stillmade
some
ground
for
his
mother
to
plant
her
hopes
in
.
His
luck
had
not
failed
him
;
yet
nothing
had
turned
out
according
to
her
expectations
.
Her
life
had
been
like
a
spoiled
shabby
pleasure-day
,
in
which
the
music
and
the
processions
are
all
missed
,
and
nothing
is
left
at
evening
but
the
weariness
of
striving
after
what
has
been
failed
of
.
Harold
had
gone
with
the
Embassy
to
Constantinople
,
under
the
patronage
of
a
high
relative
,
his
mother
's
cousin
;
he
was
to
be
a
diplomatist
,
and
work
his
way
upward
in
public
life
.
But
his
luck
had
taken
another
shape
:
he
had
saved
the
life
of
an
Armenian
banker
,
who
in
gratitude
had
offered
him
a
prospect
which
his
practical
mind
had
preferred
to
the
problematic
promises
of
diplomacy
and
high-born
cousinship
.
Harold
had
become
a
merchant
and
banker
at
Smyrna
;
had
let
the
years
pass
without
caring
to
find
the
possibility
of
visiting
his
early
home
,
and
had
shown
no
eagerness
to
make
his
life
at
all
familiar
to
his
mother
,
asking
for
letters
about
England
,
but
writing
scantily
about
himself
.
Mrs
Transome
had
kept
up
the
habit
of
writing
to
her
son
,
but
gradually
the
unfruitful
years
had
dulled
her
hopes
and
yearnings
;
increasing
anxieties
about
money
had
worried
her
,
and
she
was
more
sure
of
being
fretted
by
bad
news
about
her
dissolute
eldest
son
than
of
hearing
anything
to
cheer
her
from
Harold
.
She
had
begun
to
live
merely
in
small
immediate
cares
and
occupations
,
and
,
like
all
eager-minded
women
who
advance
in
life
without
any
activity
of
tenderness
or
any
large
sympathy
,
she
had
contracted
small
rigid
habits
of
thinking
and
acting
,
she
had
her
"
ways
"
which
must
not
be
crossed
,
and
had
learned
to
fill
up
the
great
void
of
life
with
giving
small
orders
to
tenants
,
insisting
on
medicines
for
infirm
cottagers
,
winning
small
triumphs
in
bargains
and
personal
economies
,
and
parrying
ill-natured
remarks
of
Lady
Debarry
's
by
lancet-edged
epigrams
.
So
her
life
had
gone
on
till
more
than
a
year
ago
,
when
that
desire
which
had
been
so
hungry
while
she
was
a
blooming
young
mother
,
was
at
last
fulfilled
—
at
last
,
when
her
hair
was
grey
,
and
her
face
looked
bitter
,
restless
,
and
unenjoying
,
like
her
life
.
The
news
came
from
Jersey
that
Durfey
,
the
imbecile
son
,
was
dead
.
Now
Harold
was
heir
to
the
estate
;
now
the
wealth
he
had
gained
could
release
the
land
from
its
burthens
;
now
he
would
think
it
worth
while
to
return
home
.
A
change
had
at
last
come
over
her
life
,
and
the
sunlight
breaking
the
clouds
at
evening
was
pleasant
,
though
the
sun
must
sink
before
long
.
Hopes
,
affections
,
the
sweeter
part
of
her
memories
,
started
from
their
wintry
sleep
,
and
it
once
more
seemed
a
great
good
to
have
had
a
second
son
who
in
some
ways
had
cost
her
dearly
.
But
again
there
were
conditions
she
had
not
reckoned
on
.
When
the
good
tidings
had
been
sent
to
Harold
,
and
he
had
announced
that
he
would
return
so
soon
as
he
could
wind
up
his
affairs
,
he
had
for
the
first
time
informed
his
mother
that
he
had
been
married
,
that
his
Greek
wife
was
no
longer
living
,
but
that
he
should
bring
home
a
little
boy
,
the
finest
and
most
desirable
of
heirs
and
grandsons
.
Harold
,
seated
in
his
distant
Smyrna
home
,
considered
that
he
was
taking
a
rational
view
of
what
things
must
have
become
by
this
time
at
the
old
place
in
England
,
when
he
figured
his
mother
as
a
good
elderly
lady
,
who
would
necessarily
be
delighted
with
the
possession
on
any
terms
of
a
healthy
grandchild
,
and
would
not
mind
much
about
the
particulars
of
the
long-concealed
marriage
.
Mrs
Transome
had
torn
up
that
letter
in
a
rage
.
But
in
the
months
which
had
elapsed
before
Harold
could
actually
arrive
,
she
had
prepared
herself
as
well
as
she
could
to
suppress
all
reproaches
or
queries
which
her
son
might
resent
,
and
to
acquiesce
in
his
evident
wishes
.
The
return
was
still
looked
for
with
longing
;
affection
and
satisfied
pride
would
again
warm
her
later
years
.
She
was
ignorant
what
sort
of
man
Harold
had
become
now
,
and
of
course
he
must
be
changed
in
many
ways
;
but
though
she
told
herself
this
,
still
the
image
that
she
knew
,
the
image
fondness
clung
to
,
necessarily
prevailed
over
the
negatives
insisted
on
by
her
reason
.
And
so
it
was
,
that
when
she
had
moved
to
the
door
to
meet
him
,
she
had
been
sure
that
she
should
clasp
her
son
again
,
and
feel
that
he
was
the
same
who
had
been
her
boy
,
her
little
one
,
the
loved
child
of
her
passionate
youth
.
An
hour
seemed
to
have
changed
everything
for
her
.
A
woman
's
hopes
are
woven
of
sunbeams
;
a
shadow
annihilates
them
.
The
shadow
which
had
fallen
over
Mrs
Transome
in
this
first
interview
with
her
son
was
the
presentiment
of
her
powerlessness
.
If
things
went
wrong
,
if
Harold
got
unpleasantly
disposed
in
a
certain
direction
where
her
chief
dread
had
always
lain
,
she
seemed
to
foresee
that
her
words
would
be
of
no
avail
.
The
keenness
of
her
anxiety
in
this
matter
had
served
as
insight
;
and
Harold
's
rapidity
,
decision
,
and
indifference
to
any
impressions
in
others
which
did
not
further
or
impede
his
own
purposes
,
had
made
themselves
felt
by
her
as
much
as
she
would
have
felt
the
unmanageable
strength
of
a
great
bird
which
had
alighted
near
her
,
and
allowed
her
to
stroke
its
wing
for
a
moment
because
food
lay
near
her
.
Under
the
cold
weight
of
these
thoughts
Mrs
Transome
shivered
.
That
physical
reaction
roused
her
from
her
reverie
,
and
she
could
now
hear
the
gentle
knocking
at
the
door
to
which
she
had
been
deaf
before
.
Notwithstanding
her
activity
and
the
fewness
of
her
servants
,
she
had
never
dressed
herself
without
aid
;
nor
would
that
small
,
neat
,
exquisitely
clean
old
woman
who
now
presented
herself
have
wished
that
her
labour
should
be
saved
at
the
expense
of
such
a
sacrifice
on
her
lady
's
part
.
The
small
old
woman
was
Mrs
Hickes
,
the
butler
's
wife
,
who
acted
as
housekeeper
,
lady's-maid
,
and
superintendent
of
the
kitchen
—
the
large
stony
scene
of
inconsiderable
cooking
.
Forty
years
ago
she
had
entered
Mrs
Transome
's
service
,
when
that
lady
was
beautiful
Miss
Lingon
,
and
her
mistress
still
called
her
Denner
,
as
she
had
done
in
the
old
days
.
"
The
bell
has
rung
,
then
,
Denner
,
without
my
hearing
it
?
"
said
Mrs
Transome
,
rising
.
