It was broken by Mrs. Markland,
who grasped the hand of her husband, and said, in a low, impressive
voice--
"Fanny is yet with us--yet in the sheltered fold of home, though her
eyes have wandered beyond its happy boundaries and her ears are
hearkening to a voice that is now calling her from the distance.
Yet, under our loving guardianship, may we not do much to save her
from consequences my fearful heart has prophesied?"
"What can we do?" Mr. Markland spoke with the air of one bewildered.
"Guard her from all further approaches of this man; at least, until
we know him better. There is a power of attraction about him that
few so young and untaught in the world's strange lessons as our
child, can resist."
"He attracts strongly, I know," said Mr. Markland, in an absent way.
"And therefore the greater our child's danger, if he be of evil
heart."
"You, wrong him, believe me, Agnes, by even this intimation. I will
vouch for him as a man of high and honourable principles." Mr.
Markland spoke with some warmth of manner.
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