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OF WILDFELL HALL.
177
CHAPTER X.
A CONTRACT AND A QUARREL.
When all were gone, I learnt that the vile slander had indeed been circulated throughout the company, in the very presence of the victim. Rose, however, vowed she did not and would not believe it, and my mother made the same declaration, though not, I fear, with the same amount of real, unwavering incredulity. It seemed to dwell continually on her mind, and she kept irritating me from time to time by such expressions as—"Dear, dear, who would have thought it!—Well! I always