"
Yes
,
madam
,
"
said
Denner
,
reaching
from
a
wardrobe
an
old
black
velvet
dress
trimmed
with
muchmended
point
,
in
which
Mrs
Transome
was
wont
to
look
queenly
of
an
evening
.
Denner
had
still
strong
eyes
of
that
shortsighted
kind
which
sees
through
the
narrowest
chink
between
the
eyelashes
.
The
physical
contrast
between
the
tall
,
eagle-faced
,
dark-eyed
lady
,
and
the
little
peering
waiting-woman
,
who
had
been
round-featured
and
of
pale
mealy
complexion
from
her
youth
up
,
had
doubtless
had
a
strong
influence
in
determining
Denner
's
feeling
towards
her
mistress
,
which
was
of
that
worshipful
sort
paid
to
a
goddess
in
ages
when
it
was
not
thought
necessary
or
likely
that
a
goddess
should
be
very
moral
.
There
were
different
orders
of
beings
—
so
ran
Denner
's
creed
—
and
she
belonged
to
another
order
than
that
to
which
her
mistress
belonged
.
She
had
a
mind
as
sharp
as
a
needle
,
and
would
have
seen
through
and
through
the
ridiculous
pretensions
of
a
born
servant
who
did
not
submissively
accept
the
rigid
fate
which
had
given
her
born
superiors
.
She
would
have
called
such
pretensions
the
wrigglings
of
a
worm
that
tried
to
walk
on
its
tail
.
There
was
a
tacit
understanding
that
Denner
knew
all
her
mistress
's
secrets
,
and
her
speech
was
plain
and
unflattering
;
yet
with
wonderful
subtlety
of
instinct
she
never
said
anything
which
Mrs
Transome
could
feel
humiliated
by
,
as
by
a
familiarity
from
a
servant
who
knew
too
much
.
Denner
identified
her
own
dignity
with
that
of
her
mistress
.
She
was
a
hardheaded
godless
little
woman
,
but
with
a
character
to
be
reckoned
on
as
you
reckon
on
the
qualities
of
iron
.
Peering
into
Mrs
Transome
's
face
,
she
saw
clearly
that
the
meeting
with
the
son
had
been
a
disappointment
in
some
way
.
She
spoke
with
a
refined
accent
,
in
a
low
,
quick
,
monotonous
tone
—
"
Mr
Harold
is
drest
;
he
shook
me
by
the
hand
in
the
corridor
,
and
was
very
pleasant
.
"
"
What
an
alteration
,
Denner
!
No
likeness
to
me
now
.
"
"
Handsome
,
though
,
spite
of
his
being
so
browned
and
stout
.
There
's
a
fine
presence
about
Mr
Harold
.
I
remember
you
used
to
say
,
madam
,
there
were
some
people
you
would
always
know
were
in
the
room
though
they
stood
round
a
corner
,
and
others
you
might
never
see
till
you
ran
against
them
.
That
's
as
true
as
truth
.
And
as
for
likenesses
,
thirty-five
and
sixty
are
not
much
alike
,
only
to
people
's
memories
.
"
Mrs
Transome
knew
perfectly
that
Denner
had
divined
her
thoughts
.
"
I
do
n't
know
how
things
will
go
on
now
;
but
it
seems
something
too
good
to
happen
that
they
will
go
on
well
.
I
am
afraid
of
ever
expecting
anything
good
again
.
"
"
That
's
weakness
,
madam
.
Things
do
n't
happen
because
they
're
bad
or
good
,
else
all
eggs
would
be
addled
or
none
at
all
,
and
at
the
most
it
is
but
six
to
the
dozen
.
There
's
good
chances
and
bad
chances
,
and
nobody
's
luck
is
pulled
only
by
one
string
.
"
"
What
a
woman
you
are
,
Denner
!
You
talk
like
a
French
infidel
.
It
seems
to
me
you
are
afraid
of
nothing
.
I
have
been
full
of
fears
all
my
life
—
always
seeing
something
for
other
hanging
over
me
that
I
could
n't
bear
to
happen
.
"
"
Well
,
madam
,
put
a
good
face
on
it
,
and
do
n't
seem
to
be
on
the
look-out
for
crows
,
else
you
'll
set
other
people
watching
.
Here
you
have
a
rich
son
come
home
,
and
the
debts
will
all
be
paid
,
and
you
have
your
health
and
can
ride
about
,
and
you
've
such
a
face
and
figure
,
and
will
have
if
you
live
to
be
eighty
,
that
everybody
is
cap
in
hand
to
you
before
they
know
who
you
are
—
let
me
fasten
up
your
veil
a
little
higher
:
there
's
a
good
deal
of
pleasure
in
life
for
you
yet
.
"
"
Nonsense
!
there
's
no
pleasure
for
old
women
,
unless
they
get
it
out
of
tormenting
other
people
.
What
are
your
pleasures
,
Denner
—
besides
being
a
slave
to
me
?
"
"
Oh
,
there
's
pleasure
in
knowing
one
's
not
a
fool
,
like
half
the
people
one
sees
about
.
And
managing
one
's
husband
is
some
pleasure
;
and
doing
all
one
's
business
well
.
Why
,
if
I
've
only
got
some
orange
flowers
to
candy
,
I
should
n't
like
to
die
till
I
see
them
all
right
.
Then
there
's
the
sunshine
now
and
then
;
I
like
that
,
as
the
cats
do
.
I
look
upon
it
,
life
is
like
our
game
at
whist
,
when
Banks
and
his
wife
come
to
the
still-room
of
an
evening
.
I
do
n't
enjoy
the
game
much
,
but
I
like
to
play
my
cards
well
,
and
see
what
will
be
the
end
of
it
;
and
I
want
to
see
you
make
the
best
of
your
hand
,
madam
,
for
your
luck
has
been
mine
these
forty
years
now
.
But
I
must
go
and
see
how
Kitty
dishes
up
the
dinner
,
unless
you
have
any
more
commands
.
"
"
No
,
Denner
;
I
am
going
down
immediately
.
"
As
Mrs
Transome
descended
the
stone
staircase
in
her
old
black
velvet
and
point
,
her
appearance
justified
Denner
's
personal
compliment
.
She
had
that
high-born
imperious
air
which
would
have
marked
her
as
an
object
of
hatred
and
reviling
by
a
revolutionary
mob
.
Her
person
was
too
typical
of
social
distinctions
to
be
passed
by
with
indifference
by
any
one
:
it
would
have
fitted
an
empress
in
her
own
right
,
who
had
had
to
rule
in
spite
of
faction
,
to
dare
the
violation
of
treaties
and
dread
retributive
invasions
,
to
grasp
after
new
territories
,
to
be
defiant
in
desperate
circumstances
,
and
to
feel
a
woman
's
hunger
of
the
heart
for
ever
unsatisfied
.
Yet
Mrs
Transome
's
cares
and
occupations
had
not
been
at
all
of
an
imperial
sort
.
For
thirty
years
she
had
led
the
monotonous
narrowing
life
which
used
to
be
the
lot
of
our
poorer
gentry
,
who
never
went
to
town
,
and
were
probably
not
on
speaking
terms
with
two
out
of
the
five
families
whose
parks
lay
within
the
distance
of
a
drive
.
When
she
was
young
she
had
been
thought
wonderfully
clever
and
accomplished
,
and
had
been
rather
ambitious
of
intellectual
superiority
—
had
secretly
picked
out
for
private
reading
the
lighter
parts
of
dangerous
French
authors
—
and
in
company
had
been
able
to
talk
of
Mr
Burke
's
style
,
or
of
Chateaubriand
's
eloquence
—
had
laughed
at
the
Lyrical
Ballads
and
admired
Mr
Southey
's
Thalaba
.
She
always
thought
that
the
dangerous
French
writers
were
wicked
,
and
that
her
reading
of
them
was
a
sin
;
but
many
sinful
things
were
highly
agreeable
to
her
,
and
many
things
which
she
did
not
doubt
to
be
good
and
true
were
dull
and
meaningless
.
