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Admiral, that she had a decided defender at hand, collected her utmost presence of mind, and, advancing to Mrs. Howel, said, "I have offered to you, Madam, any explanation you may require alone; but in public I offer you none!"
"If you think yourself still dealing with a novice of the inexperience of sixteen," answered Mrs. Howel, "you will find yourself mistaken. I will neither trust to the arts of a private recital, nor save your pride from a public examination."
Then, addressing the Admiral, "All yesterday morning, Sir," she continued, "I had sundry articles, such as rings, bank-notes, and letters of value, dispersed in my apartment, from a security that it was sacred; but the chambermaid informs me, that she caught this young woman entering it, under pretence of waiting upon a young lady, then in the inner room; and the same chambermaid, an hour after, found that she was still here;
