“There was, Sir,—and it affected me very sensibly. My niece, Sir, had a wery narrow escape.”
“Your niece! Really? How could that be?”
“There was a Mister Yelland Mace, Sir, who paid his haddresses to her, and I do believe, Sir, she rayther liked him. I don't know, I'm sure, whether he was serious in 'is haddresses, but it looked very like as if he meant to speak; though I do suppose he was looking 'igher for a wife. Well, he was believed to 'ave 'ad an 'and in that 'orrible business.”
“I know—so he undoubtably had—and the poor young lady, I suppose, was greatly shocked and distressed.”
“Yes, Sir, and she died about a year after.”
David Arden expressed his regret, and then he asked—
“You have often seen that man, Yelland Mace?”
“Not often, Sir.”
“You remember his face pretty well, I daresay?”
“Well, no, Sir, not very well. It is a long time.”