Had the squire talked to me in those days seriously and fairly of my father's character, I should have abandoned my system of defence to plead for him as before a judge.

By that time I had gained the knowledge that my father was totally of a different construction from other men.

I wished the squire to own simply to his loveable nature.

I could have told him women did.

Without citing my dear aunt Dorothy, or so humble a creature as the devoted Mrs.Waddy, he had sincere friends among women, who esteemed him, and were staunch adherents to his cause; and if the widow of the City knight, Lady Sampleman, aimed openly at being something more, she was not the less his friend.