Miss Burnham is an orphan." "Has she any near relatives ?" "No.

You may speak to me as her guardian and her friend.

Are you alarmed about her ?" "I am seriously alarmed.

It is only two days since I called here last, and I see a marked change in her for the worse--physically and morally, a change for the worse.

Don't needlessly alarm yourself! The case is not, I trust, entirely beyond the reach of remedy.