"Such ways may pass in a London usurer, but they don't do for us
country folk; and each farm that he has taken has closed the doors
of a dozen good houses to John Dormay. I fear that Celia has a bad
time with him, though she is not one to complain. I let Charlie go
over to Rockley, much oftener than I otherwise should do, for her
sake and Ciceley's, though I would rather, a hundred times, that
they should come here. Not that the visits are pleasant, when they
do come, for I can see that Celia is always in fear, lest I should
ask her questions about her life at home; which is the last thing
that I should think of doing, for no good ever comes of
interference between man and wife, and, whatever I learned, I could
not quarrel with John Dormay without being altogether separated
from Celia and the girl.
"I am heartily glad that Charlie has given Alured a sound
thrashing. The boy is too modest. He only said a few words, last
evening, about the affair, and I thought that only a blow or two
had been exchanged. It was as much as I could do, not to rub my
hands and chuckle, when his father told me all about it. However, I
must speak gravely to Charlie. If he takes it up, every time a Whig
speaks scornfully of the king, he will be always in hot water, and,
were he a few years older, would become a marked man.
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