"I rather wonder, Marcus," she said at last, "at your referring
to Dora."
"Indeed? May I ask why?"
"May I speak plainly?"
"I beseech you."
"I have heard of you at Etretat with your ward."
"Well?" I asked.
"_Verbum sap_," said my aunt.
"And you have let Mrs. Ralph and Rosalie know of my summer
holiday and given them to understand that I am a monster of
depravity. I am exceedingly obliged to you. I have just met
Rosalie in the street, and she shrank from me as if I were the
reincarnation of original sin."
"I have no doubt that in her innocent mind you are," replied my
Aunt Jessica.
The indulgent smile wherewith she used to humour my
eccentricities had gone, and her face was hard and unpitying.
"I am glad I have such charitable-minded relations," said I.
"I am a woman of the world," my aunt retorted, "but I think that
when such things are flaunted in the face of society they become
immoral."
I rose. "Do evil by stealth--as much as you like," said I, "but
blush to find it fame."
With a gesture my aunt assented to the proposition.
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