'_Will_ you explain, my dear?' he asked, in his coldest and most sarcastic
tone.
I was agitated, and I am sure my statement was confused. I succeeded,
however, in saying what I wanted.
'Why, Madame, this is a grave charge! Do you admit it, pray?'
Madame, with the coolest possible effrontery, denied it all; with the most
solemn asseverations, and with streaming eyes and clasped hands, conjured
me melodramatically to withdraw that intolerable story, and to do her
justice. I stared at her for a while astounded, and turning suddenly to my
uncle, as vehemently asserted the truth of every syllable I had related.
'You hear, my dear child, you hear her deny everything; what am I to think?
You must excuse the bewilderment of my old head. Madame de la--that lady
has arrived excellently recommended by the superioress of the place where
dear Milly awaits you, and such persons are particular. It strikes me, my
dear niece, that you must have made a mistake.'
I protested here. But he went on without seeming to hear the parenthesis--
'I know, my dear Maud, that you are quite incapable of wilfully deceiving
anyone; but you are liable to be deceived like other young people.
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