Miss L has talked to a friend. PE has said evil and unfounded things to hurt Miss L's character, e.g. that she walked by moonlight with George Grote. PE should act as if he had never loved or hated. Miss L is handsome, clever and good-natured; she may not have acted rightly, but she has suffered very severely, not only in her prospects of Grote, which perhaps were never very decided but also by becoming a public talking point, and her spirits are now hurt. PE should be a friend, and even help her with 'young George.'
PE likely to separate from a Miss L, because of her renewal of Hymeneal chains. Presumably a reference to Harriet Lewin, subsequently married to George Grote - a scandal briefly referred to in PE's entry in the DNB, and further described in the Elizabethan, May 1897, p.298.
PE and a Mr Collins have been rivals in love for a young lady - a clandestine amour and a scandal in the neighbourhood. Greek is the chief point of resemblance between PE and Mr Collins - could Mr Collins therefore be a pseudonym for George Grote? HH wonders how the secret got out - did the 'young Lombard' let it slip to exonerate himself, or did the lady's family, with whom PE has quarrelled, do so out of a spirit of vengeance?
Congratulations on termination of affair. Further remarks upon Miss L and Mr Collins ('the other business'). Mr Collins may suspect PE of indulging in ridicule at his expense. HH agrees with PE that no one can be glad to have been involved - and Miss L has lost an eminent banker of Threadneedle Street (a reference to George Grote).
