"I haven't been with him," said Alice for the third time. "I don't
know what you're talking about."
"Ally--there's no use your saying that when you've been seen with
him."
It was Mary who spoke.
"I ha--haven't."
"Don't lie," said the Vicar.
"I'm not. They're l-l-lying," said Ally, shaken into stammering now.
"Who do you suppose would lie about it?" Mary said.
"Essy would."
"Well--I may tell you, Ally, that you're wrong. Essy's kept your
secret. So has Mrs. Gale. You ought to go down on your knees and thank
the poor girl--after what you did to her."
"It _was_ Essy. I know. She's mad to marry him herself, so she goes
lying about _me_."
"Nobody's lying about her," said the Vicar, "but herself. And she's
condemning herself with every word she says. You'd better have left
Essy out of it, my girl."
"I tell you that she's lying if she says she's seen me with him. She's
never seen me."
"It wasn't Essy who saw you," Mary said.
"Somebody else is lying then. Who was it?"
"If you _must_ know who saw you," the Vicar said, "it was Dr. Harker.
You were seen a month ago hanging about Upthorne alone with that
fellow."
"Only once," Ally murmured.
"You own to 'once'? You--you----" he stifled with his fury. "Once is
enough with a low blackguard like Greatorex. And you were seen more
than once. You've been seen with him after dark." He boomed. "There
isn't a poor drunken slut in the village who's disgraced herself like
you.
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