"I shan't go with her," said Ashley. "I can't, if you like to put it that way."
She pressed him; her curiosity would not be satisfied.
"You don't want to go?" she asked.
His answer was very slow in coming this time, but he faced the question at last.
"No," he said, "I don't want to go." He paused, glanced at her again, and again smiled. "So, you see, we shall both have what we really like, and there's no reason to pity us, is there, Lady Bowdon?"
Then she got into her carriage, and, as she shook hands with him, she said,
"Well, I don't know that you're worse off than a good many other people."
"I don't know that we are," said Ashley.
And, as she went home, she added that they had themselves to thank for their troubles, whereas the greater part of hers could not fairly be laid at her own door. "If that makes it any better, you know," she murmured, half aloud.
But perhaps one minded to deal with her as faithfully as she thought that Ora should be dealt with, might have observed that not to become Lady Bowdon had once been a thing in her power.