'It is a fabrication from beginning to end, then?' said Arabella,
pressing the matter quite home. At this time she was very close to him,
and though her words were severe, the glance from her eyes was soft.
And the scent from her hair was not objectionable to him as it would
have been to Miss Stanbury. And the mode of her head-dress was not
displeasing to him. And the folds of her dress, as they fell across his
knee, were welcome to his feelings. He knew that he was as one under
temptation, but he was not strong enough to bid the tempter avaunt.
'Say that it is so, Mr Gibson!'
'Of course, it is not so,' said Mr Gibson lying.
'I am so glad. For, of course, Mr Gibson, when we heard it we thought a
great deal about it. A man's happiness depends so much on whom he
marries doesn't it? And a clergyman's more than anybody else's. And we
didn't think she was quite the sort of woman that you would like. You
see, she has had no advantages, poor thing! She has been shut up in a
little country cottage all her life, just a labourer's hovel, no more,
and though it wasn't her fault, of course, and we all pitied her, and
were so glad when Miss Stanbury brought her to the Close--still, you
know, though one was very glad of her as an acquaintance, yet, you
know, as a wife and for such a dear, dear friend.
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