'
From before that sad gaze my uncle averted his strange eyes quickly, and
looked, oddly, to the window.
In a moment more Doctor Bryerly let my hand go with a sigh, and with an
abrupt little nod to me, he left the room; and I heard that dismallest of
sounds, the retreating footsteps of a true friend, _lost_.
'Lead us not into temptation; if we pray so, we must not mock the eternal
Majesty of Heaven by walking into temptation of our own accord.'
This oracular sentence was not uttered by my uncle until Doctor Bryerly had
been gone at least five minutes.
'I've forbid him my house, Maud--first, because his perfectly unconscious
insolence tries my patience nearly beyond endurance; and again, because I
have heard unfavourable reports of him. On the question of right which he
disputes, I am perfectly informed. I am your tenant, my dear niece; when
I am gone you will learn how _scrupulous_ I have been; you will see how,
under the pressure of the most agonising pecuniary difficulties, the
terrific penalty of a misspent youth, I have been careful never by a hair's
breadth to transgress the strict line of my legal privileges; alike, as
your tenant, Maud, and as your guardian; how, amid frightful agitations,
I have kept myself, by the miraculous strength and grace vouchsafed
me--_pure_.
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