He might as well have spared himself the trouble.

She simply wrote a few words across his own letter in red ink:--"The bread of unworthiness should never be earned or eaten;" and then sent the letter back under a blank envelope to her nephew.
She was a thorough Tory of the old school.

Had Hugh taken to writing for a newspaper that had cost sixpence, or even threepence, for its copies, she might perhaps have forgiven him.

At any rate the offence would not have been so flagrant.

And had the paper been conservative instead of liberal, she would have had some qualms of conscience before she gave him up.