But, nevertheless, credit of a high order was justly accorded to him.

So young a man might naturally have expended his income on pleasure.

So young a wife might have spent his rents in frivolity.

They worked towards an end, but it was a worthy end--for ambition, if not too extravagant, is a virtue.

Men with votes and influence compared this squire in their minds with other squires, whose lives seemed spent in a slumberous donothingness.
Thus, by degrees, the young squire's mansion and estate added to his reputation.