ott, L.

Mur Oh! for one minute's clear head, Miss Florence.

Flo I presume you are the writer of this?

Mur Yes, I am.

Flo You address me as an old acquaintance, but I do not recognize you.

Mur So much the better. So much the better.

Flo I hate mystery, sir; but you see I have come to rendezvous. I must
know to whom I am speaking.

Mur As frank as ever. I am Abel Murcott.

Flo Starting back! You?

Mur Do not be ashamed, I have not the strength to injure you, if I had
the evil. In this shabby, broken down drunkard you need not fear the
madman, who years ago forgot in his frantic passion the gulf that lay
between your station and his own. I am harmless except to my self.

Flo Speak on, sir; I hear you.

Mur I need not tell you by what steps I came to this, you don't know,
maybe you never knew, what a maddening thing a passion is when it turns
against itself. After being expelled from my tutorship in this house, I
lost my employment, self respect, hope. I sought to drown recollection
and draw courage from drink. It only embittered remembrances, and
destroyed the little courage I had left. That I have bread to eat, I
owe to Mr. Coyle; he employed me as his clerk. You know he has been with
your father this morning. I have come to tell you my errand; are you as
brave as you used to be when I knew--

Flo I fear nothing.

Mur I come to tell you of your father's ruin, his utter ruin.

Flo My father's ruin? What? What?

Mur His estates are mortgaged, his creditors clamorous. The Bailiffs
will be in Trenchard Manor to-day, disguised as your own servants. This
much Mr. Coyle has conceded to your father's respect for appearances.

Flo Then beggary stares him in the face. Poor father, what a sad blow
for him. Is that all, sir?

Mur No; the worst remains.

Flo Go on, sir.

Mur Coyle knows your father's weakness and as a means of escape from
ruin to the verge of which he has brought him, he has this day proposed
for your hand.

Flo Mine!

Mur On consideration of settling on you the Ravensdale Estate.

Flo And my father, how did he listen to such insolence?

Mur You know as well as I do how he would hear such a proposal, at first
a torrent of rage, then the strong ebb of selfishness set in, and
he consented to listen to the terms, to view them as something to be
considered, to consider them.

Flo Good Heavens, can this be true? No, I will not believe it of my
father, and from such lips.

Mur You h