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The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne : a Novel by William John Locke
page 60 of 374 (16%)

Shall I be accused of harbouring a bevy of odalisques at No. 20
Lingfield Terrace? Calumny and Exaggeration walk abroad, arm in
arm, even on the north side of Regent's Park. If they had spied
Carlotta at my window this morning, they would have looked in for
afternoon tea at my Aunt Jessica's and have waylaid Mrs. Ralph
Ordeyne outside the Oratory. The question is: Shall Truth
anticipate them? I think not. Every family has its
irrepressible, impossible, unpractical member, its _enfant
terrible_, who is forever doing the wrong thing with the best
intentions. Truth is the _enfant terrible_ of the Virtues. Some
times it puts them to the blush and throws them into confusion;
at others it blusters like a blatant liar; at others, again, it
stutters and stammers like a detected thief. There is no knowing
how Truth may behave, so I shall not let it visit my relations.

I must confess, however, that I feared the possible passing by of
the two decrepit cronies, when Carlotta stood at my open French
window this morning. She is really indecently beautiful. She
was wearing a deep red silk peignoir, open at the throat,
unashamedly Parisian, which clung to every salient curve of her
figure. I wondered where, in the name of morality, she had
procured the garment. I learned later that it was the joy and
pride of Antoinette's existence; for once, in the days long ago,
when she was _femme de chambre_ to a luminary of the cafes
concerts, it had met around her waist. She had treasured the
cast-off finery of this burned-out star--she beamed in the
seventies--for all these years, and now its immortal devilry
transfigured Carlotta. She was also washed specklessly clean.
An aroma that no soap or artificial perfume could give disengaged
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