第44章

"No," answered the resolute old lady, "I won't let you go.Come back with me."As she said those words she noticed with a certain fond pride the brilliant color mounting in his cheeks--the flashing brightness which lent an added luster to his eyes.He had never, to her mind, looked so handsome before.She took his arm, and led him to the chairs which they had just left.It was shocking, it was wrong (she mentally admitted) to look on Mercy, under the circumstances, with any other eye than the eye of a brother or a friend.In a clergyman (perhaps) doubly shocking, doubly wrong.But, with all her respect for the vested interests of Horace, Lady Janet could not blame Julian.Worse still, she was privately conscious that he had, somehow or other, risen, rather than fallen, in her estimation within the last minute or two.Who could deny that her adopted daughter was a charming creature? Who could wonder if a man of refined tastes admired her? Upon the whole, her ladyship humanely decided that her nephew was rather to be pitied than blamed.What daughter of Eve (no matter whether she was seventeen or seventy) could have honestly arrived at any other conclusion? Do what a man may--let him commit anything he likes, from an error to a crime--so long as there is a woman at the bottom of it, there is an inexhaustible fund of pardon for him in every other woman's heart."Sit down," said Lady Janet, smiling in spite of herself; "and don't talk in that horrible way again.A man, Julian--especially a famous man like you--ought to know how to control himself."Julian burst out laughing bitterly.

"Send upstairs for my self-control," he said."It's in her possession--not in mine.Good morning, aunt."He rose from his chair.Lady Janet instantly pushed him back into it.

"I insist on your staying here," she said, "if it is only for a few minutes longer.I have something to say to you.""Does it refer to Miss Roseberry?"

"It refers to the hateful woman who frightened Miss Roseberry.Now are you satisfied?"Julian bowed, and settled himself in his chair.

"I don't much like to acknowledge it," his aunt went on."But I want you to understand that I have something really serious to speak about, for once in a way.Julian! that wretch not only frightens Grace--she actually frightens me.""Frightens you? She is quite harmless, poor thing.""'Poor thing'!" repeated Lady Janet."Did you say 'poor thing'?""Yes."

"Is it possible that you pity her?"

"From the bottom of my heart."

The old lady's temper gave way again at that reply."I hate a man who can't hate anybody!" she burst out."If you had been an ancient Roman, Julian, I believe you would have pitied Nero himself."Julian cordially agreed with her."I believe I should," he said, quietly."All sinners, my dear aunt, are more or less miserable sinners.Nero must have been one of the wretchedest of mankind.""Wretched!" exclaimed Lady Janet."Nero wretched! A man who committed robbery, arson and murder to his own violin accompaniment-- only wretched! What next, I wonder? When modern philanthropy begins to apologize for Nero, modern philanthropy has arrived at a pretty pass indeed! We shall hear next that Bloody Queen Mary was as playful as a kitten; and if poor dear Henry the Eighth carried anything to an extreme, it was the practice of the domestic virtues.Ah, how I hate cant! What were we talking about just now? You wander from the subject, Julian; you are what I call bird-witted.I protest I forget what I wanted to say to you.No, I won't be reminded of it.I may be an old woman, but I am not in my dotage yet! Why do you sit there staring? Have you nothing to say for yourself? Of all the people in the world, have you lost the use of your tongue?"Julian's excellent temper and accurate knowledge of his aunt's character exactly fitted him to calm the rising storm.He contrived to lead Lady Janet insensibly back to the lost subject by dexterous reference to a narrative which he had thus far left untold--the narrative of his adventures on the Continent.

"I have a great deal to say, aunt," he replied."I have not yet told you of my discoveries abroad."Lady Janet instantly took the bait.

"I knew there was something forgotten," she said."You have been all this time in the house, and you have told me nothing.Begin directly."Patient Julian began.

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