"No, Lord Musselburgh," she said. "No. You need have no fear."
However, she seemed perturbed--perhaps in her anxiety that her nephew should not miss this great opportunity. Presently she said--
"Tell me, what do you know of this old man?--I can't make him out at all."
"I? I know nothing, or next to nothing," he said, lightly, as he gazed abroad on the busy river. "I remember Vin asking me the same question--I suppose out of curiosity about the girl. My recollection of her is that she was extremely pretty--refined-looking--lady-like, in fact--"
"She is, indeed," said Mrs. Ellison, with decision, "and that is what makes the situation all the more dangerous--assuming, of course, that there is any ground for one's natural suspicions. No, Vin is the last man in the world to be captured by any vulgar adventuress; he is at once too fastidious and too proud. But then, you see, he is well known to be the son of a very wealthy man; and there might be a design--" She hesitated for a moment: then she said, half impatiently: "Lord Musselburgh, tell me how you came to know this old man: he could not have sprung out of the earth all of a sudden."
"That was all?" she repeated, eyeing him shrewdly.
"What do you mean? That is really all I know of the old gentleman: isn't that what you asked?"
"But was that the whole of the interview, if I may be so impertinent as to inquire?" she demanded again.
"Ob, yes, it was," Lord Musselburgh said; and then he added, indifferently: "Of course I subscribed something towards the publication of a book he mentioned--he had written to me before about the project."
A slight tinge on Lord Musselburgh's forehead showed that he had not intended to make this admission.
"Oh, nothing--a trifle--it is usual when a book is coming out by subscription."
Mrs. Ellison sate silent for a little while: there was plenty going on on the river to interest her companion. Then by-and-bye she said slowly--
"Well, I had intended to keep clear of these new friends of Vin's. I thought it would be more prudent for me to know nothing. It is true, I was introduced to them yesterday afternoon; but I wished that to be all; I thought I would rather withdraw; and let things take their course. But I don't know that that would be honest and right. Vin is a young man with many fine and noble qualities--perhaps a little too fine and noble for the ordinary work-a-day world; and I think he ought to have the benefit of my sadly-earned experience and callous nature--"