'
"Go to-morrow; you will see him. He will be worse than he was; but not
much. Somebody will have told him that his wife put him in there--"
"Oh! oh!"
"And he won't have believed it. His father was a Bassett; his mother a
Le Compton; his great-great-great-grandmother was a Rolfe: there is no
cur's blood in him. After the first shock he will have found the spirit
and dignity of a gentleman to sustain adversity: these men of fashion
are like that; they are better steel than women--and writers."
When he had said this he indicated by his manner that he thought he had
exhausted the subject, and himself.
Lady Bassett rose and said, "Then, sir, I will take my leave; and oh! I
am sorry I have not your eloquent pen or your eloquent tongue to thank
you. You have interested yourself in a stranger--you have brought the
power of a great mind to bear on our distress. I came here a widow--now
I feel a wife again. Your good words have warmed my very heart. I can
only pray God to bless you, sir."
"Pray say no more, madam," said Mr. Rolfe, hastily. "A gentleman cannot
be always writing lies; an hour or two given to truth and justice is a
wholesome diversion. At all events, don't thank me till my advice has
proved worth it."
He rang the bell; the servant came, and showed the way to the street
door.
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