CHAPTER XX.
Almost daily, while the pleasant fall weather lasted, did I meet the handsome carriage of Mrs.Dewey; but I noticed that she went less through the town, and oftener out into the country.

And I also noticed that she rode alone more frequently than she had been accustomed to do.
Formerly, one fashionable friend or another, who felt it to be an honor to sit in the carriage of Mrs.Dewey, was generally to be seen in her company when she went abroad.

Now, the cases were exceptional.

I also noticed a gathering shade of trouble on her face.
The fact was, opinion had commenced setting against her.

The unhappy affair at Saratoga was not allowed to sleep in the public mind of S----.
It was conned over, magnified, distorted, and added to, until it assumed most discreditable proportions; and ladies who respected themselves began to question whether it was altogether reputable to be known as her intimate friends.