It was after this that Mrs. Hurtle received Hetta's letter. She had as yet returned no answer to Paul Montague,--nor had she intended to send any written answer. Were she to comply with his request she could do so best by writing to the girl who was concerned rather than to him. And though she wrote no such letter she thought of it,--of the words she would use were she to write it, and of the tale which she would have to tell. She sat for hours thinking of it, trying to resolve whether she would tell the tale,--if she told it at all,--in a manner to suit Paul's purpose, or so as to bring that purpose utterly to shipwreck. She did not doubt that she could cause the shipwreck were she so minded. She could certainly have her revenge after that fashion. But it was a woman's fashion, and, as such, did not recommend itself to Mrs. Hurtle's feelings. A pistol or a horsewhip, a violent seizing by the neck, with sharp taunts and bitter-ringing words, would have made the fitting revenge. If she abandoned that she could do herself no good by telling a story of her wrongs to another woman.

It was after this that Mrs. Hurtle received Hetta's letter. She had as yet returned no answer to Paul Montague, although she had thought of writing to the girl, and had pondered the words that she would use - whether she would tell the tale in a manner to suit Paul's purpose, or so as to bring him utterly to shipwreck. She did not doubt that she could cause the shipwreck if she wished. But such a revenge did not recommend itself to Mrs. Hurtle. She would have preferred a pistol or a horsewhip.
