"You must have cried out. Of course you screamed for his assistance. And the young blaggard ... What time is it? Five o'clock? Then Willie's train is already in ..."
The spoken thought brought a full stop to the good lady's ejaculations, shot her mind in dead silence round a corner. She stopped walking, stood intently still. After all, what so serious had happened? Her daughter was, indeed, the talk of the place, which was an exceedingly undesirable thing; especially since an "exclusive" girl's name is so tender a bloom, and Mr. Canning was very probably downstairs listening to it now--the talk, that is. But, after all, young Dalhousie's dissolute misbehaviors were so well known, nobody could possibly ...
"They can hardly say anything to reflect upon you," the mother summed up aloud, frowning intently. "You have been foolish, most indiscreet. How you ever permitted anybody to introduce such a character to you passes my understanding. However--any attractive girl is likely to draw the attacks of ruffianly men. His conduct surpass--"
"Yes--but do you think everybody'll understand that?" said Carlisle, hurriedly, and rather felt that the worst was over. "That's just it, mamma,--don't you see? How do we know what sort of gossip is being bandied about downstairs now? You know people always put the worst possible construction they can on a--an episode like this!..."
Her mother wheeled on her, struck afresh in her dearest possession, namely: her pride in the prestige of the name of Heth in an envious and backbiting world.
"How do you mean, construction? What construction could they possibly--"
"Why, anything, mamma!--anything their horrid minds can think of. That I'm a great friend of this charming man's, for instance,--engaged to him, perhaps! That this exhibition in the boat was only a refined little lovers' quarrel--"
"How under heaven could any fool say--"
"Well, you know they'll wonder why he got into the boat in the first place, and say the hatefullest thing they can think of ... There are plenty of people who would like to see us h-humiliated."
Mrs. Heth, staring at her with an intake of the breath, then said slowly: "Ah--h!" And she took in a whole range of new possibilities with one leap of her immensely constructive mind.