"I am straying from my subject. And--is it not strange?--I am writing to
you as confidentially as if we were old friends.
"To return to Julian Gray. Innocent of instigating his aunt's first
visit to the Refuge, he is guilty of having induced her to go there for
the second time the day after I had dispatched my last letter to you.
Lady Janet's object on this occasion was neither more nor less than to
plead her nephew's cause as humble suitor for the hand of Mercy Merrick.
Imagine the descent of one of the oldest families in England inviting an
adventuress in a Refuge to honor a clergyman of the Church of England by
becoming his wife! In what times do we live! My dear mother shed tears
of shame when she heard of it. How you would love and admire my mother!
"I dined at Mablethorpe House, by previous appointment, on the day when
Lady Janet returned from her degrading errand.
"'Well?' I said, waiting, of course, until the servant was out of the
room.
"'Well,' Lady Janet answered, 'Julian was quite right.' "'Quite right in what?' "'In saying that the earth holds no nobler woman than Mercy Merrick.' "'Has she refused him again?' "'She has refused him again.' "'Thank God!' I felt it fervently, and I said it fervently. Lady Janet
laid down her knife and fork, and fixed one of her fierce looks on me.
"'It may not be your fault, Horace,' she said, 'if your nature is
incapable of comprehending what is great and generous in other natures
higher than yours. But the least you can do is to distrust your
own capacity of appreciation. For the future keep your opinions (on
questions which you don't understand) modestly to yourself. I have a
tenderness for you for your father's sake; and I take the most favorable
view of your conduct toward Mercy Merrick. I humanely consider it the
conduct of a fool.' (Her own words, Miss Roseberry. I assure you
once more, her own words.) 'But don't trespass too far on my
indulgence--don't insinuate again that a woman who is good enough (if
she died this night) to go to heaven, is _not_ good enough to be my
nephew's wife.' "I expressed to you my conviction a little way back that it was doubtful
whether poor Lady Janet would be much longer competent to manage her own
affairs. Perhaps you thought me hasty then? What do you think now?
"It was, of course, useless to reply seriously to the extraordinary
reprimand that I had received. Besides, I was really shocked by a decay
of principle which proceeded but too plainly from decay of the mental
powers. I made a soothing and respectful reply, and I was favored in
return with some account of what had really happened at the Refuge. My
mother and my sisters were disgusted when I repeated the particulars to
them. You will be disgusted too.