A PLEASANT PIECE OP INTELLIGEXCE. 339 



"Very well, sir," replied Mr. Harcourt, writing hia 

 solicitors' address on a card ; " these are the names of my legal 

 advisers, to whom I must refer you for any further communica- 

 tion on this most extraordinary business j " hearing which, Mr. 

 Mangle, with a stifi" bow, made his exit. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



"A PLEASANT piece of intelligence, truly," exclaimed Mrs. 

 Harcourt, when the door closed ; " so we are to refund all tho 

 money we have received on account of that wilful, perverse 

 girl, who would have married Lord Danby and been off our 

 hands by this time, if you had exercised your authority as her 

 guardian ought to have done, and not given way to her ridicu- 

 lous fancies about love and such nonsense." 



" You know very well, Mrs. Harcourt, I could not compel 

 her to marry against her inclination ; but as she is now under 

 Mrs. Gordon's protection, I shall resign my guardianship in. 

 favour of that lady ; that is, in the event of this young man 

 establishing his claim to the property, or producing any docu- 

 ments likely to prove it ; that is the course, my dear, I shall 

 adopt." 



" And a very wise one, too, Mr. Harcourt, and the sooner 

 that is done the better." 



" "Well, my dear, I will order the carriage directly — go first 

 into the City to see my solicitors, and prepare them for a visit 

 from this Mr. Mangles, and then call in Grosvenor Square, to 

 apprise Lady Malcolm and Mrs. Gordon of what has occurred." 



The consternation of these two ladies, Avhen informed by Mr. 

 Harcourt that a claimant had arisen to disj^ute their niece's right 

 to her father's property, may be imagined. They sat in muto 

 astonishment and dismay, as that gentleman proceeded in his 

 narrative ; when, at its close, Mrs. Gordon exclaimed, "It is 

 all a trick, Mr. Harcourt, a vile imposition, as my brother was 

 never married to that woman until a few weeks previous to his 

 death, and his youngest child, a daughter, was then two years 

 old." 



" But how can you prove this, Mrs. Gordon 1 — that is tba 

 q^uestion." 



" By the servant who lived with him at the time, as nurs© 



V 2 



