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[Page 116

but Mrs W. no sooner got her here than
she intimated to Charlie her desire
that Ellis never would return, and
instead of doing this quietly and
kindly, abused Ellis in such very
unmeasured & unjustifiable terms
that Charlie insisted on an
Eclaircissement & begged that she
would either prove her words or retract
them. there has been much very
disagreeable correspondence between
Ch & Mrs W- but the result is that
nothing is proved agt [against] Ellis to justify
in any degree the abuse she has got
And it is really all so petty and
spiteful that if it were not for
Ellis's loneliness one might laugh
at it – As it is, I feel very thankful
that I happened to be in England
to give poor Ellis my support & to
shield her from the cruel slander
(for so I coonscientiously [conscientiously] consider it)
of one who ought to have protected
her and concealed her faults even
if she had them as she avers –
However Ellis is determined by the