'What a difference in character between the brother and sister,' thought Miss Agnes, whose good opinion of Mr. Ellsworth had been raised higher than ever, by the earnest devotion to his friend's interest, which appeared throughout his whole management of the case. The family at Wyllys-Roof were careful to show, by their friendly attention to the Hubbards, that their respect and regard for them had not suffered at all by the steps Mr. Clapp had taken. Miss Agnes and Elinor visited the cottage as frequently as ever. One morning, shortly after the wedding, Miss Wyllys went to inquire after Mrs. Hubbard, as she was in the habit of doing. She found Mary Hubbard, the youngest daughter, there, and was struck on entering, by the expression of Miss Patsey's face--very different from her usual calm, pleasant aspect. "Oh, Miss Wyllys!" she exclaimed, in answer to an inquiry of Miss Agnes's--"I am just going to Longbridge! My poor, kind uncle Joseph!--but he was always too weak and indulgent to those girls!" "What has happened?" asked Miss Wyllys, anxiously. "Dreadful news, indeed; Mrs. Hilson has disgraced herself!--Her husband has left her and applied for a divorce! But I do not believe it is half as bad as most people think; Julianna has been shamefully imprudent, but I cannot think her guilty!" {"Her husband has left her..." = this incident seems to reflect the unhappy marriage between Henry Nicholas Cruger (1800-1867) -- a close friend of the Cooper family -- and the free-wheeling Harriet Douglas (1790-1872). After their 1833 marriage, Harriet Douglas insisted on living her own life -- often in Europe; Cruger eventually left her and in 1843 began a lengthy and highly public divorce action based on desertion. The Cooper family strongly disapproved of Harriet Douglas, and she is believed to have been an inspiration for the free-wheeling Mary Monson in James Fenimore Cooper's last novel, "The Ways of the Hour" (1850)} Miss Wyllys was grieved to hear such a bad account of her old neighbour's daughter. "Her husband has left her, you say; where is she now?" "Her father brought her home with him. He went after her to Newport, where she had gone in the same party with this man--this Mr. de Montbrun, and a person who lives in the same boarding-house, a Mrs. Bagman, who has done a great deal of harm to Julianna." "Sad, indeed!" exclaimed Miss Agnes. "Charles says it is heart-rending, to see my poor uncle, who was so proud of his good name--thought so much of his daughters! Often have I heard him say: 'Let them enjoy life, Patsey, while they are young; girls can't do much harm; I love to see them look pretty and merry.' They never received any solid instruction, and since her marriage, Julianna seems to have been in bad company. She had no children to think about, and Mr. Hilson's time is always given to his business; her head was full of nonsense from morning till night; I was afraid no good would come of it."