Hathaway, must admit that, with his reputation and
habits, he was hardly a fit associate for a young lady. Indeed,
Mr. Woods would have never allowed Milly to invite Yerba here if
Colonel Pendleton was to have been her escort. Of course, the poor
girl could not choose her own guardian, but Mr. Woods said HE had a
right to choose who should be his niece's company. Perhaps Mr.
Woods was prejudiced,--most men were,--yet surely Mr. Hathaway,
although a loyal friend of Colonel Pendleton's, must admit that
when it was an open scandal that the colonel had fought a duel
about a notoriously common woman, and even blasphemously defended
her before a party of gentlemen, it was high time, as Mr. Woods
said, that he should be remanded to their company exclusively. No;
Mrs. Woods could not admit that this was owing to the injustice of
her own sex! Men are really the ones who make the fuss over those
things, just as they, as Mr. Hathaway well knew, made the laws!
No; it was a great pity, as she and her husband had just agreed,
that Mr. Hathaway, of all the guardians, could not have been always
the help and counselor--in fact, the elder brother--of poor Yerba!
Paul was conscious that he winced slightly, consistently and
conscientiously, at the recollection of certain passages of his
youth; inconsistently and meanly, at this suggestion of a joint
relationship with Yerba's mother.
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