“Lawk. I wish to goodness he’d come straight to me at once.”
“Well. It’s awfully sweet of them from their point of view. They were such awfully nice little men in their way.”... Why didn’t they come to me, instead of all this talk? They knew me well enough. All those long talks at night. And all the time they were seeing a foolish girl fascinated by a disreputable foreigner. How dare they?
“That’s what I say. I can’t forgive him for that. They’re all alike. Selfish.”
“All old men like Dr. Winchester are selfish. Selfish and weak. They get to think of nothing but their comforts. And keep out of everything by talk.”
“It’s not him I mean. It’s the other one.”
“Which?” What was Mrs. Bailey going to say? What? Miriam gazed angrily.
“That’s what I must tell you. That’s why I asked you if you was under a fascination.”
“Oh well, they’ve gone. What does it matter?”
“I feel I ought to tell you. He, von Heber, had made up his mind to speak. He was one in a thousand, Winchester said. She’s lost von Heber he said. He thought the world of her, ’e sez,” gasped Mrs. Bailey. “My word, I wish I’d known what was going on.”