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Ah, Sir! that will be a hard work for a simple priest of your appointment; it would be work enough for an archbishop. But it will help at least to put you into credit with the world.

Put me into credit with the world! Am I not in very good credit with the world?—Why dost thou shake thy head so? Am I not? I have broken no laws: I have disregarded no rules of decency. I have preserved a show of kindness to all men; ay, and have felt real kindness for some. What does the world know against me, that thou shouldst look so significantly?

I don't say that they know any thing against you; but there is something in human nature called suspicion, that will sometimes contravene most provokingly all the good seeming that a painstaking man can put on.

And what do they suspect? What cause have I given for suspicion?

Why, my dear Sir, that story of the heiress stands somewhat between you and their good opinion.