‘And what advice did you give him?’
‘I told him Bayford was bent on gossip, and no one heeded it less than my respected brother and sister.’
‘That was famous of you, Maurice. I was afraid you would have put it upon his honour and the state of his own heart.’
‘Sooth to say, I did not think his heart appeared very ticklish.’
‘Oh! Maurice, Maurice! But you’ve not been there to see the hot fits and the cold fits! It is a very fine thermometer whether he says Sophy or Miss Kendal.’
‘And you say Edmund perceived this?’
‘Much you would trust my unassisted ‘cuteness! I tell you he did, and that it will make him happier than anything.’
‘Very well; then my advice will have done no harm. I did not think there had been so much self-control in an Irishman.’
‘Had he not better say, so much blindness in the rector of Fairmead?’ laughed Albinia.
‘And pray what course is the affair to take?’