But she had
laughed his caution to scorn. Did she not know herself and her own
innocence? Was she not living in her father's house, and with her
father? Should she quail beneath the stings and venom of such a
reptile as Quintus Slide? "Oh, Phineas," she said, "let us be braver
than that." He would much prefer to have stayed away,--but still he
went to her. He was conscious of her dangerous love for him. He knew
well that it was not returned. He was aware that it would be best for
both that he should be apart. But yet he could not bring himself to
wound her by his absence. "I do not see why you should feel it so
much," she said, speaking of the trial at Durham.
"We were both on our trial,--he and I."
"Everybody knows that he bribed and that you did not."
"Yes;--and everybody despises me and pats him on the back. I am sick
of the whole thing. There is no honesty in the life we lead."
"You got your seat at any rate."
"I wish with all my heart that I had never seen the dirty wretched
place," said he.
"Oh, Phineas, do not say that.
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