t I might have a witness, and I
then asked him whether he had spread these reports. He acknowledged
that he had done so, and I told him that he was a villain."
Upon hearing this she uttered a long, low sigh, but she said nothing.
What use could there now be in her saying aught? Her look of agony
went to the young man's heart, but he still thought that he had been
right. "Mother," he continued to say, "I am very sorry to grieve
you in this way;--very sorry. But I could not hold up my head in
Hamworth,--I could not hold up my head anywhere, if I heard these
things said of you and did not resent it."
"Ah, Lucius, if you knew the weakness of a woman!"
"And therefore you should let me bear it all. There is nothing I
would not suffer; no cost I would not undergo rather than you should
endure all this. If you would only say that you would leave it to
me!"
"But it cannot be left to you. I have gone to a lawyer, to Mr.
Furnival. Why will you not permit that I should act in it as he
thinks best? Can you not believe that that will be the best for both
of us?"
"If you wish it, I will see Mr. Furnival."
Lady Mason did not wish that, but she was obliged so far to yield as
to say that he might do so if he would. Her wish was that he should
bear it all and say nothing. It was not that she was indifferent to
good repute among her neighbours, or that she was careless as to what
the apothecaries and attorneys said of her; but it was easier for
her to bear the evil than to combat it. The Ormes and the Furnivals
would support her. They and such-like persons would acknowledge her
weakness, and would know that from her would not be expected such
loud outbursting indignation as might be expected from a man. She had
calculated the strength of her own weakness, and thought that she
might still be supported by that,--if only her son would so permit.
It was two days after this that Lucius was allowed the honour of
a conference by appointment with the great lawyer; and at the
expiration of an hour's delay he was shown into the room by Mr.
Crabwitz. "And, Crabwitz," said the barrister, before he addressed
himself to his young friend, "just run your eye over those papers,
and let Mr. Bideawhile have them to-morrow morning; and, Crabwitz--."
"Yes, sir."
"That opinion of Sir Richard's in the Ahatualpaca Mining Company--I
have not seen it, have I?"
"It's all ready, Mr. Furnival."
"I will look at it in five minutes. And now, my
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