It was impossible for a man such as her
husband to behave harshly. Her conduct was cowardly, faithless,
unwomanly!'
'Trust one woman for thinking the worst of another,' observed
Jasper with something like a sneer.
Dora gave him a look of strong disapproval; one might have
suspected that brother and sister had before this fallen into
disagreement on the delicate topic. Whelpdale felt obliged to
interpose, and had of course no choice but to support the girl.
'I can only say,' he remarked with a smile, 'that Miss Dora takes
a very noble point of view. One feels that a wife ought to be
staunch. But it's so very unsafe to discuss matters in which one
cannot know all the facts.'
'We know quite enough of the facts,' said Dora, with delightful
pertinacity.
'Indeed, perhaps we do,' assented her slave. Then, turning to her
brother, 'Well, once more I congratulate you. I shall talk of
your article incessantly, as soon as it appears. And I shall
pester every one of my acquaintances to buy Reardon's books--
though it's no use to him, poor fellow. Still, he would have died
more contentedly if he could have foreseen this.
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