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And yet, notwithstanding all this,
such was the natural force of his effrontery--such the vulgar insolence
and bitter disposition of his nature, that, instead of soothing her
insulted feelings, or offering either explanation or apology, he could
not restrain an impudent exhibition of ill-temper.
"You forget yourself, Lucy," he replied; "you have no authority to
order me out of this house, in which I stand much firmer than yourself.
Neither do I comprehend your allusions, nor regard your threats. The
proofs of my identity and legitimacy are abundant and irresistible. As
to the advice I gave you, I gave it like one who knows the world--"
"No, sir," she replied, indignantly; "you gave it like a man who knows
only its vices. It is sickening to hear every profligate quote his own
experience of life, as if it were composed of nothing but crimes and
vices, simply because they constitute the guilty phase of it with
which he is acquainted. But the world, sir, is not the scene of general
depravity which these persons would present it.


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