He was in my London parish long ago. The other day in
Santa Croce, when he was with Miss Honeychurch, I snubbed him.
Let him beware that he does not get more than a snub."
"What?" cried Lucy, flushing.
"Exposure!" hissed Mr. Eager.
He tried to change the subject; but in scoring a dramatic point
he had interested his audience more than he had intended. Miss
Bartlett was full of very natural curiosity. Lucy, though she
wished never to see the Emersons again, was not disposed to
condemn them on a single word.
"Do you mean," she asked, "that he is an irreligious man? We know
that already."
"Lucy, dear--" said Miss Bartlett, gently reproving her cousin's
penetration.
"I should be astonished if you knew all. The boy--an innocent
child at the time--I will exclude. God knows what his education
and his inherited qualities may have made him."
"Perhaps," said Miss Bartlett, "it is something that we had
better not hear."
"To speak plainly," said Mr. Eager, "it is. I will say no more.
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