She
found
ridicule
of
Biblical
characters
very
amusing
,
and
she
was
interested
in
stories
of
illicit
passion
:
but
she
believed
all
the
while
that
truth
and
safety
lay
in
due
attendance
on
prayers
and
sermons
,
in
the
admirable
doctrines
and
ritual
of
the
Church
of
England
,
equally
remote
from
Puritanism
and
Popery
;
in
fact
,
in
such
a
view
of
this
world
and
the
next
as
would
preserve
the
existing
arrangements
of
English
society
quite
unshaken
,
keeping
down
the
obtrusiveness
of
the
vulgar
and
the
discontent
of
the
poor
.
The
history
of
the
Jews
,
she
knew
,
ought
to
be
preferred
to
any
profane
history
;
the
Pagans
,
of
course
,
were
vicious
,
and
their
religions
quite
nonsensical
,
considered
as
religions
—
but
classical
learning
came
from
the
Pagans
;
the
Greeks
were
famous
for
sculpture
;
the
Italians
for
painting
;
the
middle
ages
were
dark
and
Papistical
;
but
now
Christianity
went
hand
in
hand
with
civilisation
,
and
the
providential
government
of
the
world
,
though
a
little
confused
and
entangled
in
foreign
countries
,
in
our
favoured
land
was
clearly
seen
to
be
carried
forward
on
Tory
and
Church
of
England
principles
,
sustained
by
the
succession
of
the
House
of
Brunswick
,
and
by
sound
English
divines
.
For
Miss
Lingon
had
had
a
superior
governess
,
who
held
that
a
woman
should
be
able
to
write
a
good
letter
,
and
to
express
herself
with
propriety
on
general
subjects
.
And
it
is
astonishing
how
effective
this
education
appeared
in
a
handsome
girl
,
who
sat
supremely
well
on
horseback
,
sang
and
played
a
little
,
painted
small
figures
in
water-colours
,
had
a
naughty
sparkle
in
her
eyes
when
she
made
a
daring
quotation
,
and
an
air
of
serious
dignity
when
she
recited
something
from
her
store
of
correct
opinions
.
But
however
such
a
stock
of
ideas
may
be
made
to
tell
in
elegant
society
,
and
during
a
few
seasons
in
town
,
no
amount
of
bloom
and
beauty
can
make
them
a
perennial
source
of
interest
in
things
not
personal
;
and
the
notion
that
what
is
true
and
,
in
general
,
good
for
mankind
,
is
stupid
and
drug-like
,
is
not
a
safe
theoretic
basis
in
circumstances
of
temptation
and
difficulty
.
Mrs
Transome
had
been
in
her
bloom
before
this
century
began
,
and
in
the
long
painful
years
since
then
,
what
she
had
once
regarded
as
her
knowledge
and
accomplishments
had
become
as
valueless
as
old-fashioned
stucco
ornaments
,
of
which
the
substance
was
never
worth
anything
,
while
the
form
is
no
longer
to
the
taste
of
any
living
mortal
.
Crosses
,
mortifications
,
money-cares
,
conscious
blameworthiness
,
had
changed
the
aspect
of
the
world
for
her
:
there
was
anxiety
in
the
morning
sunlight
;
there
was
unkind
triumph
or
disapproving
pity
in
the
glances
of
greeting
neighbours
;
there
was
advancing
age
,
and
a
contracting
prospect
in
the
changing
seasons
as
they
came
and
went
.
And
what
could
then
sweeten
the
days
to
a
hungry
much-exacting
self
like
Mrs
Transome
's
?
Under
protracted
ill
every
living
creature
will
find
something
that
makes
a
comparative
ease
,
and
even
when
life
seems
woven
of
pain
,
will
convert
the
fainter
pang
into
a
desire
.
Mrs
Transome
,
whose
imperious
will
had
availed
little
to
ward
off
the
great
evils
of
her
life
,
found
the
opiate
for
her
discontent
in
the
exertion
of
her
will
about
smaller
things
.
She
was
not
cruel
,
and
could
not
enjoy
thoroughly
what
she
called
the
old
woman
's
pleasure
of
tormenting
;
but
she
liked
every
little
sign
of
power
her
lot
had
left
her
.
She
liked
that
a
tenant
should
stand
bareheaded
below
her
as
she
sat
on
horseback
.
She
liked
to
insist
that
work
done
without
her
orders
should
be
undone
from
beginning
to
end
.
She
liked
to
be
curtsied
and
bowed
to
by
all
the
congregation
as
she
walked
up
the
little
barn
of
a
church
.
She
liked
to
change
a
labourer
's
medicine
fetched
from
the
doctor
,
and
substitute
a
prescription
of
her
own
.
If
she
had
only
been
more
haggard
and
less
majestic
,
those
who
had
glimpses
of
her
outward
life
might
have
said
she
was
a
tyrannical
,
griping
harridan
,
with
a
tongue
like
a
razor
.
No
one
said
exactly
that
;
but
they
never
said
anything
like
the
full
truth
about
her
,
or
divined
what
was
hidden
under
that
outward
life
—
a
woman
's
keen
sensibility
and
dread
,
which
lay
screened
behind
all
her
petty
habits
and
narrow
notions
,
as
some
quivering
thing
with
eyes
and
throbbing
heart
may
lie
crouching
behind
withered
rubbish
.
The
sensibility
and
dread
had
palpitated
all
the
faster
in
the
prospect
of
her
son
's
return
;
and
now
that
she
had
seen
him
,
she
said
to
herself
,
in
her
bitter
way
,
"
It
is
a
lucky
eel
that
escapes
skinning
.
The
best
happiness
I
shall
ever
know
,
will
be
to
escape
the
worst
misery
.
"
CHAPTER
II
.
A
jolly
parson
of
the
good
old
stock
,
By
birth
a
gentleman
,
yet
homely
too
,
Suiting
his
phrase
to
Hodge
and
Margery
Whom
he
once
christened
,
and
has
married
since
.
A
little
lax
in
doctrine
and
in
life
,
Not
thinking
God
was
captions
in
such
things
As
what
a
man
might
drink
on
holidays
,
But
holding
true
religion
was
to
do
As
you
'd
be
done
by
—
which
could
never
mean
That
he
should
preach
three
sermons
in
a
week
.
Harold
Transome
did
not
choose
to
spend
the
whole
evening
with
his
mother
.
It
was
his
habit
to
compress
a
great
deal
of
effective
conversation
into
a
short
space
of
time
,
asking
rapidly
all
the
questions
he
wanted
to
get
answered
,
and
diluting
no
subject
with
irrelevancies
,
paraphrase
,
or
repetitions
.
He
volunteered
no
information
about
himself
and
his
past
life
at
Smyrna
,
but
answered
pleasantly
enough
,
though
briefly
,
whenever
his
mother
asked
for
any
detail
.
He
was
evidently
ill-satisfied
as
to
his
palate
,
trying
red
pepper
to
everything
,
then
asking
if
there
were
any
relishing
sauces
in
the
house
,
and
when
Hickes
brought
various
home-filled
bottles
,
trying
several
,
finding
them
failures
,
and
finally
falling
back
from
his
plate
in
despair
.
Yet
he
remained
good-humoured
,
saying
something
to
his
father
now
and
then
for
the
sake
of
being
kind
,
and
looking
on
with
a
pitying
shrug
as
he
saw
him
watch
Hickes
cutting
his
food
.
Mrs
Transome
thought
with
some
bitterness
that
Harold
showed
more
feeling
for
her
feeble
husband
who
had
never
cared
in
the
least
about
him
,
than
for
her
,
who
had
given
him
more
than
the
usual
share
of
mother
's
love
.
