This is one of the causes
attendant on the habit of loose talking; one never knowing what to
credit, and what not. In spite of all my disgust, and a firm
determination not to contribute in any manner to the stock in trade of
these people, I found great difficulty in evading their endless
questions. How much they got out of me, by means of the process of
negations, I never knew; but they got no great matter through direct
affirmatives. Something, however, persons so indefatigable, to whom
gossiping was the great aim of life, must obtain, and they ascertained
that Mr. Hardinge was my guardian, that Rupert and I had passed our
boyhoods in each other's company, and that Lucy was even an inmate of
my own house the day we sailed. This little knowledge only excited a
desire for more, and, by the end of a week, I was obliged to submit to
devices and expedients to pump me, than which even the thumbscrew was
scarcely more efficient. I practised on the negative system, myself,
with a good deal of dexterity, however, and threw my inquisitors off,
very handsomely, more than once, until I discovered that Wallace
Mortimer, determined not to be baffled, actually opened communications
with Neb, in order to get a clearer insight into my private affairs.
After this, I presume my readers will not care to hear any more about
these gentry, whose only connection with my life grew out of the
misgivings they contributed largely to create in my mind, touching the
state of Lucy's affections.
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