"
"The rest of the family are afflicted in the same way, aren't they?"
remarked Hamilton Dyce nonchalantly.
"Humph! yes." Mrs. Chatterton's still shapely shoulders allowed
themselves a shrug intended to reveal volumes. "What Jasper Horatio King
believes, the rest of the household accept as law and gospel. But it's
no less infatuation."
"I'll not hear one word involving those dear Peppers," cried Madame
Dyce. "If I could, I'd have them in my house. And it's a most
unrighteous piece of work, in my opinion, to endeavor to arouse
prejudice against them. It goes quite to my heart to remember their
struggles all those years."
Mrs. Chatterton turned on her with venom. Was all the world arrayed
against her, to take up with those hateful interlopers in her cousin's
home? She made another effort. "I should have credited you with more
penetration into motives than to allow yourself to be deceived by such a
woman as Mrs. Pepper."
"Do give her the name that belongs to her. I believe she's Mrs. Dr.
Fisher, isn't she?" drawled Livingston Bayley, a budding youth, with a
moustache that occasioned him much thought, and a solitary eyeglass.
"Stuff and nonsense! Yes, what an absurd thing that wedding was. Did
anybody ever hear or see the like!" Mrs.
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