"I do not turn against Juliet," said Hannah; "but since she has made my position here unendurable, I am surely at liberty to seek one elsewhere. I hope she has learned wisdom. She ought to know that she cannot escape the consequences of her wrong-doing."
"Of course she knows that," said Salome; "but I do think you are hard upon Juliet, Hannah. You forget that she is very sorry for what she has done."
"People generally are sorry when they have brought trouble on themselves," said Hannah coldly. "I am sorry if my words offend you; but for me black is black and white, white; and I can only regard Juliet's conduct in one way."
She rose as she spoke and went slowly from the room, holding herself very erect.
Salome had laid her hand with a timid, caressing touch on Juliet's shoulder; but the girl shook it off impatiently. She could not endure even kindness now. She looked at her mother, whose tears were falling fast and she hated herself.
"It is a pity I ever was born," she said bitterly; "I am naught but a cause of trouble!"
And she too quitted the room. Thus the miserable scene ended.
The agitation it had caused her was more than Mrs. Tracy's enfeebled frame could sustain without suffering. A severe nervous headache confined her to her room all the following day. In the afternoon, she felt inclined to sleep, and Juliet left her to herself.
Hannah and Salome had gone out together, and Juliet was sitting alone in the dining-room, when she heard a rap at the front door, and presently discovered to her dismay that Ann was conducting a visitor to the drawing-room. Who could it be? She was not left long in doubt. Ann speedily appeared with a card, on which Juliet read with astonishment the name of Mr. Mainprice.
"Did you not tell him mother could see no one?" demanded Juliet.