"
"Let me go up to him," said Mr. Farquhar.
"He won't let you in. It will be of no use." But in spite of what
they said, he went up; and to their surprise, after hearing who
it was, their father opened the door, and admitted their
brother-in-law. He remained with Mr. Bradshaw about half-an-hour,
and then came into the dining-room, where the two girls stood
huddled over the fire, regardless of the untasted breakfast
behind them; and, writing a few lines, he desired them to take
his note up to their mother, saying that it would comfort her a
little, and that he should send Jemima, in two or three hours,
with the baby--perhaps to remain some days with them. He had no
time to tell them more; Jemima would.
He left them, and rejoined Mr. Benson. "Come home and breakfast
with me. I am off to London in an hour or two, and must speak
with you first."
On reaching his house, he ran upstairs to ask Jemima to breakfast
alone in her dressing-room, and returned in five minutes or less.
"Now I can tell you about it," said he. "I see my way clearly to
a certain point. We must prevent Dick and his father meeting just
now, or all hope of Dick's reformation is gone for ever. His
father is as hard as the nether millstone. He has forbidden me
his house."
"Forbidden you!"
"Yes; because I would not give up Dick as utterly lost and bad;
and because I said I should return to London with the clerk, and
fairly tell Dennison (he's a Scotchman, and a man of sense and
feeling) the real state of the case.
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