The whole
drama had clearly been witnessed by someone, probably either by
Elizabeth or the servant girl, and that some one had betrayed it to
Honoria and possibly to others. The thought made him sick. He was a
man of the world, and a practical lawyer, and though, indeed, they were
innocent, he knew that under the circumstances few would be found to
believe it. At the very best there must be a terrible and shocking
scandal, and Beatrice would lose her good name. He placed himself in the
position of counsel for the petitioner in a like case, and thought how
he would crush and crumple such a defence in his address to the jury. A
probable tale forsooth!
Undoubtedly, too, Honoria would be acting wisely from her point of view.
Public sympathy would be with her throughout. He knew that, as it was,
he was believed generally to owe much of his success to his handsome and
high-born wife. Now it would be said that he had used her as a ladder
and then thrown her over. With all this, however, he might cope; he
could even bear with the vulgar attacks of a vulgar press, and the gibes
and jeers of his political and personal enemies, but to lose Effie
he could not bear.
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