MARRIAGE
BY
H
.
G
.
WELLS
Author
of
"
Love
and
Mr
Lewisham
"
,
"
Kipps
"
,
etc.
"
And
the
Poor
Dears
have
n't
the
shadow
of
a
doubt
they
will
live
happily
ever
afterwards
.
"
—
From
a
Private
Letter
.
Macmillan
and
co.
,
Limited
FRATERNALLY
TO
ARNOLD
BENNETT
BOOK
THE
FIRST
MARJORIE
MARRIES
MARRIAGE
CHAPTER
THE
FIRST
A
Day
with
the
Popes
An
extremely
pretty
girl
occupied
a
second-class
compartment
in
one
of
those
trains
which
percolate
through
the
rural
tranquillities
of
middle
England
from
Ganford
in
Oxfordshire
to
Rumbold
Junction
in
Kent
.
She
was
going
to
join
her
family
at
Buryhamstreet
after
a
visit
to
some
Gloucestershire
friends
.
Her
father
,
Mr.
Pope
,
once
a
leader
in
the
coach-building
world
and
now
by
retirement
a
gentleman
,
had
taken
the
Buryhamstreet
vicarage
furnished
for
two
months
(
beginning
on
the
fifteenth
of
July
)
at
his
maximum
summer
rental
of
seven
guineas
a
week
.
His
daughter
was
on
her
way
to
this
retreat
.
At
first
she
had
been
an
animated
traveller
,
erect
and
keenly
regardful
of
every
detail
upon
the
platforms
of
the
stations
at
which
her
conveyance
lingered
,
but
the
tedium
of
the
journey
and
the
warmth
of
the
sunny
afternoon
had
relaxed
her
pose
by
imperceptible
degrees
,
and
she
sat
now
comfortably
in
the
corner
,
with
her
neat
toes
upon
the
seat
before
her
,
ready
to
drop
them
primly
at
the
first
sign
of
a
fellow-traveller
.
Her
expression
lapsed
more
and
more
towards
an
almost
somnolent
reverie
.
She
wished
she
had
not
taken
a
second-class
ticket
,
because
then
she
might
have
afforded
a
cup
of
tea
at
Reading
,
and
so
fortified
herself
against
this
insinuating
indolence
.
She
was
travelling
second
class
,
instead
of
third
as
she
ought
to
have
done
,
through
one
of
those
lapses
so
inevitable
to
young
people
in
her
position
.
The
two
Carmel
boys
and
a
cousin
,
two
greyhounds
and
a
chow
had
come
to
see
her
off
;
they
had
made
a
brilliant
and
prosperous
group
on
the
platform
and
extorted
the
manifest
admiration
of
two
youthful
porters
,
and
it
had
been
altogether
too
much
for
Marjorie
Pope
to
admit
it
was
the
family
custom
—
except
when
her
father
's
nerves
had
to
be
considered
—
to
go
third
class
.
So
she
had
made
a
hasty
calculation
—
she
knew
her
balance
to
a
penny
because
of
the
recent
tipping
—
and
found
it
would
just
run
to
it
.
Fourpence
remained
,
—
and
there
would
be
a
porter
at
Buryhamstreet
!
Her
mother
had
said
:
"
You
will
have
Ample
.
"
Well
,
opinions
of
amplitude
vary
.
With
numerous
details
fresh
in
her
mind
,
Marjorie
decided
it
would
be
wiser
to
avoid
financial
discussion
during
her
first
few
days
at
Buryhamstreet
.
There
was
much
in
Marjorie
's
equipment
in
the
key
of
travelling
second
class
at
the
sacrifice
of
afternoon
tea
.
There
was
,
for
example
,
a
certain
quiet
goodness
of
style
about
her
clothes
,
though
the
skirt
betrayed
age
,
and
an
entire
absence
of
style
about
her
luggage
,
which
was
all
in
the
compartment
with
her
,
and
which
consisted
of
a
distended
hold-all
,
a
very
good
tennis
racquet
in
a
stretcher
,
a
portmanteau
of
cheap
white
basketwork
held
together
by
straps
,
and
a
very
new
,
expensive-looking
and
meretricious
dressing-bag
of
imitation
morocco
,
which
had
been
one
of
her
chief
financial
errors
at
Oxbridge
.