An
hour
after
dinner
,
Harold
,
who
had
already
been
turning
over
the
leaves
of
his
mother
's
account-books
,
said
,
"
I
shall
just
cross
the
park
to
the
parsonage
to
see
my
uncle
Lingon
.
"
"
Very
well
.
He
can
answer
more
questions
for
you
.
"
"
Yes
,
"
said
Harold
,
quite
deaf
to
the
innuendo
,
and
accepting
the
words
as
a
simple
statement
of
the
fact
.
"
I
want
to
hear
all
about
the
game
and
the
North
Loamshire
hunt
.
I
'm
fond
of
sport
;
we
had
a
great
deal
of
it
at
Smyrna
,
and
it
keeps
down
my
fat
.
"
The
Reverend
John
Lingon
became
very
talkative
over
his
second
bottle
of
port
,
which
was
opened
on
his
nephew
's
arrival
.
He
was
not
curious
about
the
manners
of
Smyrna
,
or
about
Harold
's
experience
,
but
he
unbosomed
himself
very
freely
as
to
what
he
himself
liked
and
disliked
,
which
of
the
farmers
he
suspected
of
killing
the
foxes
,
what
game
he
had
bagged
that
very
morning
,
what
spot
he
would
recommend
as
a
new
cover
,
and
the
comparative
flatness
of
all
existing
sport
compared
with
cock-fighting
,
under
which
Old
England
had
been
prosperous
and
glorious
,
while
,
so
far
as
he
could
see
,
it
had
gained
little
by
the
abolition
of
a
practice
which
sharpened
the
faculties
of
men
,
gratified
the
instincts
of
the
fowl
,
and
carried
out
the
designs
of
heaven
in
its
admirable
device
of
spurs
.
From
these
main
topics
,
which
made
his
points
of
departure
and
return
,
he
rambled
easily
enough
at
any
new
suggestion
or
query
;
so
that
when
Harold
got
home
at
a
late
hour
,
he
was
conscious
of
having
gathered
from
amidst
the
pompous
full-toned
triviality
of
his
uncle
's
chat
some
impressions
which
were
of
practical
importance
.
Among
the
Rector
's
dislikes
,
it
appeared
,
was
Mr
Matthew
Jermyn
.
"
A
fat-handed
,
glib-tongued
fellow
,
with
a
scented
cambric
handkerchief
;
one
of
your
educated
lowbred
fellows
;
a
foundling
who
got
his
Latin
for
nothing
at
Christ
's
Hospital
;
one
of
your
middle-class
upstarts
who
want
to
rank
with
gentlemen
,
and
think
they
'll
do
it
with
kid
gloves
and
new
furniture
.
"
But
since
Harold
meant
to
stand
for
the
county
,
Mr
Lingon
was
equally
emphatic
as
to
the
necessity
of
his
not
quarrelling
with
Jermyn
till
the
election
was
over
.
Jermyn
must
be
his
agent
;
Harold
must
wink
hard
till
he
found
himself
safely
returned
;
and
even
then
it
might
be
well
to
let
Jermyn
drop
gently
and
raise
no
scandal
.
He
himself
had
no
quarrel
with
the
fellow
:
a
clergyman
should
have
no
quarrels
,
and
he
made
it
a
point
to
be
able
to
take
wine
with
any
man
he
met
at
table
.
And
as
to
the
estate
,
and
his
sister
's
going
too
much
by
Jermyn
's
advice
,
he
never
meddled
with
business
:
it
was
not
his
duty
as
a
clergyman
.
That
,
he
considered
,
was
the
meaning
of
Melchisedec
and
the
tithe
,
a
subject
into
which
he
had
gone
to
some
depth
thirty
years
ago
,
when
he
preached
the
Visitation
sermon
.
The
discovery
that
Harold
meant
to
stand
on
the
Liberal
side
—
nay
,
that
he
boldly
declared
himself
a
Radical
—
was
rather
startling
;
but
to
his
uncle
's
good-humour
,
beatified
by
the
sipping
of
port-wine
,
nothing
could
seem
highly
objectionable
,
provided
it
did
not
disturb
that
operation
.
In
the
course
of
half
an
hour
he
had
brought
himself
to
see
that
anything
really
worthy
to
be
called
British
Toryism
had
been
entirely
extinct
since
the
Duke
of
Wellington
and
Sir
Robert
Peel
had
passed
the
Catholic
Emancipation
Bill
;
that
Whiggery
,
with
its
rights
of
man
stopping
short
at
ten-pound
householders
,
and
its
policy
of
pacifying
a
wild
best
with
a
bite
,
was
a
ridiculous
monstrosity
;
that
therefore
,
since
an
honest
man
could
not
call
himself
a
Tory
,
which
it
was
,
in
fact
,
as
impossible
to
be
now
as
to
fight
for
the
old
Pretender
,
and
could
still
less
become
that
execrable
monstrosity
a
Whig
,
there
remained
but
one
course
open
to
him
.
"
Why
,
lad
,
if
the
world
was
turned
into
a
swamp
,
I
suppose
we
should
leave
off
shoes
and
stockings
,
and
walk
about
like
cranes
"
—
whence
it
followed
plainly
enough
that
,
in
these
hopeless
times
,
nothing
was
left
to
men
of
sense
and
good
family
but
to
retard
the
national
ruin
by
declaring
themselves
Radicals
,
and
take
the
inevitable
process
of
changing
everything
out
of
the
hands
of
beggarly
demagogues
and
purse-proud
tradesmen
.
It
is
true
the
Rector
was
helped
to
this
chain
of
reasoning
by
Harold
's
remarks
;
but
he
soon
became
quite
ardent
in
asserting
the
conclusion
.
"
If
the
mob
ca
n't
be
turned
back
,
a
man
of
family
must
try
and
head
the
mob
,
and
save
a
few
homes
and
hearths
,
and
keep
the
country
up
on
its
last
legs
as
long
as
he
can
.
And
you
're
a
man
of
family
,
my
lad
—
dash
it
!
you
're
a
Lingon
,
whatever
else
you
may
be
,
and
I
'll
stand
by
you
.
I
've
no
great
interest
;
I
'm
a
poor
parson
.
I
've
been
forced
to
give
up
hunting
;
my
pointers
and
a
glass
of
good
wine
are
the
only
decencies
becoming
my
station
that
I
can
allow
myself
.
But
I
'll
give
you
my
countenance
—
I
'll
stick
to
you
as
my
nephew
.
There
's
no
need
for
me
to
change
sides
exactly
.
I
was
born
a
Tory
,
and
I
shall
never
be
a
bishop
.
But
if
anybody
says
you
're
in
the
wrong
,
I
shall
say
,
'
My
nephew
is
in
the
right
;
he
has
turned
Radical
to
save
his
country
.
If
William
Pitt
had
been
living
now
,
he
'd
have
done
the
same
;
for
what
did
he
say
when
he
was
dying
?
Not
'
O
save
my
party
!
'
but
'
O
save
my
country
,
heaven
!
'
That
was
what
they
dinned
in
our
ears
about
Peel
and
the
Duke
;
and
now
I
'll
turn
it
round
upon
them
.
They
shall
be
hoist
with
their
own
petrad
.
Yes
,
yes
,
I
'll
stand
by
you
.
"
Harold
did
not
feel
sure
that
his
uncle
would
thoroughly
retain
this
satisfactory
thread
of
argument
in
the
uninspired
hours
of
the
morning
;
but
the
old
gentleman
was
sure
to
take
the
facts
easily
in
the
end
,
and
there
was
no
fear
of
family
coolness
or
quarrelling
on
this
side
.
Harold
was
glad
of
it
.
He
was
not
to
be
turned
aside
from
any
course
he
had
chosen
;
but
he
disliked
all
quarrelling
as
an
unpleasant
expenditure
of
energy
that
could
have
no
good
practical
result
.
