By a strong effort Carrie controlled herself, and walked to the study.
When she returned, a half-hour later, Florence and Susan were still in earnest conversation.
“What if you should be questioned, Susan?” asked Florence.
“I do not think it at all likely that I shall be.”
“But if you were?” persisted her questioner.
“I would not tell a lie.”
“What!” exclaimed her companion, “would you be so mean?”
“Nothing can be meaner than a lie,” returned Susan.
Carrie by the half-open door had overheard all this. She waited for no more. Susan’s words, “Nothing can be meaner than a lie,” rung in her ears, as she turned away sick at heart.
Of this contemptible meanness she had just been guilty. At that moment she despised herself thoroughly. She could not endure to see any one. She felt as if she could never look any one in the face again.