13/15 However, for my own part, I am very glad you were away. I was a great deal at Mrs.Vivian's, and I should n't have felt nearly so much at liberty to go if I had known I should always find you there making love to Mademoiselle. It would n't have seemed to me discreet,--I know what you are going to say--that it 's the first time you ever heard of my wishing to avoid an indiscretion. It 's a taste I have taken up lately,--for the same reason you went to London, for a 'change.'" Here Blanche paused for an appreciable moment; and then she added--"Well, I must say, I have never seen anything so lovely as Mrs.Vivian's influence. I hope mamma won't be disappointed in it this time." When Bernard next saw the other two ladies, he said to them that he was surprised at the way in which clever women incurred moral responsibilities. |