He
was
at
once
active
and
luxurious
;
fond
of
mastery
,
and
good-natured
enough
to
wish
that
every
one
about
him
should
like
his
mastery
;
not
caring
greatly
to
know
other
people
's
thoughts
,
and
ready
to
despise
them
as
blockheads
if
their
thoughts
differed
from
his
,
and
yet
solicitous
that
they
should
have
no
colourable
reason
for
slight
thoughts
about
him
.
The
blockheads
must
be
forced
to
respect
him
.
Hence
,
in
proportion
as
he
foresaw
that
his
equals
in
the
neighbourhood
would
be
indignant
with
him
for
his
political
choice
,
he
cared
keenly
about
making
a
good
figure
before
them
in
every
other
way
.
His
conduct
as
a
landholder
was
to
be
judicious
,
his
establishment
was
to
be
kept
up
generously
,
his
imbecile
father
treated
with
careful
regard
,
his
family
relations
entirely
without
scandal
.
He
knew
that
affairs
had
been
unpleasant
in
his
youth
—
that
there
had
been
ugly
lawsuits
—
and
that
his
scapegrace
brother
Durfey
had
helped
to
lower
still
farther
the
depressed
condition
of
the
family
.
All
this
must
be
retrieved
,
now
that
events
had
made
Harold
the
head
of
the
Transome
name
.
Jermyn
must
be
used
for
the
election
,
and
after
that
,
if
he
must
be
got
rid
of
,
it
would
be
well
to
shake
him
loose
quietly
:
his
uncle
was
probably
right
on
both
those
points
.
But
Harold
's
expectation
that
he
should
want
to
get
rid
of
Jermyn
was
founded
on
other
reasons
than
his
scented
handkerchief
and
his
charity-school
Latin
.
If
the
lawyer
had
been
presuming
on
Mrs
Transome
's
ignorance
as
a
woman
,
and
on
the
stupid
rakishness
of
the
original
heir
,
the
new
heir
would
prove
to
him
that
he
had
calculated
rashly
.
Otherwise
,
Harold
had
no
prejudice
against
him
.
In
his
boyhood
and
youth
he
had
seen
Jermyn
frequenting
Transome
Court
,
but
had
regarded
him
with
that
total
indifference
with
which
youngsters
are
apt
to
view
those
who
neither
deny
them
pleasures
nor
give
them
any
.
Jermyn
used
to
smile
at
him
,
and
speak
to
him
affably
;
but
Harold
,
half
proud
,
half
shy
,
got
away
from
such
patronage
as
soon
as
possible
:
he
knew
Jermyn
was
a
man
of
business
;
his
father
,
his
uncle
,
and
Sir
Maximus
Debarry
did
not
regard
him
as
a
gentleman
and
their
equal
.
He
had
known
no
evil
of
the
man
;
but
he
saw
now
that
if
he
were
really
a
covetous
upstart
,
there
had
been
a
temptation
for
him
in
the
management
of
the
Transome
affairs
;
and
it
was
clear
that
the
estate
was
in
a
bad
condition
.
When
Mr
Jermyn
was
ushered
into
the
breakfast-room
the
next
morning
,
Harold
found
him
surprisingly
little
altered
by
the
fifteen
years
.
He
was
grey
,
but
still
remarkably
handsome
;
fat
,
but
tall
enough
to
bear
that
trial
to
man
's
dignity
.
There
was
as
strong
a
suggestion
of
toilette
about
him
as
if
he
had
been
five-and-twenty
instead
of
nearly
sixty
.
He
chose
always
to
dress
in
black
,
and
was
especially
addicted
to
black
satin
waistcoats
,
which
carried
out
the
general
sleekness
of
his
appearance
;
and
this
,
together
with
his
white
,
fat
,
but
beautifully-shaped
hands
,
which
he
was
in
the
habit
of
rubbing
gently
on
his
entrance
into
a
room
,
gave
him
very
much
the
air
of
a
lady
's
physician
.
Harold
remembered
with
some
amusement
his
uncle
's
dislike
of
those
conspicuous
hands
;
but
as
his
own
were
soft
and
dimpled
,
and
as
he
too
was
given
to
the
innocent
practice
of
rubbing
those
members
,
his
suspicions
were
not
yet
deepened
.
"
I
congratulate
you
,
Mrs
Transome
,
"
said
Jermyn
,
with
a
soft
and
deferential
smile
,
"
all
the
more
,
"
he
added
,
turning
towards
Harold
,
"
now
I
have
the
pleasure
of
actually
seeing
your
son
.
I
am
glad
to
perceive
that
an
Eastern
climate
has
not
been
unfavourable
to
him
.
"
"
No
,
"
said
Harold
,
shaking
Jermyn
's
hand
carelessly
,
and
speaking
with
more
than
his
usual
rapid
brusqueness
,
"
the
question
is
,
whether
the
English
climate
will
agree
with
me
.
It
's
deuced
shifting
and
damp
;
and
as
for
food
,
it
would
be
the
finest
thing
in
the
world
for
this
country
if
the
southern
cooks
would
change
their
religion
,
get
persecuted
,
and
fly
to
England
,
as
the
old
silk-weavers
did
.
"
"
There
are
plenty
of
foreign
cooks
for
those
who
are
rich
enough
to
pay
for
them
,
I
suppose
,
"
said
Mrs
Transome
,
"
but
they
are
unpleasant
people
to
have
about
one
's
house
.
"
"
Gad
!
I
do
n't
think
so
,
"
said
Harold
.
"
The
old
servants
are
sure
to
quarrel
with
them
.
"
"
That
's
no
concern
of
mine
.
The
old
servants
will
have
to
put
up
with
my
man
Dominic
,
who
will
show
them
how
to
cook
and
do
everything
else
,
in
a
way
that
will
rather
astonish
them
.
"
"
Old
people
are
not
so
easily
taught
to
change
all
their
ways
,
Harold
.
"
"
Well
,
they
can
give
up
and
watch
the
young
ones
,
"
said
Harold
,
thinking
only
at
that
moment
of
old
Mrs
Hickes
and
Dominic
.
But
his
mother
was
not
thinking
of
them
only
.
"
You
have
a
valuable
servant
,
it
seems
,
"
said
Jermyn
,
who
understood
Mrs
Transome
better
than
her
son
did
,
and
wished
to
smoothen
the
current
of
their
dialogue
.
"
O
!
one
of
those
wonderful
southern
fellows
that
make
one
's
life
easy
.
He
's
of
no
country
in
particular
.
I
do
n't
know
whether
he
's
most
of
a
Jew
,
a
Greek
,
an
Italian
,
or
a
Spaniard
.
He
speaks
five
or
six
languages
,
one
as
well
as
another
.
He
's
cook
,
valet
,
major-domo
,
and
secretary
all
in
one
;
and
what
's
more
,
he
's
an
affectionate
fellow
—
I
can
trust
to
his
attachment
.
That
's
a
sort
of
human
specimen
that
does
n't
grow
here
in
England
,
I
fancy
.
I
should
have
been
badly
off
if
I
could
not
have
brought
Dominic
.
"
They
sat
down
to
breakfast
with
such
slight
talk
as
this
going
on
.
Each
of
the
party
was
pre-occupied
and
uneasy
.
Harold
's
mind
was
busy
constructing
probabilities
about
what
he
should
discover
of
Jermyn
's
mismanagement
or
dubious
application
of
funds
,
and
the
sort
of
self-command
he
must
in
the
worst
case
exercise
in
order
to
use
the
man
as
long
as
he
wanted
him
.
Jermyn
was
closely
observing
Harold
with
an
unpleasant
sense
that
there
was
an
expression
of
acuteness
and
determination
about
him
which
would
make
him
formidable
.
He
would
certainly
have
preferred
at
that
moment
that
there
had
been
no
second
heir
of
the
Transome
name
to
come
back
upon
him
from
the
East
.
