late ward, had been
somewhat too severe. It is difficult, perhaps, to say what amount of
misconduct does constitute a scoundrel, or justifies the critic in
saying that this or that man is not a gentleman. There be those who
affirm that he who owes a debt for goods which he cannot pay is no
gentleman, and tradesmen when they cannot get their money are no
doubt sometimes inclined to hold that opinion. But the opinion is
changed when the money comes at last,--especially if it comes with
interest. Ralph had never owed a shilling which he did not intend to
pay, and had not property to cover. That borrowing of money from Mr.
Neefit was doubtless bad. No one would like to know that his son had
borrowed money from his tailor. But it is the borrowing of the money
that is bad, rather than the special dealing with the tradesman. And
as to that affair with Polly, some excuse may be made. He had meant
to be honest to Neefit, and he had meant to be true to Neefit's
daughter. Even Sir Thomas, high-minded as he was, would hardly have
passed so severe a sentence, had not the great sufferer in the matter
been his own daughter.

But the words that he spoke were doubtless salutary to poor Clarissa.
She never again said to Patience that she would not try to make a
change, nor did she ever again declare that if Ralph came back again
she would forgive him. On the day after the scene with her father
she was up again, and she made an effort to employ herself about the
house. On the next Sunday she went to church, and then they all knew
that she was making the necessary struggle. Ralph's name was never
mentioned, nor for a time was any allusion made to the family of the
Newtons. "The worst of it, I think, is over," said Patience one day
to Mary.

"The worst of it is over," said Mary; "but it is not all over. It is
hard to forget when one has loved."

CHAPTER XLII.

NOT BROKEN-HEARTED.

Christmas had come and gone at Newton Priory, and the late Squire's
son had left the place,--protesting as he did so that he left it
for ever. To him also life in that particular spot of earth was
impossible, unless he could live there as the lord and master of
all. Everybody throughout that and neighbouring parishes treated him
not only with kindness, but with the warmest affection. The gentry,
the farmers, and the labourers, all men who had known him in the
hunting-field, in markets, on the bench, or at church, men, women and
children, joined to