Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope (best english novels for beginners .TXT) đ
- Author: Anthony Trollope
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âWell, your husbandâs. It would not be fair to show a manâs letters; but I should like to show you his.â
âYou are determined, then, to remain single?â
âI didnât say that. But why do you cross-question me so?â
âBecause I think so much about you. I am afraid that you will become so afraid of menâs motives as to doubt that anyone can be honest. And yet sometimes I think you would be a happier woman and a better woman, if you were married.â
âTo such an one as the Honourable George, for instance?â
âNo, not to such an one as him; you have probably picked out the worst.â
âOr to Mr. Sowerby?â
âWell, no; not to Mr. Sowerby, either. I would not have you marry any man that looked to you for your money principally.â
âAnd how is it possible that I should expect anyone to look to me principally for anything else? You donât see my difficulty, my dear? If I had only five hundred a year, I might come across some decent middle-aged personage, like myself, who would like me, myself, pretty well, and would like my little incomeâ âpretty well also. He would not tell me any violent lie, and perhaps no lie at all. I should take to him in the same sort of way, and we might do very well. But, as it is, how is it possible that any disinterested person should learn to like me? How could such a man set about it? If a sheep have two heads, is not the fact of the two heads the first and, indeed, only thing which the world regards in that sheep? Must it not be so as a matter of course? I am a sheep with two heads. All this money which my father put together, and which has been growing since like grass under May showers, has turned me into an abortion. I am not the giantess eight feet high, or the dwarf that stands in the manâs handâ ââ
âOr the two-headed sheepâ ââ
âBut I am the unmarried woman withâ âhalf a dozen millions of moneyâ âas I believe some people think. Under such circumstances have I a fair chance of getting my own sweet bit of grass to nibble, like any ordinary animal with one head? I never was very beautiful, and I am not more so now than I was fifteen years ago.â
âI am quite sure it is not that which hinders it. You would not call yourself plain; and even plain women are married every day, and are loved, too, as well as pretty women.â
âAre they? Well, we wonât say more about that; but I donât expect a great many lovers on account of my beauty. If ever you hear of such an one, mind you tell me.â
It was almost on Mrs. Greshamâs tongue to say that she did know of one suchâ âmeaning her uncle. But in truth, she did not know any such thing; nor could she boast to herself that she had good grounds for feeling that it was soâ âcertainly none sufficient to justify her in speaking of it. Her uncle had said no word to her on the matter, and had been confused and embarrassed when the idea of such a marriage was hinted to him. But, nevertheless, Mrs. Gresham did think that each of these two was well inclined to love the other, and that they would be happier together than they would be single. The difficulty, however, was very great, for the doctor would be terribly afraid of being thought covetous in regard to Miss Dunstableâs money; and it would hardly be expected that she should be induced to make the first overture to the doctor.
âMy uncle would be the only man that I can think of that would be at all fit for you,â said Mrs. Gresham, boldly.
âWhat, and rob poor Lady Scatcherd!â said Miss Dunstable.
âOh, very well. If you choose to make a joke of his name in that way, I have done.â
âWhy, God bless the girl! what does she want me to say? And as for joking, surely that is innocent enough. Youâre as tender about the doctor as though he were a girl of seventeen.â
âItâs not about him; but itâs such a shame to laugh at poor dear Lady Scatcherd. If she were to hear it sheâd lose all comfort in having my uncle near her.â
âAnd Iâm to marry him, so that she may be safe with her friend!â
âVery well; I have done.â And Mrs. Gresham, who had already got up from her seat, employed herself very sedulously in arranging flowers which had been brought in for the drawing-room tables. Thus they remained silent for a minute or two, during which she began to reflect that, after all, it might probably be thought that she also was endeavouring to catch the great heiress for her uncle.
âAnd now you are angry with me,â said Miss Dunstable.
âNo, I am not.â
âOh, but you are. Do you think Iâm such a fool as not to see when a personâs vexed? You wouldnât have twitched that geraniumâs head off if youâd been in a proper frame of mind.â
âI donât like that joke about Lady Scatcherd.â
âAnd is that all, Mary? Now do try and be true, if you can. You remember the bishop? Magna est veritas.â
âThe fact is youâve got into such a way of being sharp, and saying sharp things among your friends up in London, that you can hardly answer a person without it.â
âCanât I? Dear, dear, what a Mentor you are, Mary! No poor lad that ever ran up from Oxford for a spree in town got so lectured for his dissipation and iniquities as I do. Well, I beg Dr. Thorneâs pardon, and Lady Scatcherdâs, and I wonât be sharp any more; and I willâ âlet me see, what was it I was to do? Marry him myself, I believe; was not that it?â
âNo; youâre not half good enough for him.â
âI know that. Iâm quite sure of that. Though I am so sharp, Iâm very humble. You canât accuse
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