time listened to her fruitless complaints; but until
your father, who is the laggard one of this most mis-
appointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of
a castigating conscience, or prompted by the spur of
your poor mother's sharp appeals, come up abreast,
and fill a certain chasm of omission by an indemnify-
ing deed, which has been by him most selfishly left
undone, but whose performance is essential to the full
fruition by you of your fortune, you must remain, as
you have hitherto done, my foster-child, and your
grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold waiting
for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me
beseech you, as though I were the mother I have
spoken of, to think no further of young Claude
Montigny."

[[52]]

p051 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p052w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p053

v?