expected on Monday?"

"Yes, miss--I told them Sir Percival Glyde was coming. I hope there
was no harm in it--I hope I didn't do wrong."

"Oh no, no harm. Come, Mr. Hartright, Hannah will begin to think us in
the way, if we interrupt her any longer over her work."

We stopped and looked at one another the moment we were alone again.

"Is there any doubt in your mind, NOW, Miss Halcombe?"

"Sir Percival Glyde shall remove that doubt, Mr. Hartright--or Laura
Fairlie shall never be his wife."

XV

As we walked round to the front of the house a fly from the railway
approached us along the drive. Miss Halcombe waited on the door-steps
until the fly drew up, and then advanced to shake hands with an old
gentleman, who got out briskly the moment the steps were let down. Mr.
Gilmore had arrived.

I looked at him, when we were introduced to each other, with an
interest and a curiosity which I could hardly conceal. This old man
was to remain at Limmeridge House after I had left it, he was to hear
Sir Percival Glyde's explanation, and was to give Miss Halcombe the
assistance of his experience in forming her judgment; he was to wait
until the question of the marriage was set at rest; and his hand, if
that question were decided in the affirmative, was to draw the
settlement which bound Miss Fairlie irrevocably to her engagement.
Even then, when I knew nothing by comparison with what I know now, I
looked at the family lawyer with an interest which I had never felt
before in the presence of any man breathing who was a total stranger to
me.

In external appearance Mr. Gilmore was the exact opposite of the
conventional idea of an old lawyer. His complexion was florid--his
white hair was worn rather long and kept carefully brushed--his black
coat, waistcoat, and trousers fitted him with perfect neatness--his
white cravat was carefully tied, and his lavender-coloured kid gloves
might have adorned the hands of a fashionable clergyman, without fear
and without reproach. His manners were pleasantly marked by the formal
grace and refinement of the old school of politeness, quickened by the
invigorating sharpness and readiness of a man whose business in life
obliges him always to keep his faculties in good working order. A
sanguine constitution and fair prospects to begin with--a long
subsequent career of creditable and comfortable prosperity--a cheerful,
diligent, widely-respected old age--such were the general impressi