But it is too late now.
"I wrote you yesterday that I wished you to sign a deed which Mr.
Elbridge would send out.

He will send two more, which I would also like you to sign.

I am making some investments here of great prospective value." Mrs.Markland read this letter over and over again, and sat and thought about its contents until her mind grew so bewildered that it seemed as if reason were about to depart.

If it was suggested that she ought not to sign the deeds that were to be presented for her signature, the suggestion was not for a single moment entertained; but rather flung aside with something of indignation.
A day or two after Mr.Willet called with the message from Mr.
Markland, he went over again to Woodbine Lodge.

It was late in the afternoon, and Fanny was sitting in the portico that looked from the western front of the dwelling, with her thoughts so far away from the actual things around her that she did not notice the approach of any one, until Mr.Willet, whom she had never met, was only a few yards distant; then she looked up, and as her eyes rested upon him, she started to her feet and struck her hands together, uttering an involuntary exclamation of surprise.