‘I have seen very little of Mrs. Meredith. I don’t know much about James. Cara would be a great deal better here. What does he want with the child in London? he doesn’t require her; he has done without her all these years. I’d have her back, Miss Charity, if I were you.’
‘It is very easy to talk of having her back. She is his child after all. Come, speak out; they say James is there constantly—and that this lady—she isn’t separated from that husband of hers, eh?’
‘Not that I know of.’
‘Not that you know of! Of course you know whatever there is to know. What is the matter? A woman should not let herself be talked of.’
‘Mrs. Meredith is not talked of, if that is what you meant but I have heard that James is constantly there. He oughtn’t to do it. If he is fond of her, as I don’t doubt he is fond of her——’
‘Mr. Maxwell, how can you speak so of my brother?’ said Miss Cherry, agitated and blushing, with the tears ready to come. ‘A married woman! I am sure he has no more thought of anything of the kind. What has his life been since Annie died? That speaks for itself; he has thought of no one but her.’
‘Hold your tongue, Cherry, my dear. You are an old maid; but you have a foolish young soul. What do you know of such things? Let us talk it over quietly. Now, Mr. Maxwell, you need not be upon p’s and q’s with me. If he is fond of her? that is the question. Nothing but what is innocent, you goose. We don’t think James a bad man, do you suppose? Now, doctor, we must be at the bottom of it, now we have opened the question. What do people say?’
‘I say—if he is fond of her, he oughtn’t to compromise her, Miss Charity; that is all about it. Innocent! of course it’s all innocent enough; but the woman is married, and her husband is thousands of miles off, and he ought to have more sense than to go there every evening, as he does. Yes, we’ve talked of it among ourselves; not to let it go any further; not to make any scandal, Heaven knows. No one thinks of any scandal; but he oughtn’t to do it. I am not blaming your brother, Miss Cherry; he has fallen into it, poor fellow, without knowing. He and I are not such friends as we were. I have thought I had reason not to be quite pleased with him; but I don’t do him injustice here. He means no harm; but he oughtn’t to do it. The more he is fond of her, the more he ought to take care. And there you have my opinion, and that’s all about it. I don’t think anyone has ever ventured to say more.’
‘It is too much to have said,’ said the old lady, ‘and she ought to know better. I don’t put it all on him. She ought to have put a stop to it. Women see these things better than men; and besides, it is the women who suffer, not the men. She ought to have put a stop to it. I don’t put it all on him, as you seem disposed to do.’
‘How could she put a stop to it?’ said the doctor, warmly. ‘She is good to everybody. She opened her house to him when he was miserable. How is a woman to say to a man, after she has been kind to him, “Don’t come any more; people are beginning to talk?” Good Lord! it would be like supposing they had some reason to talk. If any woman said that to me I should feel that she thought me a brute bad enough for anything. No, no; everybody says women are hardest upon each other——’