She could have
avoided it by telling Willard before leaving home that she did not
care to meet the Count. To make a scene at Mrs. Howlett's was not a
thing which a sober-minded, self-contained woman would have done; it
was bad form to behave so rudely to one of Mrs. Howlett's guests, and
was so inconsiderate of Willard and unreasonable in other ways that I
blamed her unreservedly.
"She deserves to be punished," I thought to myself, as Harley went
dejectedly out of the room. "And there is no kind of punishment for
a woman like that so galling to her soul as to find herself in the
hands of a relentless despot who forces her this way and that,
according to his whim. I'd like to play Petrucio to her Katherine
for five minutes. She'd soon find out that I'm not a realist bound
by a creed to which I must adhere. Whatever I choose to do I can do
without violating my conscientious scruples, because I haven't any
conscientious scruples in literature. And, by Jove, I'll do it!
I'll take Miss Marguerite Andrews in hand myself this very afternoon,
and I'll put her through a course of training that will make her rue
the day she ever trifled with Stuart Harley--and when he takes her up
again she'll be as meek as Moses.
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