Mrs
Transome
was
not
observing
the
two
men
;
rather
,
her
hands
were
cold
,
and
her
whole
person
shaken
by
their
presence
;
she
seemed
to
hear
and
see
what
they
said
and
did
with
preternatural
acuteness
,
and
yet
she
was
also
seeing
and
hearing
what
had
been
said
and
done
many
years
before
,
and
feeling
a
dim
terror
about
the
future
.
There
were
piteous
sensibilities
in
this
faded
woman
,
who
thirty-four
years
ago
,
in
the
splendour
of
her
bloom
,
had
been
imperious
to
one
of
these
men
,
and
had
rapturously
pressed
the
other
as
an
infant
to
her
bosom
,
and
now
knew
that
she
was
of
little
consequence
to
either
of
them
.
"
Well
,
what
are
the
prospects
about
the
election
?
"
said
Harold
,
as
the
breakfast
was
advancing
.
"
There
are
two
Whigs
and
one
Conservative
likely
to
be
in
the
field
,
I
know
.
What
is
your
opinion
of
the
chances
?
"
Mr
Jermyn
had
a
copious
supply
of
words
,
which
often
led
him
into
periphrase
,
but
he
cultivated
a
hesitating
stammer
,
which
,
with
a
handsome
impassiveness
of
face
,
except
when
he
was
smiling
at
a
woman
,
or
when
the
latent
savageness
of
his
nature
was
thoroughly
roused
,
he
had
found
useful
in
many
relations
,
especially
in
business
.
No
one
could
have
found
out
that
he
was
not
at
his
ease
.
"
My
opinion
,
"
he
replied
,
"
is
in
a
state
of
balance
at
present
.
This
division
of
the
county
,
you
are
aware
,
contains
one
manufacturing
town
of
the
first
magnitude
,
and
several
smaller
ones
.
The
manufacturing
interest
is
widely
dispersed
.
So
far
—
a
—
there
is
a
presumption
—
a
—
in
favour
of
the
two
Liberal
candidates
.
Still
with
a
careful
canvass
of
the
agricultural
districts
,
such
as
those
we
have
round
us
at
Treby
Magna
,
I
think
—
a
—
the
auguries
—
a
—
would
not
be
unfavourable
to
the
return
of
a
Conservative
.
A
fourth
candidate
of
good
position
,
who
should
coalesce
with
Mr
Debarry
—
a
—
"
Here
Mr
Jermyn
hesitated
for
the
third
time
,
and
Harold
broke
in
.
"
That
will
not
be
my
line
of
action
,
so
we
need
not
discuss
it
.
If
I
put
up
it
will
be
as
a
Radical
;
and
I
fancy
,
in
any
county
that
would
return
Whigs
there
would
be
plenty
of
voters
to
be
combed
off
by
a
Radical
who
offered
himself
with
good
pretensions
.
"
There
was
the
slightest
possible
quiver
discernible
across
Jermyn
's
face
.
Otherwise
he
sat
as
he
had
done
before
,
with
his
eyes
fixed
abstractedly
on
the
frill
of
a
ham
before
him
,
and
his
hand
trifling
with
his
fork
.
He
did
not
answer
immediately
,
but
when
he
did
,
he
looked
round
steadily
at
Harold
.
"
I
'm
delighted
to
perceive
that
you
have
kept
yourself
so
thoroughly
acquainted
with
English
politics
.
"
"
O
,
of
course
,
"
said
Harold
,
impatiently
.
"
I
'm
aware
how
things
have
been
going
on
in
England
.
I
always
meant
to
come
back
ultimately
.
I
suppose
I
know
the
state
of
Europe
as
well
as
if
I
'd
been
stationary
at
Little
Treby
for
the
last
fifteen
years
.
If
a
man
goes
to
the
East
,
people
seem
to
think
he
gets
turned
into
something
like
the
one-eyed
calender
in
the
'
Arabian
Nights
.
'
"
"
Yet
I
should
think
there
are
some
things
which
people
who
have
been
stationary
at
Little
Treby
could
tell
you
,
Harold
,
"
said
Mrs
Transome
.
"
It
did
not
signify
about
your
holding
Radical
opinions
at
Smyrna
;
but
you
seem
not
to
imagine
how
your
putting
up
as
a
Radical
will
affect
your
position
here
,
and
the
position
of
your
family
.
No
one
will
visit
you
.
And
then
—
the
sort
of
people
who
will
support
you
!
You
really
have
no
idea
what
an
impression
it
conveys
when
you
say
you
are
a
Radical
.
There
are
none
of
our
equals
who
will
not
feel
that
you
have
disgraced
yourself
.
"
"
Pooh
!
"
said
Harold
,
rising
and
walking
along
the
room
.
But
Mrs
Transome
went
on
with
growing
anger
in
her
voice
—
"
It
seems
to
me
that
a
man
owes
something
to
his
birth
and
station
,
and
has
no
right
to
take
up
this
notion
or
the
other
,
just
as
it
suits
his
fancy
;
still
less
to
work
at
the
overthrow
of
his
class
.
That
was
what
every
one
said
of
Lord
Grey
,
and
my
family
at
least
is
as
good
as
Lord
Grey
's
.
You
have
wealth
now
,
and
might
distinguish
yourself
in
the
county
;
and
if
you
had
been
true
to
your
colours
as
a
gentleman
,
you
would
have
had
all
the
greater
opportunity
because
the
times
are
so
bad
.
The
Debarrys
and
Lord
Wyvern
would
have
set
all
the
more
store
by
you
.
For
my
part
,
I
ca
n't
conceive
what
good
you
propose
to
yourself
.
I
only
entreat
you
to
think
again
before
you
take
any
decided
step
.
"
"
Mother
,
"
said
Harold
,
not
angrily
or
with
any
raising
of
his
voice
,
but
in
a
quick
,
impatient
manner
,
as
if
the
scene
must
be
got
through
as
quickly
as
possible
;
"
it
is
natural
that
you
should
think
in
this
way
.
Women
,
very
properly
,
do
n't
change
their
views
,
but
keep
to
the
notions
in
which
they
have
been
brought
up
.
It
does
n't
signify
what
they
think
—
they
are
not
called
upon
to
judge
or
to
act
.
You
must
really
leave
me
to
take
my
own
course
in
these
matters
,
which
properly
belong
to
men
.
Beyond
that
,
I
will
gratify
any
wish
you
choose
to
mention
.
You
shall
have
a
new
carriage
and
a
pair
of
bays
all
to
yourself
;
you
shall
have
the
house
done
up
in
first-rate
style
,
and
I
am
not
thinking
of
marrying
.
But
let
us
understand
that
there
shall
be
no
further
collision
between
us
on
subjects
in
which
I
must
be
master
of
my
own
actions
.
"
"
And
you
will
put
the
crown
to
the
mortifications
of
my
life
,
Harold
.
I
do
n't
know
who
would
be
a
mother
if
she
could
foresee
what
a
slight
thing
she
will
be
to
her
son
when
she
is
old
.
"
Mrs
Transome
here
walked
out
of
the
room
by
the
nearest
way
—
the
glass
door
open
towards
the
terrance
.
Mr
Jermyn
had
risen
too
,
and
his
hands
were
on
the
back
of
his
chair
.
He
looked
quite
impassive
:
it
was
not
the
first
time
he
had
seen
Mrs
Transome
angry
;
but
now
,
for
the
first
time
,
he
thought
the
outburst
of
her
temper
would
be
useful
to
him
.
She
,
poor
woman
,
knew
quite
well
that
she
had
been
unwise
,
and
that
she
had
been
making
herself
disaggreeable
to
Harold
to
no
purpose
.
But
half
the
sorrows
of
women
would
be
averted
if
they
could
repress
the
speech
they
know
to
be
useless
;
nay
,
the
speech
they
have
resolved
not
to
utter
.
