I entirely agree with the lady that the inquiries of the consul at Mannheim are far from being conclusive.
Furnish me with satisfactory evidence either that there is, or is not, such a person really in existence as Mercy Merrick, and I will give you a positive opinion on the case whenever you choose to ask for it.' "Those words have decided me on starting for the Continent and renewing the search for Mercy Merrick.
"My friend the lawyer wonders jocosely whether _I_ am in my right senses.

His advice is that I should apply to the nearest magistrate, and relieve you and myself of all further trouble in that way.
"Perhaps you agree with him?
My dear aunt (as you have often said), I do nothing like other people.

I am interested in this case.

I cannot abandon a forlorn woman who has been confided to me to the tender mercies of strangers, so long as there is any hope of my making discoveries which may be instrumental in restoring her to herself--perhaps, also, in restoring her to her friends.
"I start by the mail-train of to-night.

My plan is to go first to Mannheim and consult with the consul and the hospital doctors; then to find my way to the German surgeon and to question _him_; and, that done, to make the last and hardest effort of all--the effort to trace the French ambulance and to penetrate the mystery of Mercy Merrick.
"Immediately on my return I will wait on you, and tell you what I have accomplished, or how I have failed.
"In the meanwhile, pray be under no alarm about the reappearance of this unhappy woman at your house.