d such as an honest
man would certainly give; but it might have been conveyed by letter.
The information, such as it was, respecting Mrs Hurtle, could only be
given viva voce, and perhaps the invitation to Liverpool had
originated in Mr Ramsbottom's appreciation of this fact. 'As she was
asking after you here, perhaps it is well that you should know,' his
friend said to him. Paul had only thanked him, not daring on the spur
of the moment to speak of his own difficulties.

In all this there had been increased dismay, but there had also been
some comfort. It had only been at moments in which he had been subject
to her softer influences that Paul had doubted as to his adherence to
the letter which he had written to her, breaking off his engagement.
When she told him of her wrongs and of her love; of his promise and
his former devotion to her; when she assured him that she had given up
everything in life for him, and threw her arms round him, looking into
his eyes;--then he would almost yield. But when, what the traveller
called the breeding of the wild cat, showed itself;--and when, having
escaped from her, he thought of Hetta Carbury and of her breeding,--he
was fully determined that, let his fate be what it might, it should
not be that of being the husband of Mrs Hurtle. That he was in a mass
of troubles from which it would be very difficult for him to extricate
himself he was well aware;--but if it were true that Mr Hurtle was
alive, that fact might help him. She certainly had declared him to be,--
not separated, or even divorced,--but dead. And if it were true also
that she had fought a duel with one husband, that also ought to be a
reason why a gentleman should object to become her second husband.
These facts would at any rate justify himself to himself, and would
enable himself to break from his engagement without thinking himself
to be a false traitor.

But he must make up his mind as to some line of conduct. She must be
made to know the truth. If he meant to reject the lady finally on the
score of her being a wild cat, he must tell her so. He felt very
strongly that he must not flinch from the wild cat's claws. That he
would have to undergo some severe handling, an amount of clawing which
might perhaps go near his life, he could perceive. Having done what he
had done he would have no right to shrink from such usage. He must
tell her to her face that he was not satisfied with her past life, and
that therefore he w