The
collection
was
eloquent
indeed
of
incompatible
standards
...
.
Marjorie
had
a
chin
that
was
small
in
size
if
resolute
in
form
,
and
a
mouth
that
was
not
noticeably
soft
and
weak
because
it
was
conspicuously
soft
and
pretty
.
Her
nose
was
delicately
aquiline
and
very
subtly
and
finely
modelled
,
and
she
looked
out
upon
the
world
with
steady
,
grey-blue
eyes
beneath
broad
,
level
brows
that
contradicted
in
a
large
measure
the
hint
of
weakness
below
.
She
had
an
abundance
of
copper-red
hair
,
which
flowed
back
very
prettily
from
her
broad
,
low
forehead
and
over
her
delicate
ears
,
and
she
had
that
warm-tinted
clear
skin
that
goes
so
well
with
reddish
hair
.
She
had
a
very
dainty
neck
,
and
the
long
slender
lines
of
her
body
were
full
of
the
promise
of
a
riper
beauty
.
She
had
the
good
open
shoulders
of
a
tennis-player
and
a
swimmer
.
Some
day
she
was
to
be
a
tall
,
ruddy
,
beautiful
woman
.
She
wore
simple
clothes
of
silvery
grey
and
soft
green
,
and
about
her
waist
was
a
belt
of
grey
leather
in
which
there
now
wilted
two
creamy-petalled
roses
.
That
was
the
visible
Marjorie
.
Somewhere
out
of
time
and
space
was
an
invisible
Marjorie
who
looked
out
on
the
world
with
those
steady
eyes
,
and
smiled
or
drooped
with
the
soft
red
lips
,
and
dreamt
,
and
wondered
,
and
desired
.
What
a
queer
thing
the
invisible
human
being
would
appear
if
,
by
some
discovery
as
yet
inconceivable
,
some
spiritual
X-ray
photography
,
we
could
flash
it
into
sight
!
Long
ago
I
read
a
book
called
"
Soul
Shapes
"
that
was
full
of
ingenious
ideas
,
but
I
doubt
very
much
if
the
thing
so
revealed
would
have
any
shape
,
any
abiding
solid
outline
at
all
.
It
is
something
more
fluctuating
and
discursive
than
that
—
at
any
rate
,
for
every
one
young
enough
not
to
have
set
and
hardened
.
Things
come
into
it
and
become
it
,
things
drift
out
of
it
and
cease
to
be
it
,
things
turn
upside
down
in
it
and
change
and
colour
and
dissolve
,
and
grow
and
eddy
about
and
blend
into
each
other
.
One
might
figure
it
,
I
suppose
,
as
a
preposterous
jumble
animated
by
a
will
;
a
floundering
disconnectedness
through
which
an
old
hump
of
impulse
rises
and
thrusts
unaccountably
;
a
river
beast
of
purpose
wallowing
in
a
back
eddy
of
mud
and
weeds
and
floating
objects
and
creatures
drowned
.
Now
the
sunshine
of
gladness
makes
it
all
vivid
,
now
it
is
sombre
and
grimly
insistent
under
the
sky
of
some
darkling
mood
,
now
an
emotional
gale
sweeps
across
it
and
it
is
one
confused
agitation
...
.
And
surely
these
invisible
selves
of
men
were
never
so
jumbled
,
so
crowded
,
complicated
,
and
stirred
about
as
they
are
at
the
present
time
.
Once
I
am
told
they
had
a
sort
of
order
,
were
sphered
in
religious
beliefs
,
crystal
clear
,
were
arranged
in
a
cosmogony
that
fitted
them
as
hand
fits
glove
,
were
separated
by
definite
standards
of
right
and
wrong
which
presented
life
as
planned
in
all
its
essential
aspects
from
the
cradle
to
the
grave
.
