Gradually, however, as time deadened the sting, she came to accommodate herself to circumstances.

The two men left her very much to her own devices.

Girdlestone was so engrossed in his business that he had little time to inquire into her pursuits, and Ezra, being addicted to late hours, was seldom seen except at breakfast-time, when she listened with awe to his sporting slang and cynical comments upon men and manners.
John Girdlestone had been by no means overjoyed upon the return of the Dimsdales from Edinburgh to learn that his ward had been thrown into the company of her young cousin.

He received her coldly and forbade her to visit Phillimore Gardens for some time to come.

He took occasion also to speak of Tom, and to assure her that he had received very serious accounts as to his spiritual state.