"Mrs. Gordon," she said, "do you advise me to pay this money?"
"My dear, I don't advise at all. Don't consider us in the matter
at all. It is for you to say."
"Then I will pay nothing. It is a cruel, infamous, wicked slander.
These poor, ignorant people don't know what they are doing. Sooner
than pay one penny in compromise, I will walk off this station
a pauper. God will not let such villainy win. Mrs. Gordon, surely
you don't think that I ought to blacken my father's and mother's
name by paying money to keep this claim quiet?"
Here Pinnock broke in on her speech. "But if they should manage to
produce evidence--"
"Let them produce it, and let the judge believe it if he likes.
You and I and everybody know that it is a lie; even if they win the
case, it is still a lie. I will pay nothing--not one halfpenny. My
mother's name is more than all the money in the world, and I will
not blacken it by compromises. Mr. Pinnock, the case is to be
fought out, and if we lose we shall still know that justice is on
our side; but if we pay money--"
Mrs. Gordon took her hand, and lifted it to her lips.
"I think you are quite right, my dear. You put us all to shame for
even thinking of it."
"I am very sorry, Mr. Blake," the girl went on, "very sorry indeed
that you should have come here on such an errand. You saved my
life, and if I could pay you for that I would; but this offer is
an insult, and I hope that you will never come here again. Whether
I am turned out of the old station or not, I hope that you will
never come here again." And with that the two ladies walked out,
leaving the lawyers looking at each other.
"I am afraid, Mr. Blake" said Pinnock at last, "that we have lost
any hope we might ever have had of settling this case."
But Blake, as he rode homewards, felt that he had lost for ever
a much higher hope. He had played for a high stake on two chances.
One of them had failed him. There remained only the chance of pulling
Peggy's case through; and he swore that if hard work, skill, and
utter unscrupulousness could win that case, it should be won.