It must be remembered that she had known nothing of Messrs. Grimes and Scruby, and the River Bank, and that the means had been wanting to her of learning the principles upon which some metropolitan elections are conducted.
"And, Alice, I hope that you are proud of your lover!" "He is not my lover," Alice said to herself. "He knows that he is not. He understands it, though she may not." And if not your lover, Alice Vavasor, what is he then to you? And what are you to him, if not his love? She was beginning to understand that she had put herself in the way of utter destruction;--that she had walked to the brink of a precipice, and that she must now topple over it. "He is not my lover," she said; and then she sat silent and moody, and it took her hours to get her answer written to Kate.

She knew nothing of Messrs. Grimes and Scruby, and the River Bank, and could not have learnt how elections are conducted.
"He is not my lover," Alice said to herself. "He understands that, though she may not." And if not your lover, Alice Vavasor, what is he then to you? And what are you to him? She was beginning to understand that she had put herself in the way of utter destruction; that she had walked to the brink of a precipice, and that she must now topple over it. She sat silent and moody, and it took her hours to get her answer written to Kate.
