"I don't know what he says. Of course he swears that he never spoke
a word to her."
"My mother saw him paying her the closest attention."
"How can I help that? What can I do? Why didn't your mother pin him
then and there? Women can always do that kind of thing if they
choose."
"It is all over, then?"
"I can't make a man marry if he won't. He ought to be thrashed
within an inch of his life. But if one does that kind of thing the
police are down upon one. All the same, I think the Duchess might
have managed it if she had chosen." After that he went to the
lodgings in Orchard Street, and there repeated his story. "I have
done all I can," he said, "and I don't mean to interfere any
further. Arabella should know how to manage her own affairs."
"And you don't mean to punish him?" asked the mother.
"Punish him! How am I to punish him? If I were to throw a decanter
at his head, what good would that do?"
"And you mean to say that she must put up with it?" Arabella was
sitting by as these questions were asked.
"He says that he never said a word to her. Whom am I to believe?"
"You did believe him, papa?"
"Who said so, Miss? But I don't see why his word isn't as good as
yours. There was nobody to hear it, I suppose. Why didn't you get
it in writing, or make your uncle fix him at once? If you mismanage
your own affairs I can't put them right for you.
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