No one even of her greatest
intimates ventured to put the question to her
in precise terms; but her conduct was narrowly
observed, and the critics remarked, that to Adam
Hartley her attentions were given more freely and
frankly. She laughed with him, chatted with him,
and danced with him; while to Dick Middlemas
her conduct was more shy and distant. The premises
seemed certain, but the public were divided
in the conclusions which were to.be drawn from
them.
It was not possible for the young men to be the
subject of such discussions without being sensible
that they existed; and thus contrasted together by
the little society in which they moved, they must
have been made of better than ordinary clay, if
they had not themselves entered by degrees into
the spirit of the controversy, and considered themselves
as rivals for public applause.
Nor is it to be forgotten, that Menie Gray was
by this time shot up into one of the prettiest young
women, not of Middlemas only, but of the whole
county, in which the little burgh is situated. This,
indeed, had been settled by evidence, which could
not be esteemed short of decisive. At the time of
the races, there were usually assembled in the
burgh some company of the higher classes from the
country around, and many of the sober burghers
mended their incomes, by letting their apartments,
or taking in lodgers of quality for the busy week.
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