After walking what Elvira fancied half the night, shelter was found
in a hospitable farmhouse, where the people were wakened with
difficulty. They took care of the benighted wanderers, and the
farmer drove them back to the hotel the next morning in his own
waggon. They were received by Mrs. Gould with great demonstrations
both of affection, pity and dismay, and she declared that the affair
had been so shocking and compromising that it was impossible to stay
where they were. She made Elvira take her meals in her room rather
than face the boarding-house company, paid the bills (all of course
with Elvira's money) and carried her off to the Saratoga Springs,
having taken good care not to allow her a minute's conversation with
anyone who would have told her that the freedom of American manners
would make an adventure like hers be thought of no consequence at
all.
The poor girl herself was assured by Mrs. Gould that this "unhappy
escapade" left her no alternative but a marriage with Gilbert. She
would otherwise never be able to show her face again, for even if the
affair were hushed up, reports would fly, and Mrs. Lisette took care
they should fly, by ominous shakes of the head, and whispered
confidences such as made the steadier portion of the Saratoga
community avoid her, and brought her insolent attention from fast
young men.
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