"Then," said I, with a touch of malice, "there is no reason why
you should make her acquaintance."
"I should be able to see through her tricks and put you on your
guard."
"Against what?"
She shrugged her shoulders as if it were vain to waste breath on
so obtuse a person.
"You had better bring her round some afternoon," she said.
Have I acted wisely in confessing Carlotta to Judith? And why do
I use the word "confess"? Far from having committed an evil
action, I consider I have exhibited exemplary altruism. Did I
want a "young savage from Syria" to come and interfere with my
perfectly ordered life? Judith does not realise this. I had a
presentiment of the prejudice she would conceive against the poor
girl, and now it has been verified. I wish I had held my tongue.
As Judith, for some feminine reason known only to herself, has
steadily declined to put her foot inside my house, she might very
well have remained unsuspicious of Carlotta's existence. And why
not? The fact of the girl being my pensioner does not in the
least affect the personality which I bring to Judith.
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