SOME days after this Mr. Rolfe received a line from Lady Bassett, to
say she was at the Adelphi Hotel, in John Street. He put some letters
into his pocket and called on her directly.
She received him warmly, and told him, more fully than she had by
letter, how she had acted on his advice; then she told him of Richard
Bassett's last act, and showed him her retort.
He knitted his brows at first over it; but said he thought her
proclamation could do no harm.
"As a rule," said he, "I object to flicking with a lady's whip when I
am going to crush, but--yes--it is able, and gives you a good excuse
for keeping out of the way of annoyances till we strike the blow. And
now I have something to consult you upon. May I read you some extracts
from your husband's letters to me?"
"Oh, yes."
"Forgive a novelist; but this is a new situation, reading a husband's
letters to his wife. However, I have a motive, and so I had in
soliciting the correspondence with Sir Charles." He then read her the
letters that are already before the reader, and also the following
extracts:
"Mr. Johnson, a broken tradesman, has some imagination, though not of a
poetic kind; he is imbued with trade, and, in the daytime, exercises
several, especially a butcher's. When he sees any of us coming, he
whips before the nearest door or gate, and sells meat.
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