"My dear Clara, you surely have not been quarrelling again!"
"Again! oh, no! it has been one long-continued quarrel ever since I married!"
"I am really shocked at your conduct, my dear love. How often I have implored you all to avoid scenes when you married! My dear Clara, you must remember my earnest instructions. This is a sad dereliction from good taste!"
"You should not have married me to a brute," exclaimed Clara, becoming impetuous.
"Clara, I was not at your side, when you eloped with Sir Foster," cried her mother, in a vindicating tone.
"Perhaps not; but you may remember the means you took to induce me to elope, mamma. You did not know the moment; but you were aware of the intention, brought on by your own hints and anxieties to see me at Ripley. Bell can bear witness to your remarks and innuendoes."
"I am sure Bell cannot," replied Lady Wetheral, in alarm.
"Bell can, though! Bell, I charge you to reply to my question. Did not my mother induce me to run away with my brute? Speak truly."
"You cannot say so, Bell," said Lady Wetheral, bursting into tears.
"Bell, answer truly!" and Clara dragged her from her chair, to stand before her. Christobelle struggled to get free; but Clara grasped her with a force she could not resist. "Now, Bell, tell my mother the glaring truth!"