Boissieu had picked up a little gossip concerning Mrs Jones and the Governor's much-disliked brother-in-law, Henry Dumaresq:

The story that nobody contradicts goes that Mr Jones was warned by his sister that every time he went to the bank, of which he is one of the directors and where he was forced to stay several hours, Colonel Dumaresq, then a single man, went to his wife's house . . . he came back and caught them . . . there is no doubt about it. And furthermore had a great wish to be and to appear amiable. These ladies do not speak French at all.*

* Le seul négociant chez lequel nous ayons été reçu souvent et qui nous ait donné des bals est Mr Jones. C'est un des plus riches de la colonie et il s'est attaché à l'aristocratie – on le dit très honnête homme et d'une grand capacité pour les affaires – c'est surtout par la pêche de la baleine qu'il a fait sa fortune qu'il ne doit qu'à lui seul, étant venu dans la colonie comme simple écrivain – il appartient à une classe inférieure de la société ainsi que sa femme, fille d'une fruitière de Londres qu'il a fait élever avant de l'épouser. Celle-ci est encore jolie est aussi une belle femme. La chronique que personne ne contredit raconte que Mr Jones, prévenu par sa sœur que toutes les fois qu'il s'absentait pour aller à la banque dont il est un des directeurs & où il était obligé de rester plusieurs heures Le colonel Dumaresq alors garçon entrait chez sa femme, revint et les surprit . . . pas moyen d'en douter – du reste grand désir d'être et de paraître aimable. Ces dames ne parlent pas du tout français . . .

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

He kept a diary:

The only businessman at whose house we were often received and who gave dances in our honour is Mr Jones. He is one of the richest men in the colony and he has joined the aristocracy. They say he is a very decent man with great business ability. It is mainly through whale-catching that he has made his fortune which is entirely self-made, having come to the country as a simple clerk – he belongs to a lower class in society as does his wife, daughter of a fruit seller in London, whom he had educated before marrying her. She is still pretty, but with excessively affected manners, a trait which she shares with her sister-in-law Miss Jones who is also a beautiful woman.

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr