“Does she use the cane?”
“This,” I said, “is entirely your affair. I’ve washed my hands of it so I’m not even offering advice, but if I were you I’d be careful about anything in the way of physical violence. Remember that Lalage has Selby-Harrison behind her and he knows the law. You can see for yourself by the way he ferreted out that text of First Timothy that he has the brain of a first-rate solicitor.”
I left the room after that. In the hall Miss Battersby waylaid me again.
“Is it all right?” she asked anxiously.
“Not quite. My uncle is writing to Miss Pettigrew.”
“She won’t come. I’m sure she won’t. She told me herself when we were in Ballygore that for the future she intends to watch Lalage’s performances from a distance.”
“She may make an exception in this case,” I said. “If my uncle states it at all fully in his letter it can scarcely fail to make an appeal to her.”
Miss Battersby sighed. She was evidently not hopeful.
“Lalage is such a dear girl,” she said. “It is a sad pity that she will——”
“She’s always trying to do right.”