She did not pretend to know much about it yet; but what she did know roused her.
England was at grips with a brutal foe.

The only weapon that could defeat her was famine--the sloth and waste of her own sons.

This woman, able, energetic, a lover of her country, could not conceal her scorn for such a fatal incompetence.

Naturally, in talking to the eldest son, she made the agent her scapegoat for the sins of the owner.

The Squire's responsibility was carefully masked.