"Yes," Fanny said. "Yes. Still, I wish we could have let her go in peace."
"There wasn't any peace for her to go in; and she wouldn't have gone. She'd have been here now, with his poor thumb in her screw. After all, Fanny, I only pointed out how beastly it would be for her if she didn't go. And I only did that because he was your husband, and it was your thumb, really."
"Yes, darling, yes; I know what you did it for. … Oh, I wish she wasn't so horribly badly off."
"So do I, then it wouldn't have happened. But how can you be such an angel to her, Fanny?"
"I'm not. I'm only decent. I hate using our position to break her poor back. Telling her we're Waddingtons of Wyck and she's only Mrs. Levitt."
"It was the handiest weapon. And you didn't use it. I'm not a Waddington of Wyck. Besides, it's true; she can't blackmail him in his own county. You don't seem to realize how horrid she was, and how jolly dangerous."
"No," Fanny said, "I don't realize people's horridness. As for danger, I don't want to disparage your performance, Barbara, but she seems to me to have been an easy prey."
"You are disparaging me," said Barbara.
"I'm not. I only don't like to think of you enjoying that nasty scrap."
"I only enjoyed it on your account."