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asked May . ` I desire that she should be treated as a relation , ' said the Canon decidedly . ` There is nothing against her character , ' and , as his wife was about to interrupt , -- ` nothing but an indiscretion to which she was almost driven many years ago . She was cruelly treated , and I for one am heartily sorry for having let myself be guided by others . ' Mrs. William Egremont felt somewhat complacent , for she knew he meant Lady de Lyonnais , and there certainly had been no love lost between her and her step-children 's grandmother ; but she was a sensible woman , and forbore to speak , though there was a mental reservation that intimacy would a good deal depend upon circumstances . Blanche cried out that it was a perfect romance , and May gravely said , ` But is she a lady ? ' ` A perfect lady , ' said Mark .