"And my wife's paramour in my house!" cried Sir Rupert.
"Oh! there is something refined in an amour with one's equal," said Lady Cecilia: "but a wretch of that description——"
"Enough of this!" cried the baronet. "The servants are already about: let us each retire to our own rooms."
And this suggestion was immediately adopted.
CHAPTER CXXIV.
THE INTRIGUES OF A DEMIREP.
LADY Cecilia retired to her own chamber, locked the door, threw herself upon the bed, and burst into tears.
Oh! at that moment how the hated her husband;—how she hated herself!
She wept not in regret of her evil ways: she poured forth tears of spite when she thought of the opinion that her new lover must form of her, after the explanation given by Sir Rupert.
For Captain Fitzhardinge was rich and confiding; and the fair patrician had calculated upon rendering him subservient alike to her necessities and her licentiousness.
But, now—what must he think of one who bestowed upon him those favours that were alienated from her husband by a formal compact? What opinion could he entertain of a woman who sinned deliberately by virtue of an understanding with him whom she had sworn to respect and obey?