Now that his fears were
aroused, he could not stop short of a thorough examination of
affairs, and that, too, at the chief point of operations, which lay
thousands of miles distant.
Letters from Mr. Lyon awaited his return from New York. They said
little of matters about which he now most desired specific
information, while they seemed to communicate a great many important
facts in regard to the splendid enterprise in which they were
engaged. Altogether, they left no satisfactory impression on his
mind. One of them, bearing a later date than the rest, disturbed him
deeply. It was the first, for some months, in which allusion was
made to his daughter. The closing paragraph of this letter ran
thus:--
"I have not found time, amid this pressure of business, to write a
word to your daughter for some weeks. Say to her that I ever bear
her in respectful remembrance, and shall refer to the days spent at
Woodbine Lodge as among the brightest of my life."
There had been no formal application for the hand of his daughter up
to this time; yet had it not crossed the thought of Markland that
any other result would follow; for the relation into which Lyon had
voluntarily brought himself left no room for honourable retreat.
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