7/15 She is a comfort to me, whatever she may be to others.' 'She's no comfort to me,' cried Gabriel, made bold by despair. She's all the plagues of Egypt in one.' 'She's considered so, I have no doubt,' said Mrs Varden. 'I was prepared for that; it's natural; it's of a piece with the rest. When you taunt me as you do to my face, how can I wonder that you taunt her behind her back!' And here the incoherence coming on very strong, Mrs Varden wept, and laughed, and sobbed, and shivered, and hiccoughed, and choked; and said she knew it was very foolish but she couldn't help it; and that when she was dead and gone, perhaps they would be sorry for it--which really under the circumstances did not appear quite so probable as she seemed to think--with a great deal more to the same effect. |