He had no remotest idea of giving up his cousin, but he had at last
persuaded himself that she was not to be won without some toil, and
perhaps also some delay.
Nor had he been in a humour to talk either to Mrs Dale or to Lily. He
feared that Lady Julia's news was true,--that at any rate there might
be in it something of truth; and while thus in doubt he could not
go down to the Small House. So he hung about the place by himself,
with a cigar in his mouth, fearing that something evil was going to
happen, and when the message came for him, almost shuddered as he
seated himself in the gig. What would it become him to do in this
emergency if Crosbie had truly been guilty of the villainy with which
Lady Julia had charged him? Thirty years ago he would have called the
man out, and shot at him till one of them was hit. Nowadays it was
hardly possible for a man to do that; and yet what would the world
say of him if he allowed such an injury as this to pass without
vengeance?
His uncle, as he came forth from the station with his travelling-bag
in his hand, was stern, gloomy, and silent.
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