To say that I was troubled would feebly express my state of mind. All my
dreams of fortune for Frances and glory for her family had vanished. I
did not know at that time that she and Hamilton had agreed never to meet
again, though had I known, I should have put little faith in the compact.
CHAPTER VIII
IN FEAR OF THE KING
When Frances came downstairs, she and I started home, walking first down
Gracious Street, and then through Upper Thames Street toward Temple Bar.
It was no time to scold her, since I was sure that she knew quite as well
as I could tell her the folly and the recklessness of what she had just
done. I also believed there must have been an overpowering motive back of
it all, and that being true, I knew that nothing I could say would in any
way induce her to repent at present or forbear in future. I might bring
her to regret, but regret is a long journey from repentance. If her heart
had gone so far beyond her control as to cause her to seek Hamilton, as
she had done that day, it were surely a profitless task for me to try to
put her right. If she, who was modest, honest, and strong, could not
right herself, trying as I knew she had tried, no one else could do it
for her.
Even my silence seemed to be a reproach, so I tried to think of something
to say which would neither bear upon what she had done nor seem to avoid
it.
After a moment or two, Betty, that is, thoughts of her, came to my
relief, and I said: "If Betty were at court, she would rival the best of
the beauties.
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