Peering into the
past for materials, and searching on one side or another for sources of
information, she had overlooked all that was best and nearest at hand.
What need for her to scrape together a reluctant tale of what had been?
for was not the future her own? Why rely for assistance upon this or
that suspicious and unsatisfactory witness? What more trustworthy one
could she find than herself? Suppose Bressant never to have done any
thing that could make him unworthy of Sophie, was that a bar against his
doing something in the future?
Yes; she had power over him, and would use it. She herself would be the
means and the cause for attaining the end at which she aimed. She would
be the accomplice of his indiscretion, and thus obtain over him a double
advantage. No matter how intrinsically trifling the indiscretion might
be, it would be just such a one as would be sure to weigh heavily in the
balance of Sophie's pure judgment. So plain would this be to Bressant
himself, that Cornelia would be able to rule him (as she argued) merely
with the threat of accusation. And, since his desertion of Sophie would
appear to her causeless, the indignation she would feel thereat would
save her from repining. Cornelia would have him all to herself!
Well! and what would she do with him when she had him? She did not stop
to consider.
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