Fordyce
was far less likely to be tolerant of a young man's failings than
was her husband; and she was, besides, a Lester, and might take the
same view.
Abusing the Lesters was our great resource; for we did not believe
either the sailor or the guardsman to be immaculate, and we knew
them to be jealous. We had to remain in ignorance of what we most
wished to know, for Ellen was kept away from us, and my mother would
not let Emily go in search of her. Only Anne, who was a high-
spirited, independent little person, made a sudden rush upon me as I
sat in the garden. She had no business to be so far from home
alone; but, said she, 'I don't care, it is all so horrid. Please,
Edward, is it true that Griff has been so very wicked? I heard the
maids talking, and they said papa had found out that he was a bad
lot, and that he was not to marry Ellen; but she would stick to him
through thick and thin, like poor Kitty Brown who would marry the
man that got transported for seven years.' 'Will he be transported,
Edward? and would Ellen go too, like the "nut-brown maid?" Is that
what she cries so about? Not by day, but all night. I know she
does, for her handkerchief is wet through, and there is a wet place
on her pillow always in the morning; but she only says, "Never
mind," and nobody WILL tell me. They only say little girls should
not think about such things.
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