ger. If I had been a common
lodging-house keeper, I could not have been treated with less respect;
but to be outraged--to be insulted--"

"What is the matter, Mrs Hadwin?" said Mr Wentworth, in dismay.

"Sir," said the old lady, who was trembling with passion, "you may
think it no matter to turn a house upside down as mine has been since
Easter; to bring all sorts of disreputable people about--persons whom
a gentlewoman in my position ought never to have heard of. I received
your brother into my house," cried Mrs Hadwin, turning to Gerald,
"because he was a clergyman and I knew his family, and hoped to find
him one whose principles I could approve of. I have put up with a
great deal, Mr Wentworth, more than I could tell to anybody. I took
in his friend when he asked me, and gave him the spare room, though it
was against my judgment. I suffered a man with a beard to be seen
stealing in and out of my house in the evening, as if he was afraid to
be seen. You gentlemen may not think much of that, but it was a
terrible thing for a lady in my position, unprotected, and not so well
off as I once was. It made my house like a lodging-house, and so my
friends told me; but I was so infatuated I put up with it all for Mr
Frank's sake. But there _is_ a limit," said the aggrieved woman. "I
would not have believed it--I _could_ not have believed it of you--not
whatever people might say: to think of that abandoned disgraceful girl
coming openly to my door--"

"Good heavens!" cried the Curate: he seized Mrs Hadwin's hand,
evidently forgetting everything else she had said. "What girl?--whom
do you mean? For heaven's sake compose yourself and answer me. Who was
it? Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter of life and death for me," cried
the young man. "Speak quickly: when was it?--where is she? For
heaven's sake, Mrs Hadwin, speak--"

"Let me go, sir!" cried the indignant old lady; "let me go this
instant--this is insult upon insult. I appeal to you, Mr Gerald--to
think I should ever be supposed capable of encouraging such a horrid
shameless--! How dare you--how dare you name such a creature to me?"
exclaimed Mrs Hadwin, with hysterical sobs. "If it were not for your
family, you should never enter my house again. Oh, thank you, Mr
Gerald Wentworth--indeed I am not able to walk. I am sure I don't want
to grieve you about your brother--I tried not to believe it--I tried
as long as I could not to believe it--but you hear how he speaks. Do
you