All the same, the distress shown by that odd girl, Miss Wigram, and her
appeal both to the painter and his niece to intervene and save the
foolish youth, kept echoing in Doris's memory, although neither she nor
Bentley had received it with any cordiality. Doris had soon made out
that this girl, Alice Wigram, was indeed the clergyman's daughter whom
Lady Dunstable had snubbed so unkindly some twelve months before. She
was evidently a sweet-natured, susceptible creature, to whom Lord
Dunstable had taken a fancy, in his fatherly way, during occasional
visits to her father's rectory, and of whom he had spoken to his wife.
That Lady Dunstable should have unkindly slighted this motherless girl,
who had evidently plenty of natural capacity under her shyness, was just
like her, and Doris's feelings of antagonism to the tyrant were only
sharpened by her acquaintance with the victim. Why should Miss Wigram
worry her self? Lord Dunstable? Well, but after all, capable men should
keep such wives in order. If Lord Dunstable had not been scandalously
weak, Lady Dunstable would not have become a terror to her sex.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93