Rae's office.
Miss Brodie was indignant. "What a shame! And what a fool! Why, he is
ten times more fool than his son; for mark you, his son is undoubtedly
a fool, and a selfish fool at that. I can't bear a young fool who
sacrifices not simply his own life, but the interests of all who care
for him, for some little pet selfishness of his own. But this father
of his seems to be even worse than the son. Family name indeed! And I
venture to say he expatiated upon the glory of his family name to my
uncle. If there's one thing that my uncle goes quite mad about it is
this affectation of superiority on the ground of the colour of a man's
blood! No wonder he refused to withdraw the prosecution! What could Mr.
Rae have been thinking about? What fools men are!"
"Quite true," murmured Mr. Dunn.
"Some men, I mean," cried Miss Brodie hastily. "I wish to heaven I had
seen my uncle first!"
"I suppose it's too late now," said Dunn, with a kind of gloomy
wistfulness.
"Yes, I fear so," said Miss Brodie. "You see when my uncle makes up his
mind he appears to have some religious scruples against changing it."
"It was a ghastly mistake," said Dunn bitterly.
"Look here, Mr. Dunn," said Miss Brodie, turning upon him suddenly, "I
want your straight opinion. Do you think this young man guilty?"
They were both looking at Cameron, at that moment the centre of a group
of open admirers, his boyish face all aglow with animation.
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