If the inkeepers 30 miles from Squire Thornhill's residence are fully acquainted with his infamy, how can Sir William be so ignorant? He travels the countryside incognito, staying in the homes of neighboring farmers (whose daughters have presumably been seduced and abandoned or forced into prostitution.) He stays at the same humble inns as the 'regular folk', but in all his travels he hasn't managed to hear a SINGLE word spoken against the biggest rake in the county! The way people gossip (especially in small towns), I find that impossible to believe.

At the end of the book, the count is 7-8 women he's pressed into phony marriages. There are an untold number of country wenches with whom he presumably rolled in the hay! But Sir William can't manage to hear one peep about it!