Pshaw! why should we bandy words about the
shameful business? You have told me that you love him--that is enough."
"Yes," she said, with the anger and defiance gone out of her face and
manner, "I have been weak and guilty, but not as guilty as you suppose. I
have done nothing to forfeit my right to my son. You shall not part us!"
"You had better tell your maid you are going on a journey to-morrow. She
will have to pack your things--your jewels, and all you care to take."
"I shall tell her nothing. Remember what I have said--I will not be
separated from Lovel!"
"In that case, I must give the necessary orders myself," said Mr. Granger
coolly, and saying this he left the room to look for his wife's maid.
Jane Target, the maid, came in presently. She was the young woman chosen
for Clarissa's service by Mrs. Oliver; a girl whose childhood had been
spent at Arden, and to whose childish imagination the Levels of Arden Court
had always seemed the greatest people in the world. The girl poured out her
mistress's tea, and persuaded her to take something. She perceived that
there was something amiss, some serious misunderstanding between Clarissa
and her husband. Had not the business been fully discussed in the Areopagus
downstairs, all those unaccountable visits to the street near the
Luxembourg, and Mr. Fairfax's order to the coachman?
"Nor it ain't the first time I've seen him there neither," Jarvis had
remarked; "me and Saunders have noticed him ever so many times, dropping in
promiscuous like while Mrs.
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