Here she related the circumstances of the bank failure, and the evil consequences that followed, and were still pending over Kenneth and many of their other friends in Wreckumoft.
“That’s a sad business,” said Gildart; “but I don’t see how it can be mended. I fear me it is a case of ‘grin and bear it.’ And your aunt, Miss Puff, what of the adorable Miss Flouncer?”
“She is now Lady Doles.”
“You don’t say so! Well, I had given Sir Richard credit for more sense. How long is it since they married?”
“About two years.”
“Is Sir Richard dead?”
“No, why should you think so?”
“Because if it had been me, I should have succumbed in three months. It’s an awful thing to think of being married to a she-griffin.”
“She is my aunt, Mr Bingley,” said Miss Puff.
“Ah, to be sure, forgive me. But now I must go and search for my father. Adieu. Miss Puff—au revoir.”