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Hope, Anthony, 1863-1933

"é"


"I shall have to fight the whole world," she said. "I wonder if my cause
is a good one?"


CHAPTER VIII.
CONTRA MUNDUM.

It was impossible not to admire the wealth of experience which Mrs.
Baxter had gathered from a singularly quiet life; many men have gone half
a dozen times round the world for less. Whatever the situation, whatever
the action, she could supply a parallel and thereby forecast an issue.
Superficial differences did not hinder her; she pierced to the underlying
likeness. When all the world was piteously crying out that never in its
life had it heard of such an affair as this of May Gaston's, Mrs. Baxter
dived into her treasure-chest and serenely produced the case of the
Nonconformist Minister's daughter and the Circus Proprietor. Set this
affair side by side with the Quisante business, and a complete sum in
double proportion at once made its appearance. The audacity of the man,
the headlong folly of the girl, the hopeless mixing of incompatibles were
common to the two cases; the issue of the earlier clearly indicated the
fate that must attend the later.


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