The first point the recusants got
hold of was the error of the two years which contrived to run the
gauntlet of so many pairs of eyes. Some of them were made happy by
mouthing and shaking this between their teeth, as a poodle tears round
with a glove. This did not last long. No sensible person could believe
for a moment you were mistaken in the essential character of a
statement every word of which would fall on the ear of a listening
friend like a drop of melted lead, and burn its scar deep into the
memory. That Lady Byron believed and told you the story will not be
questioned by any but fools and malignants. Whether her belief was
well founded there may be positive evidence in existence to show
affirmatively. The fact that her statement is not peremptorily
contradicted by those most likely to be acquainted with the facts of
the ease, is the one result so far which is forcing itself into
unwilling recognition. I have seen nothing, in the various hypotheses
brought forward, which did not to me involve a greater improbability
than the presumption of guilt. Take that, for witness, that Byron
accused himself, through a spirit of perverse vanity, of crimes he had
not committed. How preposterous! He would stain the name of a sister,
whom, on the supposition of his innocence, he loved with angelic ardor
as well as purity, by associating it with such an infamous accusation.
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