he will let me. He shall let me. Don't you know
that you are never to have me off your hands, uncle? No, no, I shall
stick to you like a burr. You may go up to the tip-top of Chimborazo
if you please, but you'll not shake me off.'

It was her fixed purpose to accompany him, and she was not solicitous
to dissuade him from going, for she could be avaricious for James's
children, and had a decided wish for justice on the guilty party; and,
besides, Clara had a private vision of her own, which made her dance in
her little room. Mary had written in her father's stead--there was not
a word of Mr. Ward--indeed, Mr. Ponsonby was evidently so ill that his
daughter could think of nothing else. Might not Clara come in time to
clear up any misunderstanding--convince Mr. Ponsonby--describe Louis's
single-hearted constancy during all these five years, and bring Mary
home to him in triumph? She could have laughed aloud with delight at
the possibility; and when the other alternative occurred to her, she
knit her brows with childish vehemence, as she promised Miss Mary that
she would never be her bridesmaid.

Presently she heard Fitzjocelyn's voice in the parlour, and, going
down, found him in consultation over a letter which Charlotte had
brought to her master. It was so well written and expressed, that
Louis turned to the signature before he could quite believe that it was
from his old pupil. Tom wrote to communicate his perplexity at the
detection of the frauds practised on his employers. He had lately been
employed in the office at Lima, where much had excited his suspicion;
and, finally, from having 'opened a letter addressed by mistake to the
firm, but destined for an individual, he had discovered that large
sums, supposed to be required by the works, or lost in the Equatorial
failure, had been, in fact, invested in America in the name of that
party.' The secret was a grievous burthen. Mr. Ponsonby was far too
ill to be informed; besides that, he should only bring suspicion on
himself; and Miss Ponsonby was so much occupied as to be almost equally
inaccessible. Tom had likewise reason to believe that his own
movements were watched, and that any attempt to communicate with her or
her father would be baffled; and, above all, he could not endure
himself to act the spy and informer. He only wished that, if possible,
without mentioning names, Charlotte could give a hint that Mr. Dynevor
must not implicitly trust to all he