As she silently read the paragraph a tremor passed through her frame, and her heart began to throb wildly, but no emotion was visible.
"I am quite well acquainted with Mr. Lawson. He is a very great friend of my father's," were the words that rose to the girl's lips when she had gained courage to speak.
"That is splendid," exclaimed Edith, who now became interested in the matter; "I suppose he is young, and handsome beside," added she in a different tone.
"Keep that part of it to yourself, Miss Verne," said Mr. Metcalfe, in a tantalizing manner; "Miss Edith is not going to rob New Brunswick's daughters of what is theirs by right."
"But if the fortune be forthcoming here we should insist that the heir give some fair one here the benefit of it," cried Edith, who thought she had the best side of the argument.
"Don't quarrel over this matter, I pray," said the distant relative with a merry twinkle in his eye, "I am going to ship for St. John one of these days, and will, if possible, visit the McGregor heir and make him acquainted with the designs of my fair Saxon Edith."
"And you will exonerate Miss Verne from any complicity in the matter."
"Most certainly I do," said the relative, while Marguerite Verne hurried carelessly away to hide the tell-tale blushes which sooner or later would betray her.