As a stranger it was all
very well to overlook the vagueness of her biography--they were
not committed to anything really dangerous by simply visiting a
householder among them--but it was another matter if she was to be
married to one of themselves. Then they must learn who she really
was, and Mr. Dundas must satisfy them scrupulously, else they should
decline to know her.
"It will make a great gap in our society," said kindly Josephine, who,
having the most to suffer, had forgiven the most readily.
"Gap or no gap, it is what we owe to ourselves," said Mrs. Harrowby.
"And to Edgar," added Maria.
"I shall call on Sebastian to-morrow," said Mrs. Harrowby, laying
aside her knitting with the air of a minister who has dictated his
protocol and has now only to sign the clean copy.
"Sleep on it, mamma," pleaded Josephine.
"It will make no difference," returned the mother; and her elder two
echoed in concert, "I hope not."
The next day Mrs. Harrowby did call on Mr. Dundas, and, finding that
gentleman at home, succeeded in speaking her mind. She conveyed her
ultimatum as a corporate not individual resolution, speaking in the
name of the "ladies of the place," which she was scarcely entitled to
do.
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