I was in his power--in the power of
Robert Elmsdale. Think of it--. But you never knew him. Young man, you
ought to kneel down and thank God you were never so placed as to be in
the power of such a devil--
"If ever you should get into the power of a man like Robert Elmsdale,
don't offend him. It is bad enough to owe him money; but it is worse for
him to owe you a grudge. I had offended him. He was always worrying me
about his wife--lamenting her ill-health, extolling her beauty,
glorifying himself on having married a woman of birth and breeding; just
as if his were the only wife in the world, as if other men had not at
home women twice as good, if not as handsome as Miss Blake's sister.
"Under Miss Blake's insolence I had writhed; and once, when my usual
prudence deserted me, I told Mr. Elmsdale I had been in Ireland and seen
the paternal Blake's ancestral cabin, and ascertained none of the family
had ever mixed amongst the upper thousand, or whatever the number may be
which goes to make up society in the Isle of Saints.
"It was foolish, and it was wrong; but I could not help saying what I
did, and from that hour he was my enemy. Hitherto, he had merely been my
creditor. My own imprudent speech transformed him into a man lying in
wait to ruin me.
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