FANNY (nee) FRENCH.
Nancy returned the paper with a look of disgust, saying, ‘I didn’t think she was as bad as that.’
‘No more did I. It really gave me a little shock of surprise.’
‘Do you think it likely she is married?’
Mrs. Damerel pursed her lips and arched her eyebrows with so unpleasant an effect on Nancy that she looked away.
‘I have no means whatever of forming an opinion.’
‘But there’s no more fear for Horace,’ said Nancy.
‘I hope not—I think not. But my purpose in coming was to consult with you about the poor boy. He has renounced me; he won’t answer my letters; and I am so dreadfully afraid that a sort of despair—it sounds ridiculous, but he is so very young—may drive him into reckless living. You have taken part with him against me, I fear—’
‘No, I haven’t. I told him I was quite sure the girl had only herself to blame, whatever happened.’
‘How kind of you!’ Mrs. Damerel sank her voice to a sort of cooing, not unmelodious, but to Nancy’s ear a hollow affectation. ‘If we could understand each other! I am so anxious for your dear brother’s happiness—and for yours, believe me. I have suffered greatly since he told me I was his enemy, and cast me off.’