Lady Augustus heard her daughter inquire
what food the sick man took, and then Lady Ushant at great length
gave the list of his nourishment. What sickening hypocrisy! thought
Lady Augustus.
Lady Augustus must have known her daughter well; and yet if was not
hypocrisy. The girl's nature, which had become thoroughly evil from
the treatment it had received, was not altered. Such sudden changes
do not occur more frequently than other miracles. But zealously as
she had practised her arts she had not as yet practised them long
enough not to be cowed by certain outward circumstances. There were
moments when she still heard in her imagination the sound of that
horse's foot as it struck the skull of the unfortunate fallen
rider;--and now the prospect of the death of this man whom she had
known so intimately and who had behaved so well to her, to whom her
own conduct had been so foully false,--for a time brought her back
to humanity. But Lady Augustus had got beyond that and could not at
all understand it.
By nine they had all retired for the night. It was necessary that
Lady Ushant should again visit her nephew, and the mother and
daughter went to their own rooms. "I cannot in the least make out
what you are doing," said Lady Augustus in her most severe voice.
"I dare say not, mamma."
"I have been brought here, at a terrible sacrifice--"
"Sacrifice! What sacrifice? You are as well here as anywhere else.
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