Anything is fair
against such a woman."
CHAPTER XXVI.
THAT very night, after Wheeler had gone home, Richard Bassett wrote a
cajoling letter to Mary Wells, asking her to meet him at the old place.
When the girl got this letter she felt a little faint for a moment; but
she knew the man, his treachery, and his hard egotism and selfishness
so well, that she tossed the letter aside, and resolved to take no
notice. Her trust was all in her mistress, for whom, indeed, she had
more real affection than for any living creature; as for Richard
Bassett she absolutely detested him.
As the day wore on she took another view of matters: her deceiver was
the enemy of her mistress; she might do her a service by going to this
rendezvous, might learn something from him, and use it against him.
So she went to the rendezvous with a heart full of bitter hate.
Bassett, with all his assurance, could not begin his interrogatory all
in a moment. He made a sort of apology, said he felt he had been
unkind, and he had never been happy since he had deserted her.
She cut that short. "I have found a better than you," said she. "I am
going to London very soon--to be married."
"I am glad to hear it."
"No doubt you are."
"I mean for your sake."
"For my sake? You think as little of me as I do of you.
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