Bradfort's
death," observed Miss Jane, "and that she and Mr. Andrew Drewett will
marry as soon as it shall become proper."
Here was a speculation, for a man in my state of mind! The names were
all right; some of the incidents, even, were probable, if not correct;
yet, how could the facts be known to these comparative strangers? Did
the art of gossiping, with all its meannesses, lies, devices,
inventions, and cruelties, really possess so much advantage over the
intercourse of the confiding and honest, as to enable those who
practise it to discover facts hidden from eye-witnesses, and
eye-witnesses, too, that had every inducement of the strongest
interest in the issue, not to be deceived? I felt satisfied, the
moment Mrs. Greene's name was mentioned, that my passengers were not
in the true New York set; and, justly enough, inferred they were not
very good authority for one half they said; and, yet, how could they
know anything of Drewett's attachment to Lucy, unless their
information were tolerably accurate?
I shall not attempt to repeat all that passed while the ship dropped
down the bay; but enough escaped the gossips to render me still more
unhappy than I had yet been, on the subject of Lucy. I could and did
despise these people; that was easy enough; but it was not so easy to
forget all that they said and surmised.
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