“I have made up my mind, sir; sit down, please, and listen to me.” The
old dealer had been fully convinced that Henrietta would come to that;
but he had not hoped for it so soon. He could not help exclaiming, “At
last!” and intense, almost delirious joy shone in his eyes. Even this
joy seemed to be so unnatural, that the young girl was made quite
uncomfortable by it. Fixing her eyes upon the old man with all the power
of observation of which she was capable, she said,--
“I am fully aware that what I am about to do is almost unparalleled in
rashness. I put myself, to a certain extent, absolutely in your power,
sir,--the power of an utter stranger, of whom I am told I have every
thing to fear.”
“O miss!” he declared, “believe me”--