Miranda, having shook off her crawling
acquaintances, watched them glancing along the foul floor in the
darkness, and went moodily on.
"It was three years ago when I was fifteen years old, as I told
you, that a change took place in my life. Up to that time, that
miserable dwarf was what people would call my guardian, and did
not trouble me much with his heavenly company. He was a great
deal from our house, sometimes absent for weeks together; and I
remember I used to envy the freedom with which he came and went,
far more than I ever wondered where he spent his precious time.
I did not know then that he belonged to the honorable profession
of highwaymen, with variations of coining when travelers were few
and money scarce. He was then, and is still, at the head of a
formidable gang, over whom he wields most desperate authority -
as perhaps you have noticed during the brief and pleasant period
of your acquaintance."
"Really, madam, it struck me that your authority over them was
much more despotic than his," said Sir Norman, in all sincerity,
feeling called upon to give the - well, I'd rather not repeat the
word, which is generally spelled with a d and a dash - his due.
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