He had not made impertinent inquiries himself, he said, and had nothing at all to tell.

The younger lady's complaint arose from disordered liver; he had no objection to tell them that; she had been so long a sufferer from it that the malady had become chronic; and her name was Kitty.
Now, it was touching this very family that the scandal had arisen.

_How_ it arose was the puzzle; since the ladies themselves never spoke to anybody, and Dr.West would not be likely to invent or to spread stories affecting himself.

Its precise nature was buried in uncertainty, also its precise object.

Some said one thing, some another.