The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope (classic books for 11 year olds .txt) đ
- Author: Anthony Trollope
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âI think a young woman should love her husband.â
âIt makes me sick, mamma, to hear you talk in that way. It does indeed. When one has been going on for a dozen years trying to do somethingâ âand I have never had any secrets from youâ âthen that you should turn round upon me and talk about love! Mamma, if you would help me I think I could still manage with Mr. Brehgert.â Lady Pomona shuddered. âYou have not got to marry him.â
âIt is too horrid.â
âWho would have to put up with it? Not you, or papa, or Dolly. I should have a house of my own at least, and I should know what I had to expect for the rest of my life. If I stay here I shall go madâ âor die.â
âIt is impossible.â
âIf you will stand to me, mamma, I am sure it may be done. I would write to him, and say that you would see him.â
âGeorgiana, I will never see him.â
âWhy not?â
âHe is a Jew!â
âWhat abominable prejudice;â âwhat wicked prejudice! As if you didnât know that all that is changed now! What possible difference can it make about a manâs religion? Of course I know that he is vulgar, and old, and has a lot of children. But if I can put up with that, I donât think that you and papa have a right to interfere. As to his religion it cannot signify.â
âGeorgiana, you make me very unhappy. I am wretched to see you so discontented. If I could do anything for you, I would. But I will not meddle about Mr. Brehgert. I shouldnât dare to do so. I donât think you know how angry your papa can be.â
âIâm not going to let papa be a bugbear to frighten me. What can he do? I donât suppose heâll beat me. And Iâd rather he would than shut me up here. As for you, mamma, I donât think you care for me a bit. Because Sophy is going to be married to that oaf, you are become so proud of her that you havenât half a thought for anybody else.â
âThatâs very unjust, Georgiana.â
âI know whatâs unjustâ âand I know whoâs ill-treated. I tell you fairly, mamma, that I shall write to Mr. Brehgert and tell him that I am quite ready to marry him. I donât know why he should be afraid of papa. I donât mean to be afraid of him any more, and you may tell him just what I say.â
All this made Lady Pomona very miserable. She did not communicate her daughterâs threat to Mr. Longestaffe, but she did discuss it with Sophia. Sophia was of opinion that Georgiana did not mean it, and gave two or three reasons for thinking so. In the first place had she intended it she would have written her letter without saying a word about it to Lady Pomona. And she certainly would not have declared her purpose of writing such letter after Lady Pomona had refused her assistance. And moreoverâ âLady Pomona had received no former hint of the information which was now conveyed to herâ âGeorgiana was in the habit of meeting the curate of the next parish almost every day in the park.
âMr. Batherbolt!â exclaimed Lady Pomona.
âShe is walking with Mr. Batherbolt almost every day.â
âBut he is so very strict.â
âIt is true, mamma.â
âAnd heâs five years younger than she! And heâs got nothing but his curacy! And heâs a celibate! I heard the bishop laughing at him because he called himself a celibate.â
âIt doesnât signify, mamma. I know she is with him constantly. Wilson has seen themâ âand I know it. Perhaps papa could get him a living. Dolly has a living of his own that came to him with his property.â
âDolly would be sure to sell the presentation,â said Lady Pomona.
âPerhaps the bishop would do something,â said the anxious sister, âwhen he found that the man wasnât a celibate. Anything, mamma, would be better than the Jew.â To this latter proposition Lady Pomona gave a cordial assent. âOf course it is a comedown to marry a curateâ âbut a clergyman is always considered to be decent.â
The preparations for the Whitstable marriage went on without any apparent attention to the intimacy which was growing up between Mr. Batherbolt and Georgiana. There was no room to apprehend anything wrong on that side. Mr. Batherbolt was so excellent a young man, and so exclusively given to religion, that, even should Sophyâs suspicion be correct, he might be trusted to walk about the park with Georgiana. Should he at any time come forward and ask to be allowed to make the lady his wife, there would be no disgrace in the matter. He was a clergyman and a gentlemanâ âand the poverty would be Georgianaâs own affair.
Mr. Longestaffe returned home only on the eve of his eldest daughterâs marriage, and with him came Dolly. Great trouble had been taken to teach him that duty absolutely required his presence at his sisterâs marriage, and he had at last consented to be there. It is not generally considered a hardship by a young man that he should have to go into a good partridge country on the 1st of September, and Dolly was an acknowledged sportsman. Nevertheless, he considered that he had made a great sacrifice to his family, and he was received by Lady Pomona as though he were a bright example to other sons. He found the house not in a very comfortable position, for Georgiana still persisted in her refusal either to be a bridesmaid or to speak to Mr. Whitstable; but still his presence, which was very rare at Caversham, gave some assistance: and, as at this moment his money affairs had been comfortably arranged, he was not called upon to squabble with his father. It was a great thing that one of the girls should be married, and Dolly had brought down an enormous china dog, about five feet high, as a wedding present, which added materially to the happiness of the meeting.
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