“Bascombe Rectory, West Somerset, Thursday, July 8.
“MY DEAR MIDWINTER--One line before the post goes out, to relieve you of
all sense of responsibility at Thorpe Ambrose, and to make my apologies
to the lady who lives as governess in Major Milroy’s family.
“_The_ Miss Gwilt--or perhaps I ought to say, the woman calling herself
by that name--has, to my unspeakable astonishment, openly made
her appearance here, in my own parish! She is staying at the inn,
accompanied by a plausible-looking man, who passes as her brother. What
this audacious proceeding really means--unless it marks a new step in
the conspiracy against Allan, taken under new advice--is, of course,
more than I can yet find out.
“My own idea is, that they have recognized the impossibility of getting
at Allan, without finding me (or you) as an obstacle in their way; and
that they are going to make a virtue of necessity by boldly trying
to open their communications through me. The man looks capable of any
stretch of audacity; and both he and the woman had the impudence to bow
when I met them in the village half an hour since. They have been making
inquiries already about Allan’s mother here, where her exemplary life
may set their closest scrutiny at defiance. If they will only attempt to
extort money, as the price of the woman’s silence on the subject of poor
Mrs. Armadale’s conduct in Madeira at the time of her marriage, they
will find me well prepared for them beforehand. I have written by this
post to my lawyers to send a competent man to assist me, and he will
stay at the rectory, in any character which he thinks it safest to
assume under present circumstances.
“You shall hear what happens in the next day or two.
“Always truly yours, DECIMUS BROCK.”