Well, and what did your aunt say ?" My aunt had said much more than I could possibly tell him.
In substance it had come to this:--After seeing the whip, and seeing the chains, and seeing the man--she had actually determined to commit herself to the perilous experiment which her husband would have tried, if he had lived! As to the means of procuring Jack Straw's liberation from the Hospital, the powerful influence which had insisted on his being received by the Institution, in defiance of rules, could also insist on his release, and could be approached by the intercession of the same official person, whose interest in the matter had been aroused by Mr.Wagner in the last days of his life.

Having set forth her plans for the future in these terms, my aunt appealed to the lawyer to state the expression of her wishes and intentions, in formal writing, as a preliminary act of submission towards the governors of the asylum.
"And what did the lawyer say to it ?" Fritz inquired, after I had reported my aunt's proceedings thus far.
"The lawyer declined, Fritz, to comply with her request.

He said, 'It would be inexcusable, even in a man, to run such a risk--I don't believe there is another woman in England who would think of such a thing.' Those were his words." "Did they have any effect on her ?" "Not the least in the world.

She apologized for having wasted his valuable time, and wished him good morning.

'If nobody will help me,' she said, quietly, 'I must help myself.' Then she turned to me.