Inadmissible, on family grounds: equally inadmissible on pecuniary grounds: rejected accordingly.

The second course was to deserve the gratitude of the young lady's friends, rated at fifty pounds.

The third course was, by a timely warning to deserve the gratitude of the young lady herself, rated--at an unknown figure.
Between these two last alternatives the wary Wragge hesitated; not from doubt of Magdalen's pecuniary resources--for he was totally ignorant of the circumstances which had deprived the sisters of their inheritance--but from doubt whether an obstacle in the shape of an undiscovered gentleman might not be privately connected with her disappearance from home.

After mature reflection, he determined to pause, and be guided by circumstances.

In the meantime, the first consideration was to be beforehand with the messenger from London, and to lay hands securely on the young lady herself.
"I feel for this misguided girl," mused the captain, solemnly strutting backward and forward by the lonely river-side.