'Perhaps,' said I, 'I appear very foolish in supposing him actuated by any
but sordid motives; but he is my near relation, and I can't help it, sir.'
'That is a very serious thing, Miss Ruthyn,' he replied. 'You are very
young, and cannot see it at present, as you will hereafter. He is very
religious, you say, and all that, but his house is not a proper place for
you. It is a solitude--its master an outcast, and it has been the repeated
scene of all sorts of scandals, and of one great crime; and Lady Knollys
thinks your having been domesticated there will be an injury to you all the
days of your life.'
'So I do, Maud,' said Lady Knollys, who had just entered the room
unperceived,--'How do you do, Doctor Bryerly?--a serious injury. You have
no idea how entirely that house is condemned and avoided, and the very name
of its inmates tabooed.'
'How monstrous--how cruel!' I exclaimed.
'Very unpleasant, my dear, but perfectly natural. You are to recollect that
quite independently of the story of Mr. Charke, the house was talked about,
and the county people had cut your uncle Silas long before that adventure
was dreamed of; and as to the circumstance of your being placed in his
charge by his brother, who took, from strong family feeling, a totally
one-sided view of the affair from the first, having the slightest effect in
restoring his position in the county, you must quite give that up.
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