"The audacious, impudent scoundrel!"
"You think, then, that I should refuse him?"
"You are a fool, an ass! a downright old soft-headed fool!" Such was the old gentleman's answer to her question.
"But I didn't know what to say without consulting you," said Miss Baker, with her handkerchief to her face.
"Not know! Don't you know that he's a swindler, a reprobate, a penniless adventurer? Good heavens! And you are such a fool as that! It's well that you are not to be left at Littlebath by yourself."
Miss Baker made no attempt to defend herself, but, bursting into tears, assured her uncle that she would be guided by him. Under his absolute dictation she wrote the enclosed short answer to Sir Lionel.
Hadley, January —, 184—.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Bertram says that it will be sufficient to let you know that he would not give me a penny during his life, or leave me a penny at his death if I were to become your wife.
Yours truly,
Mary Baker.
That was all that the old gentleman would allow; but as she folded the letter, she surreptitiously added the slightest imaginable postscript to explain the matter—such words as occurred to her at the spur of the moment.
"He is so angry about it all!"
After that Miss Baker was not allowed back to Littlebath, even to pack up or pay her bills, or say good-bye to those she left behind. The servant had to do it all. Reflecting on the danger which had been surmounted, Mr. Bertram determined that she should not again be put in the way of temptation.