"And I know he has done wrong--done very wrong, indeed; but he has had such terrible provocations--he has been, oh, so dreadfully unfortunate!" she went on, wishing heartily that she had not undertaken her new friend's defence, yet finding it easier to go through with it now than to turn back and desert him. "And, whatever he may have been once, he is doing nothing to harm anybody now; and it is cruel of people to be always raking up the past, when it is done with and repented of, and throwing it in his teeth. Any of us would think it hard and unfair--you would yourself." "Never mind me, my dear; my past is not being called in question that I am aware of." Mr. Kingston's not very placid temper was rising. "He is doing nothing wrong now," she repeated, frightened but reckless; "if he were, Mr. Thornley would not invite him here--he said so himself. And Lucilla, though she does not like him--nobody likes him, indeed--says he would never do a mean action, and that he has perfect manners, and that he is a thorough gentleman every way. I think they all agree about _that_." "And yet don't like him. That is rather inconsistent. And what about yourself, Rachel? If it is not a rude question--are you an exception in this respect, or not?" He had taken his hands from her shoulders, and was standing sideways in the embrasure of the window, so that he could see her face; and he was smiling in a most unpleasant manner. Rachel had never seen him like this before, and the first seed of active dislike was sown where as yet there had been nothing worse than indifference. The familiar colour rose and flooded her white brow and her whiter throat. She clenched her hands to still the flutter of her heart. She shut her teeth and struggled in silence against an ignominious impulse to cry. But Mr. Kingston continued to watch her with that sardonic curiosity; and presently, like the traditional worm, she turned on him. "Yes," she said, "I am an exception. I like Mr. Dalrymple very much--what little I know of him. I have seen no reason to do otherwise. I do not pay any attention to vulgar gossip." A timid woman, trying to be defiant, generally fails by overdoing it; and so did she, poor child. Mr. Kingston heard the emphasis of strong emotion, that she would have given worlds to keep back, vibrating through her tremulous accents, and it drove him beyond those considerations of policy and politeness which he made a boast of as his rule of life and action--especially in his dealings with women. Rachel, however, in the category of women, was exceptionally placed with respect to him; and I suppose one must do him the justice to concede that this was an exceptional emergency.