“Yes. My word, yes.”
“Suppose, now. Suppose there is an arrest. Suppose Howard should be firm. It seems hard. My God, I know I meant well; but I’ve got her into a cruel fix. If we let them go. Go back to England, for him to be tried. D’you know, Edward, I think it would be best.”
“I’m quite sure it would be.”
“But you would have to go with her, Perrin. You would have to go. I’d go, too. I’d take my chance.”
“No you wouldn’t. You’ll do nothing of the sort. You’ve enough trouble as it stands.”
“Oh, I’d have to go. I couldn’t stay here and eat my heart out for her.”
“Yes, you will, Charles. Be sensible. I’ll see her safe home, if it comes to that.”
“And the instant you land, Edward, you’ll go to Flaxley, to her uncle, and then to her aunt Pile. Get them to come to her. My God, love blinds a man. I ought to have seen all this. But I could only see what was pleasant to myself.”
“Ah. Don’t say that, Charles. It’s not true. You didn’t know Stukeley.”
“No. Stukeley then was the man Olivia loved.”