If she is, her friends may whistle for her.

If she isn't, I have only to keep her till the bills are posted." Fortified by this simple plan of action, the captain returned to the charge, and politely placed Magdalen between the two inevitable alternatives of trusting herself to him, on the one hand, or of returning to her friends, on the other.
"I respect independence of character wherever I find it," he said, with an air of virtuous severity.

"In a young and lovely relative, I more than respect--I admire it.

But (excuse the bold assertion), to walk on a way of your own, you must first have a way to walk on.

Under existing circumstances, where is _your_ way?
Mr.Huxtable is out of the question, to begin with." "Out of the question for to-night," said Magdalen; "but what hinders me from writing to Mr.Huxtable, and making my own private arrangements with him for to-morrow ?" "Granted with all my heart--a hit, a palpable hit.