I have little reason to think well
of Mr. Quarrier; he is intemperate, in many senses of the word, and
intemperance, it is true, connects closely with the most odious
crimes. But in this case censure has been too quick to interpret
suspicious circumstances--suspicious, I admit. Far be it from me
to speak in defence of such a person as Mrs. Wade; I think she is a
source of incalculable harm to all who are on friendly terms with
her--especially young and impressionable women; but you must trust
my judgment in this instance: I am convinced she is not guilty. Her
agitation in the coroner's court has no special significance. No;
the solution of the mystery is not so simple; it involves wider
issues--calls for a more profound interpretation of character and
motives. Mrs. Quarrier--pray attend to this, Mr. Blenkinsop--
represents a type of woman becoming, I have reason to think, only
too common in our time, women who cultivate the intellect at the
expense of the moral nature, who abandon religion and think they
have found a substitute for it in the so-called humanitarianism of
the day. Strong-minded women, you will hear them called; in truth,
they are the weakest of their sex. Let their energies be submitted
to any unusual strain, let their nerves (they are always morbid) be
overwrought, and they snap!" He illustrated the catastrophe with his
hands.
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