Things
are
so
no
longer
.
That
sphere
is
broken
for
most
of
us
;
even
if
it
is
tied
about
and
mended
again
,
it
is
burst
like
a
seed
case
;
things
have
fallen
out
and
things
have
fallen
in
...
.
Can
I
convey
in
any
measure
how
it
was
with
Marjorie
?
What
was
her
religion
?
In
college
forms
and
returns
,
and
suchlike
documents
,
she
would
describe
herself
as
"
Church
of
England
.
"
She
had
been
baptized
according
to
the
usages
of
that
body
,
but
she
had
hitherto
evaded
confirmation
into
it
,
and
although
it
is
a
large
,
wealthy
,
and
powerful
organization
with
many
minds
to
serve
it
,
it
had
never
succeeded
in
getting
into
her
quick
and
apprehensive
intelligence
any
lucid
and
persuasive
conception
of
what
it
considered
God
and
the
universe
were
up
to
with
her
.
It
had
failed
to
catch
her
attention
and
state
itself
to
her
.
A
number
of
humorous
and
other
writers
and
the
general
trend
of
talk
around
her
,
and
perhaps
her
own
shrewd
little
observation
of
superficial
things
,
had
,
on
the
other
hand
,
created
a
fairly
definite
belief
in
her
that
it
was
n't
as
a
matter
of
fact
up
to
very
much
at
all
,
that
what
it
said
was
n't
said
with
that
absolute
honesty
which
is
a
logical
necessity
in
every
religious
authority
,
and
that
its
hierarchy
had
all
sorts
of
political
and
social
considerations
confusing
its
treatment
of
her
immortal
soul
...
.
Marjorie
followed
her
father
in
abstaining
from
church
.
He
too
professed
himself
"
Church
of
England
,
"
but
he
was
,
if
we
are
to
set
aside
merely
superficial
classifications
,
an
irascible
atheist
with
a
respect
for
usage
and
Good
Taste
,
and
an
abject
fear
of
the
disapproval
of
other
gentlemen
of
his
class
.
For
the
rest
he
secretly
disliked
clergymen
on
account
of
the
peculiarity
of
their
collars
,
and
a
certain
influence
they
had
with
women
.
When
Marjorie
at
the
age
of
fourteen
had
displayed
a
hankering
after
ecclesiastical
ceremony
and
emotional
religion
,
he
had
declared
:
"
We
do
n't
want
any
of
that
nonsense
,
"
and
sent
her
into
the
country
to
a
farm
where
there
were
young
calves
and
a
bottle-fed
lamb
and
kittens
.
At
times
her
mother
went
to
church
and
displayed
considerable
orthodoxy
and
punctilio
,
at
times
the
good
lady
did
n't
,
and
at
times
she
thought
in
a
broad-minded
way
that
there
was
a
Lot
in
Christian
Science
,
and
subjected
herself
to
the
ministrations
of
an
American
named
Silas
Root
.
But
his
ministrations
were
too
expensive
for
continuous
use
,
and
so
the
old
faith
did
not
lose
its
hold
upon
the
family
altogether
.
At
school
Marjorie
had
been
taught
what
I
may
best
describe
as
Muffled
Christianity
—
a
temperate
and
discreet
system
designed
primarily
not
to
irritate
parents
,
in
which
the
painful
symbol
of
the
crucifixion
and
the
riddle
of
what
Salvation
was
to
save
her
from
,
and
,
indeed
,
the
coarser
aspects
of
religion
generally
,
were
entirely
subordinate
to
images
of
amiable
perambulations
,
and
a
rich
mist
of
finer
feelings
.
She
had
been
shielded
,
not
only
from
arguments
against
her
religion
,
but
from
arguments
for
it
—
the
two
things
go
together
—
and
I
do
not
think
it
was
particularly
her
fault
if
she
was
now
growing
up
like
the
great
majority
of
respectable
English
people
,
with
her
religious
faculty
as
it
were
,
artificially
faded
,
and
an
acquired
disposition
to
regard
any
speculation
of
why
she
was
,
and
whence
and
whither
,
as
rather
foolish
,
not
very
important
,
and
in
the
very
worst
possible
taste
.
