"I know nothing about Jack Stuart or his boat either," said the rector; "but that's what they told me. He's down here, at any rate, for I saw the servant that came with him."
"What a shame it is," said Mrs. Clavering,—"a scandalous shame."
"You mean his going away?" said the rector.
"Of course I do;—his leaving her here by herself, all alone. He can have no heart;—after losing her child and suffering as she has done. It makes me ashamed of my own name."
"You can't alter him, my dear. He has his good qualities and his bad,—and the bad ones are by far the more conspicuous."
"I don't know any good qualities he has."
"He does not get into debt. He will not destroy the property. He will leave the family after him as well off as it was before him,—and though he is a hard man, he does nothing actively cruel. Think of Lord Ongar, and then you'll remember that there are worse men than Hugh. Not that I like him. I am never comfortable for a moment in his presence. I always feel that he wants to quarrel with me, and that I almost want to quarrel with him."
"I detest him," said Harry, from beneath the bedclothes.
"You won't be troubled with him any more this summer, for he means to be off in less than a week."
"And what is she to do?" asked Mrs. Clavering.