Abroad, he was reserved; while everything about him gave signs of a painful inward conflict.
Of course, the social air was full of rumors, probable and improbable, but none of them exactly true.

Mrs.Dexter was wholly silent, except to her wisest and truest friend, Mrs.De Lisle--and her discretion ever kept her guarded.

Mrs.Loring simply alleged "incompatibility of temper"-- that vague allegation which covers with its broad mantle so wide a range of domestic antagonisms.

And so the public had its appetite piqued, and the nine days' wonder became the wonder of a season.

Hints towards the truth were embellished by gossips' ready imaginations, and stories of wrong, domestic tyranny, infidelity, and the like, were passed around, and related with a degree of circumstantiality that gave them wide credence.