You cannot suppose
that I can be anxious for further intimacy with a young lady who has twice
given me the lie in your house. Such conduct is, at least, very unusual;
and as no absolute punishment can be inflicted, the offender can only be
avoided. It is thus, and thus only, that such offences can be punished. I
shall be satisfied if you will give her to understand that I should prefer
that she should not address me again."
Poor Lady Fawn was beginning to think that Lucy was right in saying that
there was no remedy for all these evils but that she should go away. But
whither was she to go? She had no home but such home as she could earn for
herself by her services as a governess, and in her present position it was
almost out of the question that she should seek another place. Lady Fawn,
too, felt that she had pledged herself to Mr. Greystock that till next
year Lucy should have a home at Fawn Court. Mr. Greystock, indeed, was now
an enemy to the family; but Lucy was not an enemy, and it was out of the
question that she should be treated with real enmity. She might be
scolded, and scowled at, and put into a kind of drawing-room Coventry for
a time, so that all kindly intercourse with her should be confined to
schoolroom work and bedroom conferences.
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