Here, as his companion gave way to a loud fit of laughter, Adeline clearly understood what he meant by the term 'friend;' and summoning up all her spirit, she called a coach which luckily was passing; and turning round to her tormentor, with great dignity said,--'Though the situation, sir, in which I once was, may in the eyes of the world, and in yours, authorize and excuse your present insulting address, yet, when I tell you that I am on the eve of marriage with a most respectable man, I trust that you will feel the impropriety of your conduct, and be convinced of the fruitlessness and impertinence of the questions which you have put to me.' 'If this be the case, madam,' cried the gentleman, 'I beg your pardon, and shall take my leave, wishing you all possible happiness, and begging you to attribute my impertinence wholly to my ignorance.' So saying, he bowed and left her, and Adeline was driven to her lodgings. 'Now,' said Adeline, 'the die is cast;--I have used the sacred name of wife to shield me from insult; and I am therefore pledged to assume it directly. Yes, HE was right--I find I must have a legal protector.' She found Berrendale rather alarmed at her long absence; and, with a beating heart, she related her adventures to him: but when she said that Langley was not willing to take the fee, he exclaimed, 'Very genteel in him, indeed! I suppose you took him at his word?' 'Good Heavens!' replied Adeline, 'Do you think I would deign to owe such a man a pecuniary obligation?--No, indeed; I threw it with proud indignation on the floor.' 'What madness!' returned Berrendale: 'you had much better have put it in your pocket.' 'Mr Berrendale,' cried Adeline gravely, and with a look bordering on contempt, 'I trust that you are not in earnest: for if these are your sentiments,--if this is your delicacy, sir--' 'Say no more, dearest of women,' replied Berrendale pretending to laugh, alarmed at the seriousness with which she spoke: 'how could you for one moment suppose me in earnest? Insolent coxcomb!--I wish I had been there.' 'I wish you had,' said Adeline, 'for then no one would have dared to insult me:' and Berrendale, delighted at this observation, listened to the rest of her story with a spirit of indignant knight-errantry which he never experienced before; and at the end of her narration he felt supremely happy; for Adeline assured him that the next week she would make him her protector for life:--and this assurance opened his heart so much, that he vowed he would not condescend to claim of the heir-at-law the pitiful sum which he might think proper to withhold. To be brief.--Adeline kept her word: and resolutely struggling with her feelings, she became the next week the wife of Berrendale.