“Never say so, my love!” cried her ladyship, reviving fast. “Well, now, this time, don’t you think, dearest Deb that you should compound with him? What does he offer you?”
“You are mistaken, ma’am; he does not offer me anything He threatens me instead!”
“Threatens you?” exclaimed her aunt. “For heaven’s sake, child, what with?”
“Mr Ravenscar,” said Deborah, through her teeth, “beg: leave to inform me that he has acquired—acquired!—certain bills of exchange drawn by you, and a mortgage on this house.”
“What?” almost screamed Lady Bellingham. “He can’t have acquired them! Ormskirk holds them! You know he does! Ii must be a trick to frighten you!”
“No, it isn’t, and I am not in the least frightened!” said Miss Grantham indignantly. “He has got them from Ormskirk, that much is plain.”
“I can’t believe such a thing! Ormskirk would never give them up, I am persuaded!”
“You said he was badly dipped, Aunt Lizzie,” Deborah reminded her. “If Ravenscar offered to buy them from him, I daresay he may have been glad to agree to sell them.”
“I never heard of such treachery in my life!” declared her ladyship. “It passes everything! Besides, if he does not hold the bills any longer, what hope can Ormskirk have of persuading you, my love?”
Miss Grantham thought this over, wrinkling her brow over the problem. “I daresay he might think he had no hope of me,” she said at last. “If he believes I am about to marry Adrian, that would be it, no doubt.”