I was present at the time, and I heard him say that, if Maria and Zoe had been older, he should have advised employing a music-master who had no false reports against him to contradict.

As they were only children, he would say nothing more.

That is what I had in my mind, when I gave my opinion.

I think Mr.Ovid will be annoyed when he hears that Mr.Le Frank is his cousin's music-master.

And, if any foolish gossip reaches him in his absence, I fear it might lead to mischievous results--I mean, to misunderstandings not easily set right by correspondence, and quite likely therefore to lead, in the end, to distrust and jealousy." There she paused, and crossed her hands on her lap, and waited for what was to come next.
If Mrs.Gallilee could have looked into her mind at that moment as well as into her face, she would have read Miss Minerva's thoughts in these plain terms: "All this time, madam, you have been keeping up appearances in the face of detection.