"He thought the report," he said,
"highly probably, and heartily wished it might be true. Such a match
was fitter and far more creditable for a spirited young fellow than a
marriage with the daughter of an old Whig lawyer, whose chicanery had so
nearly ruined his father."
The other party, of course, laying out of view the opposition which the
Master of Ravenswood received from Miss Ashton's family, cried shame
upon his fickleness and perfidy, as if he had seduced the young lady
into an engagement, and wilfully and causelessly abandoned her for
another.
Sufficient care was taken that this report should find its way to
Ravenswood Castle through every various channel, Lady Ashton being
well aware that the very reiteration of the same rumour, from so many
quarters, could not but give it a semblance of truth. By some it was
told as a piece of ordinary news, by some communicated as serious
intelligence; now it was whispered to Lucy Ashton's ear in the tone of
malignant pleasantry, and now transmitted to her as a matter of grave
and serious warning.
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