The blood rushed from her heart to her
brain. She rose, and ere the astonished matron, who stood before her
erect, high-nosed, and open-mouthed like Michael Angelo's Clotho,
could find utterance, said,
'Mistress Watson, I swear to you by the soul of my mother, that
although all seeming is against me, W--'
'Where is the young rebel?' interrupted mistress Watson sternly.
'I know not,' answered Dorothy. 'When first I entered the chamber,
he had already gone.'
'And what then hadst thou to do entering it?' asked the housekeeper,
in a tone that did Dorothy good by angering her.
Mistress Watson was a kind soul in reality, but few natures can
resist the debasing influence of a sudden sense of superiority.
Besides, was not the young gentlewoman in great wrong, and therefore
before her must she not personify an awful Purity?
'That I will tell to none but my lord marquis,' answered Dorothy,
with sudden resolve.
'Oh, by all means, mistress! but an' thou think to lead him by the
nose while I be in Raglan,--'
'Shall I inform his lordship in what high opinion his housekeeper
holds him?' said Dorothy.
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