I told Florac that the Newcomes could not receive us, and that we would
remain, if he willed it, his guests for a little longer. The kind fellow
was only too glad to keep us. "My wife would die without Bebi," he said.
"She becomes quite dangerous about Bebi." It was gratifying that the good
old lady was not to be parted as yet from the innocent object of her
love.
My host knew as well as I the terms upon which Sir Barnes and his wife
were living. Their quarrels were the talk of the whole county; one side
brought forward his treatment of her, and his conduct elsewhere, and said
that he was so bad that honest people should not know him. The other
party laid the blame upon her, and declared that Lady Clara was a
languid, silly, weak, frivolous creature; always crying out of season;
who had notoriously taken Sir Barnes for his money and who as certainly
had had an attachment elsewhere. Yes, the accusations were true on both
sides. A bad, selfish husband had married a woman for her rank: a weak,
thoughtless girl had been sold to a man for his money; and the union,
which might have ended in a complete indifference, had taken an ill turn
and resulted in misery, cruelty, fierce mutual recriminations, bitter
tears shed in private, husband's curses and maledictions, and open scenes
of wrath and violence for servants to witness and the world to sneer at.
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