21 January 1886

[Daily Prophet]

JANUARY 21ST 1886

LETTER TO THE EDITOR MISS ECHELON'S CHAPERON SPEAKS OUT

W ords cannot express the shock I have felt upon seeing my charge’s name in the papers over the last few days. I really must implore you, dear editor, to reconsider your standards regarding good journalism. A one-sided account of some alleged event that might have occurred months ago hardly seems to hold up under any sort of scrutiny; I would expect such ham-handed reporting out of the early issues of Witch Weekly, perhaps, but half-baked gossip hardly belongs in what claims to be the leading news publication of Wizarding Britain! Miss Echelon is indeed so distraught over the libel that has graced your pages this week that she can hardly bear to leave her room, so I have taken it upon myself to set the record straight on her behalf. I have kept her uncle, Mr. Echelon-Arnost’s, house for many years now, and when Miss Echelon became his ward this spring I was also entrusted with the duty of chaperoning her when he could not. I take my duty quite seriously, and Miss Echelon has never given me reason to doubt her good breeding and poise as a young lady of society, and indeed her grace following all her family’s difficulties last year has only heightened her in my esteem.  Miss Echelon and Miss Dippet were indeed roommates at the Pendergast School, and though they were never bosom friends, I understand Miss Echelon always treated Miss Dippet with kindness despite their lack of closeness.  Of course, with the ordeal following Mr. Sebastian Echelon’s death, Miss Echelon hardly had time to keep up with every school acquaintance she might have made. We did run into a Miss Dippet in Padmore Park one day last summer, not long after she came into her uncle’s care.  The conversation started off in a polite enough direction, but I heard with my own ears Miss Dippet mocking Miss Echelon’s tragic situation,  _____________________________________________________________

both the passing of her father and brother and the Ministry’s seizure of assets -- it was cruel enough that I do not wish to repeat it here, for Miss Hannah’s sake. There was no mention of any trinket, and the pair of us departed quickly. Miss Echelon was already sick with grief and shock after learning of her father's true nature, so one can imagine how hurt she was that a schoolmate of hers could be so uncouth. If Miss Dippet’s unfortunate tenure as a dog began that day after we departed, neither I nor Miss Echelon have any knowledge of it. The event was alleged to have happened so long ago that perhaps Mrs. Pennington is simply mistaken; there were plenty of young ladies in mourning following the Ministry accident last spring, and as far as I know Miss Echelon’s face was never shown in any article following her father’s passing.  As for why Miss Dippet would latch onto this fabrication… perhaps her memory was addled after spending so long as a dog and she simply can’t help it, though that doesn't explain the blatant lie about the supposed Christmas present, which Miss Hannah never received. Of course, if Mr. Armando Dippet was truly so inattentive a chaperon as to not notice his own granddaughter mocking a girl in mourning or being transfigured in the middle of Padmore Park, Merlin only knows what else Miss Dippet has gotten herself into without his notice! Poor Miss Echelon has suffered quite enough over the past year, but she is hardly without forgiveness. If Miss Dippet truly feels she has wronged her somehow, Miss Echelon implores her to pay her a call or meet with her so they might discuss it like civilized young ladies. There is no need for this underhanded gossip and slander among proper society women, and I certainly hope the Prophet thinks twice before maligning a young woman’s name without proof again! AUTHOR: MISS JOANNA VECTOR

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