‘Some person’s troubles,’ returned Inez; ‘are brought on them by themselves; by their own vices, and—’
‘Ah!’ interrupted the old woman, snappishly; ‘no doubt you think that a very pointed and sarcastic observation, but, as the cap don’t happen to fit me, I shall not wear it. Mr. Blodget will pay you a visit presently, and perhaps you may deem it prudent to behave a little more civil to him.’
Inez shuddered.
‘Oh, tell me,’ she said; ‘is he in the house?’
‘Oh, yes, to be sure he is,’ answered the old woman; ‘for he has taken up his quarters here altogether now, and therefore you will have plenty of his company.’
‘Living in the same house,’ muttered our heroine to herself, and she trembled more violently than before; ‘alas! what will become of me?’
‘Oh, no doubt he will take plenty of care of you, young lady,’ answered the old woman, with a bitter sneer.
‘He shall find,’ said Inez, mustering up sudden firmness, and speaking in a tone that astonished and abashed the old woman, ‘he shall find that I have both the spirit and the virtue to resist his importunities, and Heaven will aid me to defeat his design. The guilty wretch; surely for his many crimes a terrible retribution must be now pending o’er his head.’
‘The spirit you boast of, young lady,’ said the old woman, ‘I have no doubt will be very quickly turned, or Mr. Blodget is not half so accomplished as I take him to be.’
Inez darted upon her a look of disgust and indignation, but she could not make her any reply, and after making two or three observations of a similar description, the old woman quitted the room.