"'Tis not her way to treat men kindly," said Mistress Wimpole.

But whether the rumour was true or false--and there were those who
bestowed no credit upon it, and said it was mere town talk, and that the
same things had been bruited abroad before--it so chanced that Sir John
paid no visit to his relative or to Sir Jeoffry for several months. 'Twas
heard once that he had gone to France, and at the French Court was making
as great a figure as he had made at the English one, but of this even his
kinsman Lord Eldershawe could speak no more certainly than he could of
the first matter.

The suit of my Lord of Dunstanwolde--if suit it was--during these months
appeared to advance somewhat. All orders of surmises were made
concerning it--that Mistress Clorinda had privately quarrelled with Sir
John and sent him packing; that he had tired of his love-making, as 'twas
well known he had done many times before, and having squandered his
possessions and finding himself in open straits, must needs patch up his
fortunes in a hurry with the first heiress whose estate suited him. But
'twas the women who said these things; the men swore that no man could
tire of or desert such spirit and beauty, and that if Sir John Oxon
stayed away 'twas because he had been commanded to do so, it never having
been Mistress Clorinda's intention to do more than play with him awhile,
she having been witty against him always for a fop, and meaning herself
to accept no man as a husband who could not give her both rank and
wealth.

"We know her," said the old boon companions of her childhood, as they
talked of her over their bottles. "She knew her price and would bargain
for it when she was not eight years old, and would give us songs and
kisses but when she was paid for them with sweet things and knickknacks