He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope (ebook reader with internet browser txt) 📖
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remember the lamb that came when you went away? It made me so sick.’
‘But, Priscilla isn’t that morbid?’
‘Of course it is. You don’t suppose I really think it grand. I am
morbid. But I am strong enough to live on, and not get killed by the
morbidity. Heaven knows how much more there may be of it forty years,
perhaps, and probably the greater portion of that absolutely alone.’
‘No, you’ll be with us then if it should come.’
‘I think not, Dolly. Not to have a hole of my own would be intolerable
to me. But, as I was saying, I shall not be unhappy. To enjoy life, as
you do, is I suppose out of the question for me. But I have a
satisfaction when I get to the end of the quarter and find that there
is not half-a-crown due to any one. Things get dearer and dearer, but I
have a comfort even in that. I have a feeling that I should like to
bring myself to the straw a day.’ Of course there were offers made of
aid, offers which were rather prayers and plans suggested of what might
be done between Brooke and Hugh; but Priscilla declared that all such
plans were odious to her. ‘Why should you be unhappy about us?’ she
continued. ‘We will come and see you—at least I will—perhaps once in
six months, and you shall pay for the railway ticket; only I won’t
stay, because of the gown.’
‘Is not that nonsense, Pris?’
‘Just at present it is, because mamma and I have both got new gowns for
the wedding. Hugh sent them, and ever so much money to buy bonnets and
gloves.’
‘He is to be married himself soon down at a place called Monkhams. Nora
is staying there.’
‘Yes with a lord,’ said Priscilla. ‘We sha’n’t have to go there, at any
rate.’
‘You liked Nora when she was here?’
‘Very much, though I thought her self-willed. But she is not worldly,
and she is conscientious. She might have married that lord herself if
she would. I do like her. When she comes to you at Exeter, if the
wedding gown isn’t quite worn out, I shall come and see her. I knew she
liked him when she was here, but she never said so.’
‘She is very pretty, is she not? He sent me her photograph.’
‘She is handsome rather than pretty. I wonder why it is that you two
should be married, and so grandly married, and that I shall never,
never have any one to love.’
‘Oh, Priscilla, do not say that. If I have a child will you not love
it?’
‘It will be your child, not mine. Do you suppose that I complain. I
know that it is right. I know that you ought to be married and I ought
not. I know that there is not a man in Devonshire who would take me,
or a man in Devonshire whom I would accept. I know that I am quite
unfit for any other kind of life than this. I should make any man
wretched, and any man would make me wretched. But why is it so? I
believe that you would make any man happy.’
‘I hope to make Brooke happy.’
‘Of course you will, and therefore you deserve it. We’ll go home now,
dear, and get mamma’s things ready for the great day.’
On the afternoon before the great day all the visitors were to come,
and during the forenoon old Miss Stanbury was in a great fidget.
Luckily for Dorothy, her own preparations were already made, so that
she could give her time to her aunt without injury to herself. Miss
Stanbury had come to think of herself as though all the reality of her
life had passed away from her. Every resolution that she had formed had
been broken. She had had the great enemy of her life, Barty Burgess, in
the house with her upon terms that were intended to be amicable, and
had arranged with him a plan for the division of the family property.
Her sister-in-law, whom in the heyday of her strength she had chosen to
regard as her enemy, and with whom even as yet there had been no
recon, was about to become her guest, as was also Priscilla
whom she had ever disliked almost as much as she had respected. She had
quarrelled utterly with Hugh in such a manner as to leave no possible
chance of a reconciliation, and he also was about to be her guest. And
then, as to her chosen heir, she was now assisting him in doing the
only thing, as to which she had declared that if he did do it, he
should not be her heir. As she went about the house, under an idea that
such a multiplicity of persons could not be housed and fed without
superhuman exertion, she thought of all this, and could not help
confessing to herself that her life had been very vain. It was only
when her eyes rested on Dorothy, and she saw how supremely happy was
the one person whom she had taken most closely to her heart, that she
could feel that she had done anything that should not have been left
undone. ‘I think I’ll sit down now, Dorothy,’ she said, ‘or I sha’n’t
be able to be with you tomorrow.’
‘Do, aunt. Everything is all ready, and nobody will be here for an hour
yet. Nothing can be nicer than the rooms, and nothing ever was done so
well before. I’m only thinking how lonely you’ll be when we’re gone.’
‘It’ll be only for six weeks.’
‘But six weeks is such a long time.’
‘What would it have been if he had taken you up to London, my pet? Are
you sure your mother wouldn’t like a fire in her room, Dorothy?’
‘A fire in September, aunt?’
‘People live so differently. One never knows.’
‘They never have but one fire at Nuncombe, aunt, summer or winter.’
‘That’s no reason they shouldn’t be comfortable here.’ However, she did
not insist on having the fire lighted.
