If the tale had been told to Lady Waverton, no doubt but Harry would have
been banished from Tetherdown that night. It is likely, indeed, that the
ultimate fates of Alison and Harry would have been the same. But many
antecedent adventures must have been different or superfluous.
Mr. Hadley was now full of common sense. Mr. Hadley sagely argued with
his uncle that they would do more harm than good by carrying their tale
to Lady Waverton. The woman was a fool in grain, and whatever she did
would surely do it in the silliest way. Tell her a word, and she would
swiftly give birth to a scandal which the world would not willingly let
die, in which Mr. Harry Boyce, if he were indeed the knave of their
hypothesis, might easily find a means to strengthen his grip of Alison.
It was better to wait and (so Mr. Hadley with a sour smile) "see which
way the cat jumped."
Perhaps Madame Alison, who was no kitten, might not be altogether
infatuated. The shock of the afternoon, for all her heroics, might have
waked in her some doubt of the charms of Mr. Boyce. The girl was shrewd
enough. She had dealt with fortune-hunters before--remember the Scottish
lord's son--and shown a humorous appreciation of the tribe. She was not a
chit with the green sickness; she was neither so young nor so old that
she must needs fall into the arms of any man who made eyes at her.
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