"Well, then, I don't want, you know, to make more of it than can be helped. The thing must be stopped, that is all."
"What thing? Speak out, Lady Arabella. I will not have Mary's conduct impugned by innuendoes. What is it that eavesdroppers have heard?"
"Dr Thorne, there have been no eavesdroppers."
"And no talebearers either? Will your ladyship oblige me by letting me know what is the accusation which you bring against my niece?"
"There has been most positively an offer made, Dr Thorne."
"And who made it?"
"Oh, of course I am not going to say but what Frank must have been very imprudent. Of course he has been to blame. There has been fault on both sides, no doubt."
"I utterly deny it. I positively deny it. I know nothing of the circumstances; have heard nothing about it—"
"Then of course you can't say," said Lady Arabella.
"I know nothing of the circumstance; have heard nothing about it," continued Dr Thorne; "but I do know my niece, and am ready to assert that there has not been fault on both sides. Whether there has been any fault on any side, that I do not yet know."