Mrs Stanbury and Priscilla came first, and the meeting was certainly
very uncomfortable. Poor Mrs Stanbury was shy, and could hardly speak a
word. Miss Stanbury thought that her visitor was haughty, and, though
she endeavoured to be gracious, did it with a struggle. They called
each other ma’am, which made Dorothy uneasy. Each of them was so dear
to her, that it was a pity that they should glower at each other like
enemies. Priscilla was not at all shy; but she was combative, and, as
her aunt said of her afterwards, would not keep her prickles in. ‘I
hope, Priscilla, you like weddings,’ said Miss Stanbury to her, not
knowing where to find a subject for conversation.
‘In the abstract I like them,’ said Priscilla. Miss Stanbury did not
know what her niece meant by liking weddings in the abstract, and was
angry.
‘I suppose you do have weddings at Nuncombe Putney sometimes,’ she
said.
‘I hope they do,’ said Priscilla, ‘but I never saw one. Tomorrow will
be my first experience.’
‘Your own will come next, my dear,’ said Miss Stanbury.
‘I think not,’ said Priscilla. ‘It is quite as likely to be yours,
aunt.’ This, Miss Stanbury thought, was almost an insult, and she said
nothing more on the occasion.
Then came Hugh and the bridegroom. The bridegroom, as a matter of
course, was not accommodated in the house, but he was allowed to come
there for his tea. He and Hugh had come together; and for Hugh a
bedroom had been provided. His aunt had not seen him since he had been
turned out of the house, because of his bad practices, and Dorothy had
anticipated the meeting between them with alarm. It was, however, much
more pleasant than had been that between the ladies. ‘Hugh,’ she said
stiffly, ‘I am glad to see you on such an occasion as this.’
‘Aunt,’ he said, ‘I am glad of any occasion that can get me an entrance
once more into the dear old house. I am so pleased to see you.’ She
allowed her hand to remain in his a few moments, and murmured something
which was intended to signify her satisfaction. ‘I must tell you that I
am going to be married myself, to one of the dearest, sweetest, and
loveliest girls that ever were seen, and you must congratulate me.’
‘I do, I do; and I hope you may be happy.’
‘We mean to try to be; and some day you must let me bring her to you,
and shew her. I shall not be satisfied, if you do not know my wife.’
She told Martha afterwards that she hoped that Mr Hugh had sown his
wild oats, and that matrimony would sober him. When, however, Martha
remarked that she believed Mr Hugh to be as hardworking a young man as
any in London, Miss Stanbury shook her head sorrowfully. Things were
being very much changed with her; but not even yet was she to be
brought to approve of work done on behalf of a penny newspaper.
On the following morning, at ten o’clock, there was a procession from
Miss Stanbury’s house into the Cathedral, which was made entirely on
foot; indeed, no assistance could have been given by any carriage, for
there is a back entrance to the Cathedral, near to the Lady Chapel,
exactly opposite Miss Stanbury’s house. There were many of the
inhabitants of the Close there, to see the procession, and the
cathedral bells rang out their peals very merrily. Brooke, the
bridegroom, gave his arm to Miss Stanbury, which was, no doubt, very
improper, as he should have appeared in the church as coming from some
quite different part of the world. Then came the bride, hanging on her
brother, then two bridesmaids friends of Dorothy’s, living in the town;
and, lastly, Priscilla with her mother, for nothing would induce
Priscilla to take the part of a bridesmaid. ‘You might as well ask an
owl to sing to you,’ she said. ‘And then all the frippery would be
thrown away upon me.’ But she stood close to Dorothy, and when the
ceremony had been performed, was the first, after Brooke, to kiss her.
Everybody acknowledged that the bride was a winsome bride. Mrs MacHugh
was at the breakfast, and declared afterwards that Dorothy Burgess, as
she then was pleased to call her, was a girl very hard to be
understood. ‘She came here,’ said Mrs MacHugh, ‘two years ago, a plain,
silent, shy, dowdy young woman, and we all said that Miss Stanbury
would be tired of her in a week. There has never come a time in which
there was any visible difference in her, and now she is one of our city
beauties, with plenty to say to everybody, with a fortune in one pocket
and her aunt in the other, and everybody is saying what a fortunate
fellow Brooke Burgess is to get her. In a year or two she’ll be at the
top of everything in the city, and will make her way in the county
too.’
The compiler of this history begs to add his opinion to that of
‘everybody,’ as quoted above by Mrs MacHugh. He thinks that Brooke
Burgess was a very fortunate fellow to get his wife.
ACQUITTED
During this time, while Hugh was sitting with his love under the oak
trees at Monkhams, and Dorothy was being converted into Mrs Brooke
Burgess in Exeter Cathedral, Mrs Trevelyan was living
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