Then he turned to her and said very
courteously but most decisively,
"Marion dear, you will oblige me by not accompanying me to any more
meetings at present and by not visiting the town just now. I don't choose
to expose you to any more such scenes. I can't teach these fellows to
respect a lady's presence, but I can protect my wife by ensuring her
absence." He looked very chivalrous and very handsome as he made this
little speech. But his wife's heart sank; such an attitude could mean
nothing but defeat.
"Can't you help us?" she implored of the Dean, when she had got him alone
and told him of this new development of her husband's pride or temper. It
was evident that Japhet Williams meant, as he had said, to go on putting
his plain question till he got a plain answer, and so long as he put his
question, Lady Mildmay was not to be present. How soon would Henstead
understand that the gentleman who sought to be its member openly declared
that he did not consider it a fit place for his wife to enter?
"Something must really be done," said the Dean nervously.
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