“Innocent! What proof?”
“That brave lady said so.”
“Brave lady! A bold hussy. Most likely a friend of the woman Somerset, and a bird of the same feather. Sir Charles has done himself no good with me by sending such an emissary.”
“No, papa; it was the lawyer brought her, and then her own good heart made her burst out. Ah! she is not like me: she has courage. What a noble thing courage is, especially in a woman!”
“Pray did you hear the language of this noble lady?”
“Every word nearly; and I shall never forget them. They were diamonds and pearls.”
“Of the sort you can pick up at Billingsgate.”
“Ah, papa, she pleaded for him as I cannot plead, and yet I love him. It was true eloquence. Oh, how she made me shudder! Only think: he had a fit, and lost his reason, and all for me. What shall I do? What shall I do?”
This brought on a fit of weeping.
Her father pitied her, and gave her a crumb of sympathy: said he was sorry for Sir Charles.