"
"Madam," replied she, indignantly, "I shall never do anything which
can dishonor either my family or myself; and of that Miss Dorothy
Somerset is too well assured to doubt for an instant, even should
calumny be as busy with me as it has been injurious to Mr.
Constantine."
With the words of Mrs. Robson suddenly reverberating on her heart,
"He has no father, no mother, no kindred in this wide world!" she
walked towards the door. When she passed Mr. Somerset, who stood
bewildered and frowning near Miss Dundas, she turned her eyes on her
cousin, full of the effulgent pity in her soul, and said, in a
collected and decisive voice, "Pembroke, I shall leave the room; but,
remember, I do not release you from your engagement."
Staggered by the open firmness of her manner, he looked after her as
she withdrew, and was almost inclined to believe that she possessed
the right side of the argument. Malice did not allow him to think so
long. The moment the door closed on her, both the sisters fell on him
pell-mell; and the prejudiced illiberality of the one, supported by
the ready falsehoods of the other, soon dislodged all favorable
impressions from the mind of Somerset, and filled him anew with
displeasure.
In the midst of Diana's third harangue, Lady Dundas having ordered
Euphemia to be taken to her chamber, Mr. Somerset was left alone,
more incensed than ever against the object of their invectives, whom
he now considered in the light of an adventurer, concealing his
poverty, and perhaps his crimes beneath a garb of lies.
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