And
so
,
the
crystal
globe
being
broken
which
once
held
souls
together
,
you
may
expect
to
find
her
a
little
dispersed
and
inconsistent
in
her
motives
,
and
with
none
of
that
assurance
a
simpler
age
possessed
of
the
exact
specification
of
goodness
or
badness
,
the
exact
delimitation
of
right
and
wrong
.
Indeed
,
she
did
not
live
in
a
world
of
right
and
wrong
,
or
anything
so
stern
;
"
horrid
"
and
"
jolly
"
had
replaced
these
archaic
orientations
.
In
a
world
where
a
mercantile
gentility
has
conquered
passion
and
God
is
neither
blasphemed
nor
adored
,
there
necessarily
arises
this
generation
of
young
people
,
a
little
perplexed
,
indeed
,
and
with
a
sense
of
something
missing
,
but
feeling
their
way
inevitably
at
last
to
the
great
releasing
question
,
"
Then
why
should
n't
we
have
a
good
time
?
"
Yet
there
was
something
in
Marjorie
,
as
in
most
human
beings
,
that
demanded
some
general
idea
,
some
aim
,
to
hold
her
life
together
.
A
girl
upon
the
borders
of
her
set
at
college
was
fond
of
the
phrase
"
living
for
the
moment
,
"
and
Marjorie
associated
with
it
the
speaker
's
lax
mouth
,
sloe-like
eyes
,
soft
,
quick-flushing
,
boneless
face
,
and
a
habit
of
squawking
and
bouncing
in
a
forced
and
graceless
manner
.
Marjorie
's
natural
disposition
was
to
deal
with
life
in
a
steadier
spirit
than
that
.
Yet
all
sorts
of
powers
and
forces
were
at
work
in
her
,
some
exalted
,
some
elvish
,
some
vulgar
,
some
subtle
.
She
felt
keenly
and
desired
strongly
,
and
in
effect
she
came
perhaps
nearer
the
realization
of
that
offending
phrase
than
its
original
exponent
.
She
had
a
clean
intensity
of
feeling
that
made
her
delight
in
a
thousand
various
things
,
in
sunlight
and
textures
,
and
the
vividly
quick
acts
of
animals
,
in
landscape
,
and
the
beauty
of
other
girls
,
in
wit
,
and
people
's
voices
,
and
good
strong
reasoning
,
and
the
desire
and
skill
of
art
.
She
had
a
clear
,
rapid
memory
that
made
her
excel
perhaps
a
little
too
easily
at
school
and
college
,
an
eagerness
of
sympathetic
interest
that
won
people
very
quickly
and
led
to
disappointments
,
and
a
very
strong
sense
of
the
primary
importance
of
Miss
Marjorie
Pope
in
the
world
.
And
when
any
very
definite
dream
of
what
she
would
like
to
be
and
what
she
would
like
to
do
,
such
as
being
the
principal
of
a
ladies
'
college
,
or
the
first
woman
member
of
Parliament
,
or
the
wife
of
a
barbaric
chief
in
Borneo
,
or
a
great
explorer
,
or
the
wife
of
a
millionaire
and
a
great
social
leader
,
or
George
Sand
,
or
Saint
Teresa
,
had
had
possession
of
her
imagination
for
a
few
weeks
,
an
entirely
contrasted
and
equally
attractive
dream
would
presently
arise
beside
it
and
compete
with
it
and
replace
it
.
It
was
n't
so
much
that
she
turned
against
the
old
one
as
that
she
was
attracted
by
the
new
,
and
she
forgot
the
old
dream
rather
than
abandoned
it
,
simply
because
she
was
only
one
person
,
and
had
n't
therefore
the
possibility
of
realizing
both
.