Harold
continued
his
walking
a
moment
longer
,
and
then
said
to
Jermyn
,
"
You
smoke
?
"
"
No
,
I
always
defer
to
the
ladies
.
Mrs
Jermyn
is
peculiarly
sensitive
in
such
matters
,
and
does
n't
like
tobacco
.
"
Harold
,
who
,
underneath
all
the
tendencies
which
had
made
him
a
Liberal
,
had
intense
personal
pride
,
thought
,
"
Confound
the
fellow
—
with
his
Mrs
Jermyn
!
Does
he
think
we
are
on
a
footing
for
me
to
know
anything
about
his
wife
?
"
"
Well
,
I
took
my
hookah
before
breakfast
,
"
he
said
aloud
;
"
so
,
if
you
like
,
we
'll
go
into
the
library
.
My
father
never
gets
up
till
mid-day
,
I
find
.
"
"
Sit
down
,
sit
down
,
"
said
Harold
,
as
they
entered
the
handsome
,
spacious
library
.
But
he
himself
continued
to
stand
before
a
map
of
the
county
which
he
had
opened
from
a
series
of
rollers
occupying
a
compartment
among
the
book-shelves
.
"
The
first
question
,
Mr
Jermyn
,
now
you
know
my
intentions
,
is
,
whether
you
will
undertake
to
be
my
agent
in
this
election
,
and
help
me
through
?
There
's
no
time
to
be
lost
,
and
I
do
n't
want
to
lose
my
chance
,
as
I
may
not
have
another
for
seven
years
.
I
understand
,
"
he
went
on
,
flashing
a
look
straight
at
Jermyn
,
"
that
you
have
not
taken
any
conspicuous
course
in
politics
;
and
I
know
that
Labron
is
agent
for
the
Debarrys
.
"
"
O
—
a
—
my
dear
sir
—
a
man
necessarily
has
his
political
convictions
,
but
of
what
use
is
it
for
a
professional
man
—
a
—
of
some
education
,
to
talk
of
them
in
a
little
country
town
?
There
really
is
no
comprehension
of
public
questions
in
such
places
.
Party
feeling
,
indeed
,
was
quite
asleep
here
before
the
agitation
about
the
Catholic
Relief
Bill
.
It
is
true
that
I
concurred
with
our
incumbent
in
getting
up
a
petition
against
the
Reform
Bill
,
but
I
did
not
state
my
reasons
.
The
weak
points
in
that
Bill
are
—
a
—
too
palpable
,
and
I
fancy
you
and
I
should
not
differ
much
on
that
head
.
The
fact
is
,
when
I
knew
that
you
were
to
come
back
to
us
,
I
kept
myself
in
reserve
,
though
I
was
much
pressed
by
the
friends
of
Sir
James
Clement
,
the
Ministerial
candidate
,
who
is
—
"
"
However
,
you
will
act
for
me
—
that
's
settled
?
"
said
Harold
.
"
Certainly
,
"
said
Jermyn
,
inwardly
irritated
by
Harold
's
rapid
manner
of
cutting
him
short
.
"
Which
of
the
Liberal
candidates
,
as
they
call
themselves
,
has
the
better
chance
,
eh
?
"
"
I
was
going
to
observe
that
Sir
James
Clement
has
not
so
good
a
chance
as
Mr
Garstin
,
supposing
that
a
third
Liberal
candidate
presents
himself
.
There
are
two
senses
in
which
a
politician
can
be
liberal
"
—
here
Mr
Jermyn
smiled
—
"
Sir
James
Clement
is
a
poor
baronet
,
hoping
for
an
appointment
,
and
ca
n't
be
expected
to
be
liberal
in
that
wider
sense
which
commands
majorities
.
"
"
I
wish
this
man
were
not
so
much
of
a
talker
,
"
thought
Harold
;
"
he
'll
bore
me
.
We
shall
see
,
"
he
said
aloud
,
"
what
can
be
done
in
the
way
of
combination
.
I
'll
come
down
to
your
office
after
one
o'clock
,
if
it
will
suit
you
?
"
"
Perfectly
.
"
"
Ah
,
and
you
'll
have
all
the
lists
and
papers
and
necessary
information
ready
for
me
there
.
I
must
get
up
a
dinner
for
the
tenants
,
and
we
can
invite
whom
we
like
besides
the
tenants
.
Just
now
,
I
'm
going
over
one
of
the
farms
on
hand
with
the
bailiff
.
By
the
way
,
that
's
a
desperately
bad
business
,
having
three
farms
unlet
—
how
comes
that
about
,
eh
?
"
"
That
is
precisely
what
I
wanted
to
say
a
few
words
about
to
you
.
You
have
observed
already
how
strongly
Mrs
Transome
takes
certain
things
to
heart
.
You
can
imagine
that
she
has
been
severely
tried
in
many
ways
.
Mr
Transome
's
want
of
health
;
Mr
Durfey
's
habits
—
a
—
.
"
"
Yes
,
yes
.
"
"
She
is
a
woman
for
whom
I
naturally
entertain
the
highest
respect
,
and
she
has
had
hardly
any
gratification
for
many
years
,
except
the
sense
of
having
affairs
to
a
certain
extent
in
her
own
hands
.
She
objects
to
changes
;
she
will
not
have
a
new
style
of
tenants
;
she
likes
the
old
stock
of
farmers
who
milk
their
own
cows
,
and
send
their
younger
daughters
out
to
service
:
all
this
makes
it
difficult
to
do
the
best
with
the
estate
.
I
am
aware
things
are
not
as
they
ought
to
be
,
for
,
in
point
of
fact
,
an
improved
agricultural
management
is
a
matter
in
which
I
take
considerable
interest
,
and
the
farm
which
I
myself
hold
on
the
estate
you
will
see
,
I
think
,
to
be
in
a
superior
condition
.
But
Mrs
Transome
is
a
woman
of
strong
feeling
,
and
I
would
urge
you
,
my
dear
sir
,
to
make
the
changes
which
you
have
,
but
which
I
had
not
,
the
right
to
insist
on
,
as
little
painful
to
her
as
possible
.
"
"
I
shall
know
what
to
do
,
sir
,
never
fear
,
"
said
Harold
,
much
offended
.
"
You
will
pardon
,
I
hope
,
a
perhaps
undue
freedom
of
suggestion
from
a
man
of
my
age
,
who
has
been
so
long
in
a
close
connection
with
the
family
affairs
—
a
—
I
have
never
considered
that
connection
simply
in
the
light
of
business
—
a
—
"
.
"
Damn
him
,
I
'll
soon
let
him
know
that
I
do
,
"
thought
Harold
.
But
in
proportion
as
he
found
Jermyn
's
manners
annoying
,
he
felt
the
necessity
of
controlling
himself
.
He
despised
all
persons
who
defeated
their
own
projects
by
the
indulgence
of
momentary
impulses
.
"
I
understand
,
I
understand
,
"
he
said
aloud
.
"
You
've
had
more
awkward
business
on
your
hands
than
usually
falls
to
the
share
of
a
family
lawyer
.
We
shall
set
everything
right
by
degrees
.
But
now
as
to
the
canvassing
.
I
've
made
arrangements
with
a
first-rate
man
in
London
,
who
understands
these
matters
thoroughly
—
a
solicitor
of
course
—
he
has
carried
no
end
of
men
into
Parliament
.
I
'll
engage
him
to
meet
us
at
Duffield
—
say
when
?
"
The
conversation
after
this
was
driven
carefully
clear
of
all
angles
,
and
ended
with
determined
amicableness
.
When
Harold
,
in
his
ride
an
hour
or
two
afterwards
,
encountered
his
uncle
shouldering
a
gun
,
and
followed
by
one
black
and
one
liver-spotted
pointer
,
his
muscular
person
with
its
red
eagle
face
set
off
by
a
velveteen
jacket
and
leather
leggings
,
Mr
Lingon
's
first
question
was
,
"
Well
,
lad
,
how
have
you
got
on
with
Jermyn
?
