 the beggarly dependent that he was, or poor adventuring scribbler
that he was to become.
    »Why did you pursue me and wish to stop me, Mr. Whitford?« said Clara, on
the spur of a wound from his tone.
    He replied: »I suppose I 'm a busybody: I was never aware of it till now.«
    »You are my friend. Only you speak in irony so much. That was irony, about
my clear conscience. I spoke to you and to Miss Dale: and then I rested and
drifted. Can you not feel for me, that to mention it is like a scorching
furnace? Willoughby has entangled papa. He schemes incessantly to keep me
entangled. I fly from his cunning as much as from anything. I dread it. I have
told you that I am more to blame than he, but I must accuse him. And
wedding-presents! and congratulations! And to be his guest!«
    »All that makes up a plea in mitigation,« said Vernon.
    »It is not sufficient for you?« she asked him timidly.
    »You have a masculine good sense that tells you you won't be respected if
you run. Three more days there might cover a retreat with your father.«
    »He will not listen to me! He confuses me; Willoughby has bewitched him.«
    »Commission me: I will see that he listens.«
    »And go back? Oh! no. To London! Besides there is the dining with Mrs.
Mountstuart this evening; and I like her very well, but I must avoid her. She
has a kind of idolatry ... And what answers can I give? I supplicate her with
looks. She observes them, my efforts to divert them from being painful produce a
comic expression to her, and I am a charming rogue, and I am entertained on the
topic she assumes to be principally interesting me. I must avoid her. The
thought of her leaves me no choice. She is clever. She could tattoo me with
epigrams.«
    »Stay: there you can hold your own.«
    »She has told me you give me credit for a spice of wit. I have not
discovered my possession. We have spoken of it; we call it your delusion. She
grants me some beauty; that must be hers.«
    »There's no delusion in one case or the other, Miss Middleton. You have
beauty and wit: public opinion will say, wildness: indifference to your
reputation, will be charged on you
