to Charlie, that lout, her son, would be the heir of Lynnwood. I
should never rest quiet in my grave, were a Whig master here.

"I would much rather that he had spoken wrathfully, when I
straightly gave him my opinion of the boy, who is growing up an
ill-conditioned cub. It would have been more honest. I hate to see
a man smile, when I know that he would fain swear. I like my cousin
Celia, and I like her little daughter Ciceley, who takes after her,
and not after John Dormay; but I would that the fellow lived on the
other side of England. He is out of his place here, and, though men
do not speak against him in my presence, knowing that he is a sort
of kinsman, I have never heard one say a good word for him.

"It is not only because he is a Whig. There are other Whig gentry
in the neighbourhood, against whom I bear no ill will, and can meet
at a social board in friendship. It would be hard if politics were
to stand between neighbours. It is Dormay's manner that is against
him. If he were anyone but Celia's husband, I would say that he is
a smooth-faced knave, though I altogether lack proof of my words,
beyond that he has added half a dozen farms to his estate, and, in
each case, there were complaints that, although there was nothing
contrary to the law, it was by sharp practice that he obtained
possession, lending money freely in order to build houses and
fences and drains, and then, directly a pinch came, demanding the
return of his advance.

"Such ways may pass in a London usurer, but they don't do for us
country folk; and each farm that he has taken has closed the doors
of a dozen good houses to John Dormay. I fear that Celia has a bad
time with him, though she is not one to complain. I let Charlie go