"
"
O
,
I
do
n't
think
I
shall
like
the
fellow
.
He
's
a
sort
of
amateur
gentleman
.
But
I
must
make
use
of
him
.
I
expect
whatever
I
get
out
of
him
will
only
be
something
short
of
fair
pay
for
what
he
has
got
out
of
us
.
But
I
shall
see
.
"
"
Ay
,
ay
,
use
his
gun
to
bring
down
your
game
,
and
after
that
beat
the
thief
with
the
butt-end
.
That
's
wisdom
and
justice
and
pleasure
all
in
one
—
talking
between
ourselves
,
as
uncle
and
nephew
.
But
I
say
,
Harold
,
I
was
going
to
tell
you
,
now
I
come
to
think
of
it
,
this
is
rather
a
nasty
business
,
your
calling
yourself
a
Radical
.
I
've
been
turning
it
over
in
after-dinner
speeches
,
but
it
looks
awkward
—
it
's
not
what
people
are
used
to
—
it
wants
a
good
deal
of
Latin
to
make
it
go
down
.
I
shall
be
worried
about
it
at
the
sessions
,
and
I
can
think
of
nothing
neat
enough
to
carry
about
in
my
pocket
by
way
of
answer
.
"
"
Nonsense
,
uncle
;
I
remember
what
a
good
speechifier
you
always
were
:
you
'll
never
be
at
a
loss
.
You
only
want
a
few
more
evenings
to
think
of
it
.
"
"
But
you
'll
not
be
attacking
the
Church
and
the
institutions
of
the
country
—
you
'll
not
be
going
those
lengths
;
you
'll
keep
up
the
bulwarks
,
and
so
on
,
eh
?
"
"
No
,
I
sha
n't
attack
the
Church
—
only
the
incomes
of
the
bishops
,
perhaps
,
to
make
them
eke
out
the
incomes
of
the
poor
clergy
.
"
"
Well
,
well
,
I
have
no
objection
to
that
.
Nobody
likes
our
Bishop
:
he
's
all
Greek
and
greediness
;
too
proud
to
dine
with
his
own
father
.
You
may
pepper
the
bishops
a
little
.
But
you
'll
respect
the
constitution
handed
down
,
etc.
—
and
you
'll
rally
round
the
throne
—
and
the
King
,
God
bless
him
,
and
the
usual
toasts
,
eh
?
"
"
Of
course
,
of
course
.
I
am
a
Radical
only
in
rooting
out
abuses
.
"
"
That
's
the
word
I
wanted
,
my
lad
!
"
said
the
Vicar
,
slapping
Harold
's
knee
.
"
That
's
a
spool
to
wind
a
speech
on
.
Abuses
is
the
very
word
;
and
if
anybody
shows
himself
offended
,
he
'll
put
the
cap
on
for
himself
.
"
"
I
remove
the
rotten
timbers
,
"
said
Harold
,
inwardly
amused
,
"
and
substitute
fresh
oak
,
that
's
all
.
"
"
Well
done
,
my
boy
!
By
George
,
you
'll
be
a
speaker
.
But
,
I
say
,
Harold
,
I
hope
you
've
got
a
little
Latin
left
.
This
young
Debarry
is
a
tremendous
fellow
at
the
classics
,
and
walks
on
stilts
to
any
length
.
He
's
one
of
the
new
Conservatives
.
Old
Sir
Maximus
does
n't
understand
him
at
all
.
"
"
That
wo
n't
do
at
the
hustings
,
"
said
Harold
.
"
He
'll
get
knocked
off
his
stilts
pretty
quickly
there
.
"
"
Bless
me
!
it
's
astonishing
how
well
you
're
up
in
the
affairs
of
the
country
,
my
boy
.
But
rub
up
a
few
quotations
—
'
Quod
turpe
bonis
decebat
Crispinum
'
—
and
that
sort
of
thing
—
just
to
show
Debarry
what
you
could
do
if
you
liked
.
But
you
want
to
ride
on
?
"
"
Yes
;
I
have
an
appointment
at
Treby
.
Goodbye
.
"
"
He
's
a
cleverish
chap
,
"
muttered
the
Vicar
,
as
Harold
rode
away
.
"
When
he
's
had
plenty
of
English
exercise
,
and
brought
out
his
knuckle
a
bit
,
he
'll
be
a
Lingon
again
as
he
used
to
be
.
I
must
go
and
see
how
Arabella
takes
his
being
a
Radical
.
It
's
a
little
awkward
;
but
a
clergyman
must
keep
peace
in
a
family
.
Confound
it
!
I
'm
not
bound
to
love
Toryism
better
than
my
own
flesh
and
blood
,
and
the
manor
I
shoot
over
.
That
's
a
heathenish
,
Brutus-like
sort
of
thing
,
as
if
Providence
could
n't
take
care
of
the
country
without
my
quarrelling
with
my
own
sister
's
son
!
"
CHAPTER
III
.
'
Twas
town
,
yet
country
too
;
you
felt
the
warmth
Of
clustering
houses
in
the
wintry
time
;
Supped
with
a
friend
,
and
went
by
lantern
home
.
Yet
from
your
chamber
window
you
could
hear
The
tiny
bleat
of
new-yeaned
lambs
,
or
see
The
children
bend
beside
the
hedgerow
banks
To
pluck
the
primroses
.
Treby
Magna
,
on
which
the
Reform
Bill
had
thrust
the
new
honour
of
being
a
polling-place
,
had
been
,
at
the
beginning
of
the
century
,
quite
a
typical
old
market-town
,
lying
in
pleasant
sleepiness
among
green
pastures
,
with
a
rush-fringed
river
meandering
through
them
.
Its
principal
street
had
various
handsome
and
tall-windowed
brick
houses
with
walled
gardens
behind
them
;
and
at
the
end
,
where
it
widened
into
the
marketplace
,
there
was
the
cheerful
rough-stuccoed
front
of
that
excellent
inn
,
the
Marquis
of
Granby
,
where
the
farmers
put
up
their
gigs
,
not
only
on
fair
and
market
days
,
but
on
exceptional
Sundays
when
they
came
to
church
.
And
the
church
was
one
of
those
fine
old
English
structures
worth
travelling
to
see
,
standing
in
a
broad
churchyard
with
a
line
of
solemn
yew-trees
beside
it
,
and
lifting
a
majestic
tower
and
spire
far
above
the
red-and-purple
roofs
of
the
town
.
It
was
not
large
enough
to
hold
all
the
parishioners
of
a
parish
which
stretched
over
distant
villages
and
hamlets
;
but
then
they
were
never
so
unreasonable
as
to
wish
to
be
all
in
at
once
,
and
had
never
complained
that
the
space
of
a
large
side-chapel
was
taken
up
by
the
tombs
of
the
Debarrys
,
and
shut
in
by
a
handsome
iron
screen
.
For
when
the
black
Benedictines
ceased
to
pray
and
chant
in
this
church
,
when
the
Blessed
Virgin
and
St
Gregory
were
expelled
,
the
Debarrys
,
as
lords
of
the
manor
,
naturally
came
next
to
Providence
and
took
the
place
of
the
saints
.
Long
before
that
time
,
indeed
,
there
had
been
a
Sir
Maximus
Debarry
who
had
been
at
the
fortifying
of
the
old
castle
,
which
now
stood
in
ruins
in
the
midst
of
the
green
pastures
,
and
with
its
sheltering
wall
towards
the
north
made
an
excellent
strawyard
for
the
pigs
of
Wace
+
Co.
,
brewers
of
the
celebrated
Treby
beer
.
Wace
+
Co.
did
not
stand
alone
in
the
town
as
prosperous
traders
on
a
large
scale
,
to
say
nothing
of
those
who
had
retired