In
certain
types
Marjorie
's
impressionability
aroused
a
passion
of
proselytism
.
People
of
the
most
diverse
kinds
sought
to
influence
her
,
and
they
invariably
did
so
.
Quite
a
number
of
people
,
including
her
mother
and
the
principal
of
her
college
,
believed
themselves
to
be
the
leading
influence
in
her
life
.
And
this
was
particularly
the
case
with
her
aunt
Plessington
.
Her
aunt
Plessington
was
devoted
to
social
and
political
work
of
an
austere
and
aggressive
sort
(
in
which
Mr.
Plessington
participated
)
;
she
was
childless
,
and
had
a
Movement
of
her
own
,
the
Good
Habits
Movement
,
a
progressive
movement
of
the
utmost
scope
and
benevolence
which
aimed
at
extensive
interferences
with
the
food
and
domestic
intimacies
of
the
more
defenceless
lower
classes
by
means
ultimately
of
legislation
,
and
she
had
Marjorie
up
to
see
her
,
took
her
for
long
walks
while
she
influenced
with
earnestness
and
vigour
,
and
at
times
had
an
air
of
bequeathing
her
mantle
,
movement
and
everything
,
quite
definitely
to
her
"
little
Madge
.
"
She
spoke
of
training
her
niece
to
succeed
her
,
and
bought
all
the
novels
of
Mrs.
Humphry
Ward
for
her
as
they
appeared
,
in
the
hope
of
quickening
in
her
that
flame
of
politico-social
ambition
,
that
insatiable
craving
for
dinner-parties
with
important
guests
,
which
is
so
distinctive
of
the
more
influential
variety
of
English
womanhood
.
It
was
due
rather
to
her
own
habit
of
monologue
than
to
any
reserve
on
the
part
of
Marjorie
that
she
entertained
the
belief
that
her
niece
was
entirely
acquiescent
in
these
projects
.
They
went
into
Marjorie
's
mind
and
passed
.
For
nearly
a
week
,
it
is
true
,
she
had
dramatized
herself
as
the
angel
and
inspiration
of
some
great
modern
statesman
,
but
this
had
been
ousted
by
a
far
more
insistent
dream
,
begotten
by
a
picture
she
had
seen
in
some
exhibition
,
of
a
life
of
careless
savagery
,
whose
central
and
constantly
recurrent
incident
was
the
riding
of
barebacked
horses
out
of
deep-shadowed
forest
into
a
foamy
sunlit
sea
—
in
a
costume
that
would
certainly
have
struck
Aunt
Plessington
as
a
mistake
.
If
you
could
have
seen
Marjorie
in
her
railway
compartment
,
with
the
sunshine
,
sunshine
mottled
by
the
dirty
window
,
tangled
in
her
hair
and
creeping
to
and
fro
over
her
face
as
the
train
followed
the
curves
of
the
line
,
you
would
certainly
have
agreed
with
me
that
she
was
pretty
,
and
you
might
even
have
thought
her
beautiful
.
But
it
was
necessary
to
fall
in
love
with
Marjorie
before
you
could
find
her
absolutely
beautiful
.
You
might
have
speculated
just
what
business
was
going
on
behind
those
drowsily
thoughtful
eyes
.
If
you
are
—
as
people
say
—
"
Victorian
,
"
you
might
even
have
whispered
"
Day
Dreams
,
"
at
the
sight
of
her
...
.
She
was
dreaming
,
and
in
a
sense
she
was
thinking
of
beautiful
things
.
But
only
mediately
.
She
was
thinking
how
very
much
she
would
enjoy
spending
freely
and
vigorously
,
quite
a
considerable
amount
of
money
,
—
heaps
of
money
.
You
see
,
the
Carmels
,
with
whom
she
had
just
been
staying
,
were
shockingly
well
off
.
They
had
two
motor
cars
with
them
in
the
country
,
and
the
boys
had
the
use
of
the
second
one
as
though
it
was
just
an
old
bicycle
.
