“Come, Isabel,” cried Charlotte.

“I cannot go, my dear Charlotte,” replied Isabel; “but do not let me prevent you or Laura from deciding for yourselves.”

“Not go!” cried the two sisters at once.  Isabel was firm; and Newton, who did not think himself authorised to interfere, was a silent witness to the continued persuasions and expostulations of the two elder, and the refusal of the younger sister.  Nearly half an hour thus passed away, when Charlotte and Laura decided that they would go, and send back the carriage for Isabel, who by that time would have come to her senses.  The heartless, unthinking girls tripped gaily down to the carriage, and drove off.  Newton, who had escorted them, retraced his steps, with a beating heart, to the room where he had left Isabel.

She was in tears.

“Do I intrude, Miss Revel?” said Newton, who could not repress his emotion at the sight.

“Oh, no!  I expected and wished that you would return, Mr Forster.  Do you think that you could find Captain Drawlock?  I should feel much obliged if you would take that trouble for me.”

“I will immediately go in search of him, if you wish it.  Believe me, Miss Revel, I feel most sincerely for your situation; and, if it were not considered an impertinent question, I should ask you what may be your present intentions?”

“Acquainted as you are with all the circumstances, Mr Forster, the question is not impertinent, but kind.  God knows that I require an adviser.  I would, if possible, conceal the facts from Captain Drawlock.  It is not for a daughter to publish a father’s errors; but you know all, and I can therefore have no scruple in consulting with you:  I do not see why I should.  My resolution is, at best, a hasty one; but it is, never to enter the house of my relation under such humiliating circumstances—­that is decided:  but how to act, or what to do, is where I require advice.  I am in a cruel situation.  What a helpless creature is a woman!  Were I a man, I could have worked my passage home, or have honestly obtained my bread in this place; but a woman—­a young and unprotected woman—­in a distant clime, and without a friend—­”

“Do not say that you are without a friend; one who has at least the will, if not the power to serve you,” replied Newton.

“No—­not without a friend; but what avails a friend whose assistance I could not accept?  It is to Captain Drawlock, therefore, that I must apply, and, painful as it may be, throw myself upon his generosity; for that reason I wished to see him.  He may advise some means by which I may obtain a passage home.  I will return in any capacity—­as a nurse to children, as an attendant—­anything that is creditable.  I would watch over the couch of fever, pestilence, and plague, for months, rather than appear to be a party to my father’s duplicity.  Oh!  Mr Forster, what must you think of the daughters, after what you have heard of the parent’s conduct?”—­and Isabel burst into tears.