"Have a bon-bon?" He
took out of his pocket a pretty little inlaid box, and placed it
open on the table. "Chocolat a la Vanille," cried the
impenetrable man, cheerfully rattling the sweetmeats in the box,
and bowing all round. "Offered by Fosco as an act of homage to
the charming society."
"Be good enough to go on, Count," said his wife, with a spiteful
reference to myself. "Oblige me by answering Miss Halcombe."
"Miss Halcombe is unanswerable," replied the polite Italian; "that
is to say, so far as she goes. Yes! I agree with her. John Bull
does abhor the crimes of John Chinaman. He is the quickest old
gentleman at finding out faults that are his neighbours', and the
slowest old gentleman at finding out the faults that are his own,
who exists on the face of creation. Is he so very much better in
this way than the people whom he condemns in their way? English
Society, Miss Halcombe, is as often the accomplice as it is the
enemy of crime. Yes! yes! Crime is in this country what crime is
in other countries--a good friend to a man and to those about him
as often as it is an enemy. A great rascal provides for his wife
and family. The worse he is the more he makes them the objects
for your sympathy.
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