And then,
might he not despise her, and despising reject her, were she to
declare her desire to marry a man who had given his heart to
another woman? And so, when the Duke asked her to remain after
the departure of the other guests, she decided that it would be
best to bide her time. The Duke, as she assented, kissed her hand,
and she knew that this sign of grace was given to his intended
daughter-in-law.
In all this she half-confided her thoughts and her prospects to
her old friend Miss Cassewary. 'That girl has gone at last,' she
said to Miss Cassewary.
'I fear she has left her spells behind her, my dear.'
'Of course she has. The venom out of the snake's tooth will poison
all the blood; but still the poor bitten wretch does not always
die.'
'I don't think she is a snake.'
'Don't be moral, Cass. She is a snake in my sense. She has got her
weapons, and of course it is natural enough that she should use
them. If I want to be the Duchess of Omnium, why shouldn't she?'
'I hate to hear you talk of yourself in that way.'
'Because you have enough of the old school about you to like
conventional falsehood.
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