e, and was to be seen on more than one occasion accompanying
Miss Stansfield on her return from Bridgepath.

And now it began to be rumoured about in the neighbourhood that an
attachment was springing up between the colonel's nephew and Mary
Stansfield; and all true-hearted people rejoiced, knowing what a
blessing the union of two such earnest workers would prove, as, of
course, they would one day, if spared, succeed to the Riverton estate.
The world, however, was both surprised and disgusted, having hoped
"better things" of the young man. As for the Wilders, they were full of
dark and bitter sayings on the subject--the younger Mr Wilder
especially, who was never tired of remarking to his acquaintance, when
the subject was broached, that "Miss Stansfield had contrived to play
her cards well." This observation was not lost on the busy-bodies and
scandal-mongers who abounded in Franchope, as they do in most country-
towns, where there is not so much of active business stirring as will
furnish sufficient material for gossip to those who love to act as
unpaid news-agents in publishing their neighbours' real or supposed more
private doings from house to house.

There happened to live at the outskirts of the little town an elderly
lady possessed of singular activity in all her members, especially that
most unruly one, the tongue. Give her a little bit of local news or a
hard saying to report, and she would never rest till she had distributed
the information throughout her entire acquaintance, with a little
garnish of her own to the savoury dish, according to the taste or
appetite of her hearers. Loved by none, feared by all, her calls were
received with apparent cordiality, partly from a natural relish in many
for questionable news, and partly from a desire to stand well with one
who had the reputations of her neighbours and associates more or less in
her power. Young Wilder's remark on Miss Stansfield's engagement was a
choice morsel of scandal to old Mrs Tinderley, and was duly reported in
every house to which she had access. But that was not all. Meeting
Mary Stansfield herself one day near her aunt's house, Mrs Tinderley
grasped her warmly by the hand--though hitherto they had never done more
than just exchange civil greetings by word of mouth--and congratulated
her upon her happy prospects. Miss Stansfield, who knew the old lady's
character well, was about to pass on, after a word or two of civil
acknowledgment,