Juliet Sparling burst in upon her with the reproaches
of a woman driven to bay, threatening to go at once to her husband and
make a clean breast of the whole history of their miserable
acquaintance. She was practically beside herself--already, as the sequel
showed, mortally ill, worn out by remorse and sleeplessness, and
quivering under the insult which had been offered her. Lady Wing
recovered her own self-possession under the stimulus of Juliet's
breakdown. She taunted her in the cruelest way, accused her of being the
temptress in the case of Sir Francis, and of simulating a hypocritical
indignation in order to save herself with her husband, and finally
charged her with the robbery of her sister's money, declaring that as
soon as daylight came she would take steps to set the criminal law in
motion, and so protect both herself and her husband from any charge such
a woman might bring against them. The threat, of course, was mere bluff.
But Mrs. Sparling, in her frenzy and her ignorance, took it for truth.
Finally, the fierce creature came up to her, snatching at a brooch in
the bosom of her dress, and crying out in the vilest language that it
was Sir Francis's gift.
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