
coming in and sitting down, you have a general order that nobody is to
come in and sit down unless they have a previous appointment with Mr.
Armadale. Come!" cried old Pedgift, rubbing his hands cheerfully when
the servant had left the room, "I've stopped her out now, at any
rate! The orders are all given, Mr. Armadale. We may go on with our
conversation."

Allan came back from the window. "The conversation is not a very
pleasant one," he said. "No offense to you, but I wish it was over."

"We will get it over as soon as possible, sir," said Pedgift Senior,
still persisting, as only lawyers and women _can_ persist, in forcing
his way little by little nearer and nearer to his own object. "Let us go
back, if you please, to the practical suggestion which I offered to you
when the servant came in with Miss Gwilt's note. There is, I repeat,
only one way left for you, Mr. Armadale, out of your present awkward
position. You must pursue your inquiries about this woman to an end--on
the chance (which I consider next to a certainty) that the end will
justify you in the estimation of the neighborhood."

"I wish to God I had never made any inquiries at all!" said Allan.
"Nothing will induce me, Mr. Pedgift, to make any more."

"Wh