"
"We are agreed, then," said Ellieslaw, when the shouts had somewhat
subsided, "to bear this state of things no longer?"
"We are agreed to a man," answered his guests.
"Not literally so," said Mr. Ratcliffe; "for though I cannot hope to
assuage the violent symptoms which seem so suddenly to have seized
upon the company, yet I beg to observe, that so far as the opinion of a
single member goes, I do not entirely coincide in the list of grievances
which has been announced, and that I do utterly protest against the
frantic measures which you seem disposed to adopt for removing them. I
can easily suppose much of what has been spoken may have arisen out of
the heat of the moment, or have been said perhaps in jest. But there are
some jests of a nature very apt to transpire; and you ought to remember,
gentlemen, that stone-walls have ears."
"Stone-walls may have ears," returned Ellieslaw, eyeing him with a look
of triumphant malignity, "but domestic spies, Mr. Ratcliffe, will soon
find themselves without any, if any such dares to continue his abode
in a family where his coming was an unauthorized intrusion, where his
conduct has been that of a presumptuous meddler, and from which his
exit shall be that of a baffled knave, if he does not know how to take a
hint.
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