"You cannot have such things 'out,'--as you call it. Evil-doing will not bury itself out of the way and be done with. Do you feel no shame at having your name mentioned a score of times with reprobation as that man mentions it;--at being written about by such a man as that?" "Do you want to make me roll in the gutter because I mistook him for a gentleman?" "That was not all,--nor half. In your eagerness to serve such a miserable creature as this you forgot my entreaties, my commands, my position! I explained to you why I, of all men, and you, of all women, as a part of me, should not do this thing; and yet you did it, mistaking such a cur as that for a man! What am I to do? How am I to free myself from the impediments which you make for me? My enemies I can overcome,--but I cannot escape the pitfalls which are made for me by my own wife. I can only retire into private life and hope to console myself with my children and my books." There was a reality of tragedy about him which for the moment overcame her. She had no joke ready, no sarcasm, no feminine counter-grumble. Little as she agreed with him when he spoke of the necessity of retiring into private life because a man had written to him such a letter as this, incapable as she was of understanding fully the nature of the irritation which tormented him, still she knew that he was suffering, and acknowledged to herself that she had been the cause of the agony. "I am sorry," she ejaculated at last. "What more can I say?" "What am I to do? What can be said to the man? Warburton read the letter, and gave it me in silence. He could see the terrible difficulty." "Tear it in pieces, and then let there be an end of it." "I do not feel sure but that he has right on his side. He is, as you say, certainly a blackguard, or he would not make such a claim. He is taking advantage of the mistake made by a good-natured woman through her folly and her vanity;"--as he said this the Duchess gave an absurd little pout, but luckily he did not see it,--"and he knows very well that he is doing so. But still he has a show of justice on his side. There was, I suppose, no chance for him at Silverbridge after I had made myself fully understood. The money was absolutely wasted. It was your persuasion and then your continued encouragement that led him on to spend the money." "Pay it then. The loss will not hurt you." "Ah;--if we could but get out of our difficulties by paying! Suppose that I do pay it. I begin to think that I must pay it;--that after all I cannot allow such a plea to remain unanswered. But when it is paid;--what then? Do you think such a payment made by the Queen's Minister will not be known to all the newspapers, and that I shall escape the charge of having bribed the man to hold his tongue?" "It will be no bribe if you pay him because you think you ought."