'An 'e'll git six
month for this, the neighbours says; an' when he comes aht again, my
Gord, won't 'e ketch it!"
"You look capable of punishing him for it," I answered, and as I spoke,
I shuddered; for I saw her expression was precisely the expression
Mrs. Le Geyt's face had worn for a passing second when her husband
accidentally trod on her dress as we left the dining-room.
My witch moved away. We followed. "Well, what do you say to it now?"
she asked, gliding among the beds with noiseless feet and ministering
fingers.
"Say to it?" I answered. "That it is wonderful, wonderful. You have
quite convinced me."
"You would think so," Travers put in, "if you had been in this ward as
often as I have, and observed their faces. It's a dead certainty. Sooner
or later, that type of woman is cock-sure to be assaulted."
"In a certain rank of life, perhaps," I answered, still loth to believe
it; "but not surely in ours. Gentlemen do not knock down their wives and
kick their teeth out."
My Sibyl smiled. "No; there class tells," she admitted. "They take
longer about it, and suffer more provocation. They curb their tempers.
But in the end, one day, they are goaded beyond endurance; and then--a
convenient knife--a rusty old sword--a pair of scissors--anything
that comes handy, like that dagger this morning.
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