There was the difficulty! If only the people whose envious
tongues were now wagging could see Kitty as she was, could understand
what a gulf lay between her and the ordinary "fast" woman, there would
be an end of this silly, ill-natured talk. Other women might be of the
earth earthy. Kitty was a sprite, with all the irresponsibility of such
incalculable creatures. The men and women--women especially--who
gossiped and lied about her, who sent abominable paragraphs to
scurrilous papers--he had one now in his pocket which had reached him at
the House from an anonymous correspondent--spoke out of their own vile
experience, judged her by their own standards. His mother, at any
rate--he proudly thought--ought to know better than to be misled by them
for a moment.
At the same time, something must be done. It could not be denied that
Kitty had been behaving like a romantic, excitable child with this
unscrupulous man, whose record with regard to women was probably wholly
unknown to her, however foolishly she might idealize the
liaisoncommemorated in his poems. What had Kitty, indeed, been doing with
herself this six weeks? Ashe tried to recall them in detail.
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