"The silver service was a good muzzle," he thought.
He went away for an interview with the corporation lawyer
and the superintendent of the road, leaving Mrs. Ellis
in a distraction of conscience that made her the wonder
of her servants that morning, during all the preparations
for the whist-party. She might have felt more remorseful had she
guessed her brother's real plan. He knew enough of Lossing
to be assured that he would not yield about the ordinance,
which he firmly believed to be a dangerous one for the city.
He expected, he counted on the mayor's refusing his proffers.
He hoped that Esther would feel the sympathy which women give,
without question generally, to the business plans of those near
and dear to them, taking it for granted that the plans are
right because they will advantage those so near and dear.
That was the beautiful and proper way that Jenny had
always reasoned; why should Jenny's daughter do otherwise?
When Harry Lossing should oppose her father and refuse to please
him and to win her, mustn't any high-spirited woman feel hurt?
Certainly she must; and he would take care to whisk her off
to Europe before the young man had a chance to make his peace!
"Yes, sir," says Armorer, to his only confidant, "you never were a
domestic conspirator before, Horatio, but you have got it down fine!
You would do for Gaboriau"--Gaboriau's novels being the only
fiction that ever Armorer read. Nevertheless, his conscience
pricked him almost as sharply as his sister's pricked her.
Consciences are queer things; like certain crustaceans,
they grow shells in spots; and, proof against moral artillery
in one part, they may be soft as a baby's cheek in another.
Armorer's conscience had two sides, business and domestic;
people abused him for a business buccaneer, at the same time