Oh no, THEY did not think much of it-
-no doubt he was only just like other people; only the funny thing
was that it should be Ellen, for whom it was always supposed that no
saint in the calendar, no knight in all the Waverley novels, would
be good enough! And then, on her hot desire to know what they
meant, they quoted John, the brother in the Guards, as having been
so droll about poor Ellen's perfect hero, and especially at his
straight-laced Aunt Fordyce having been taken in,--but of course it
was the convenience of joining the estates, and it was agreeable to
see that your very good folk could wink at things like other people
in such a case. Then, when Ellen fairly drove her inquiries home,
in her absolute trust of confuting all slanders, she was told that
Griffith did, what she called 'all sorts of things--billiards and
all that.' And even that he was always running after a horrid Lady
Peacock, a gay widow.
'They went on in fun,' said Ellen, 'and laughed the more when--yes,
I am afraid I did--I lost my temper. No, don't say I well might, I
know I ought not; but I told them I knew all about Lady Peacock, and
that you were all old friends, even before he rescued her from the
Bristol riots and brought her home to Chantry House; and that only
made Mary merrier than ever, and say, "What, another distressed
damsel? Take care, Ellen; I would not trust such a squire of
dames.
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