She understood the situation perfectly. With her
experience of life, she could not fail to understand the
despicable part Wilkie was playing. And though it was not her son
who had conceived this odious plot, it was more than enough to
know that he had consented to carry it into execution. Should she
try to persuade Wilkie to abandon this shameful scheme? She might
have done so if she had not been so horrified by the utter want of
principle which she had discovered in his character. But, under
the circumstances, she realized that any effort in this direction
would prove unavailing. So it was purely from a sense of duty and
to prevent her conscience from reproaching her that she exclaimed:
"So you will apply to the courts in order to constrain me to
acknowledge you as my son?"
"If you are not reasonable----"
"That is to say, you care nothing for the scandal that will be
created by such a course. In order to prove yourself a member of
the Chalusse family you will begin by disgracing the name and
dragging it through the mire."
Wilkie had no wish to prolong this discussion. So much talk about
an affair, which, in his opinion, at least, was an extremely
simple one, seemed to him utterly ridiculous, and irritated him
beyond endurance. "It strikes me this is much ado about nothing,"
he remarked. "One would suppose, to hear you talk, that you were
the greatest criminal in the world.
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