"I wonder whether there was
really anything unfair done on our side when the entail was cut off?"
"Is that likely, dearest? Why?"
"Heaven seems to be on his side."
"On the side of a wicked man?"
"But he may be the father of innocent children."
"Why, he is not even married."
"He will marry. He will not throw a chance away. It makes my head
dizzy, and my heart sick. Bella, now I can understand two enemies
meeting alone in some solitary place, and one killing the other in a
moment of rage; for when this scoundrel insulted me I remembered his
anonymous letter, and all his relentless malice. Bella, I could have
raised my gun and shot him like a weasel."
Lady Bassett screamed faintly, and flung her arms round his neck. "Oh,
Charles, pray to God against such thoughts. You shall never go near
that man again. Don't think of our one disappointment: think of all the
blessings we enjoy. Never mind that wretched man's hate. Think of your
wife's love. Have I not more power to make you happy than he has to
afflict you, my adored?" These sweet words were accompanied by a wife's
divine caresses; with the honey of her voice, and the liquid sunshine
of her loving eyes. Sir Charles slept peacefully that night, and forgot
his one grief and his one enemy for a time.
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