“I thought so. What, then, can I adduce? I'm sure your Ladyship's own delicacy will see that this is not a case where testimony can be invoked. I cannot—you would not ask me to—require an acquittal from the lips of Captain Martin himself; humble as I stand here, my Lady, you never could mean to expose me to this humiliation.” For the first time did her voice falter, and a sickly paleness came over her as she uttered the last words.
“The humiliation which you had intended for this family, Miss Henderson, is alone what demands consideration from me. If what you call your exculpation requires Captain Martin's presence, I confess I see no objection to it.”
“It is only, then, because your Ladyship is angry with me that you could bring yourself to think so, especially since another and much easier solution of the difficulty offers itself.”
“How so? What do you mean?”
“To send me home, madam.”
“I understand you, young lady. I am to send you back to your father's house as one whose presence here was too dangerous, whose attractions could only be resisted by means of absence and distance. A very interesting martyrdom might have been made of it, I 've no doubt, and even some speculation as to the conduct of a young gentleman so suddenly bereaved of the object of his affections. But all this is much too dignified for me. My son shall be taught to respect himself without the intervention of any contrivance.”
As she uttered the last words, she arose and approached the bell.
“Your Ladyship surely is not going—”