“Alice love, listen to me; this is not a mere matter of personal feeling, or I would yield to you without a moment’s hesitation, but it involves a question of right and wrong. I could not refuse to prosecute these men without diffusing an amount of moral evil amongst the whole of my poorer tenantry, which years of the most careful supervision would fail to eradicate. The utmost I can promise you is, that the culprits shall have every opportunity afforded them of clearing themselves; and if, as I am convinced, that proves impossible, every palliating circumstance shall be brought forward and allowed its fullest weight. I have already given you my free permission to assist the poor woman and her children, and more than this you cannot expect me to say.” “But I do, or rather I _did_, expect you to say more,” returned Alice, with flashing eyes and glowing cheeks; “I expected you to say what I would have said to you, if you had appealed to me thus--that there was NOTHING, even if it were life itself, that I would not give up for your sake. But I see how it is, you do not really care for me, or, if you do, man’s love is not like woman’s, it is merely the excitement of the pursuit that interests you--the prize once attained becomes valueless in your eyes: in fact, love, which makes the entire joy or sorrow of a woman’s life, is to men but a superior kind of sporting--more engrossing than a foxchase, or than hunting a poor stag to death, simply because the game is of a higher order.” She paused to give vent to a sob which she was unable entirely to repress, then continued in a sarcastic tone of voice: “However, mighty hunter as you are, I do not intend to give you the satisfaction of being in at my death; I have too much of the old Hazlehurst spirit about me to break my heart for a man who does not love me. There is a _quiet way_, as you call it, of arranging these affairs: you have your own pursuits and amusements, henceforward I shall have mine. You need not dread my again attempting to interfere either with your pleasures, or your graver occupations. I have had too severe a lesson on each point to forget it readily. But I expect you to exercise the same forbearance towards me. From this day forth we each follow our own line!” and, drawing her shawl over her shoulders, with an imperious gesture, as of an offended queen, Alice swept out of the room, leaving Harry in a frame of mind which may be more easily imagined than described.