come, and had he asked her that question which she was prepared to answer, she would have declared
herself as her brothers friend, and a reconciliation might have been effected between George and his
angry father. But though she waited at home the Captain never came. He had his own affairs to pursue; his
own parents to visit and console; and at an early hour of the day to take his place on the Lightning coach,
and go down to his friends at Brighton. In the course of the day Miss Osborne heard her father give
orders that that meddling scoundrel, Captain Dobbin, should never be admitted within his doors again,
and any hopes in which she may have indulged privately were thus abruptly brought to an end. Mr.
Frederick Bullock came, and was particularly affectionate to Maria, and attentive to the broken-spirited
old gentleman. For though he said his mind would be easy, the means which he had taken to secure
quiet did not seem to have succeeded as yet, and the events of the past two days had visibly shattered
him.