Marjorie
had
had
a
cheap
white
dinner-dress
,
made
the
year
before
by
a
Chelsea
French
girl
,
a
happy
find
of
her
mother
's
,
and
it
was
shapely
and
simple
and
not
at
all
bad
,
and
she
had
worn
her
green
beads
and
her
Egyptian
necklace
of
jade
;
but
Kitty
Carmel
and
her
sister
had
had
a
new
costume
nearly
every
night
,
and
pretty
bracelets
,
and
rubies
,
big
pearls
,
and
woven
gold
,
and
half
a
score
of
delightful
and
precious
things
for
neck
and
hair
.
Everything
in
the
place
was
bright
and
good
and
abundant
,
the
servants
were
easy
and
well-mannered
,
without
a
trace
of
hurry
or
resentment
,
and
one
did
n't
have
to
be
sharp
about
the
eggs
and
things
at
breakfast
in
the
morning
,
or
go
without
.
All
through
the
day
,
and
even
when
they
had
gone
to
bathe
from
the
smart
little
white
and
green
shed
on
the
upper
lake
,
Marjorie
had
been
made
to
feel
the
insufficiency
of
her
equipment
.
Kitty
Carmel
,
being
twenty-one
,
possessed
her
own
cheque-book
and
had
accounts
running
at
half
a
dozen
West-end
shops
;
and
both
sisters
had
furnished
their
own
rooms
according
to
their
taste
,
with
a
sense
of
obvious
effect
that
had
set
Marjorie
speculating
just
how
a
room
might
be
done
by
a
girl
with
a
real
eye
for
colour
and
a
real
brain
behind
it
...
.
The
train
slowed
down
for
the
seventeenth
time
.
Marjorie
looked
up
and
read
"
Buryhamstreet
.
"
Her
reverie
vanished
,
and
by
a
complex
but
almost
instantaneous
movement
she
had
her
basket
off
the
rack
and
the
carriage
door
open
.
She
became
teeming
anticipations
.
There
,
advancing
in
a
string
,
were
Daffy
,
her
elder
sister
,
Theodore
,
her
younger
brother
,
and
the
dog
Toupee
.
Sydney
and
Rom
had
n't
come
.
Daffy
was
not
copper
red
like
her
sister
,
but
really
quite
coarsely
red-haired
;
she
was
bigger
than
Marjorie
,
and
with
irregular
teeth
instead
of
Marjorie
's
neat
row
;
she
confessed
them
in
a
broad
simple
smile
of
welcome
.
Theodore
was
hatless
,
rustily
fuzzy-headed
,
and
now
a
wealth
of
quasi-humorous
gesture
.
The
dog
Toupee
was
straining
at
a
leash
,
and
doing
its
best
in
a
yapping
,
confused
manner
,
to
welcome
the
wrong
people
by
getting
its
lead
round
their
legs
.
"
Toupee
!
"
cried
Marjorie
,
waving
the
basket
.
"
Toupee
!
"
They
all
called
it
Toupee
because
it
was
like
one
,
but
the
name
was
forbidden
in
her
father
's
hearing
.
Her
father
had
decided
that
the
proper
name
for
a
family
dog
in
England
is
Towser
,
and
did
his
utmost
to
suppress
a
sobriquet
that
was
at
once
unprecedented
and
not
in
the
best
possible
taste
.
Which
was
why
the
whole
family
,
with
the
exception
of
Mrs.
Pope
,
of
course
,
stuck
to
Toupee
...
.
Marjorie
flashed
a
second
's
contrast
with
the
Carmel
splendours
.
"
Hullo
,
old
Daffy
.
What
's
it
like
?
"
she
asked
,
handing
out
the
basket
as
her
sister
came
up
.
"
It
's
a
lark
,
"
said
Daffy
.
"
Where
's
the
dressing-bag
?
"
"
Thoddy
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
following
up
the
dressing-bag
with
the
hold-all
.
"
Lend
a
hand
.
"
"
Stow
it
,
Toupee
,
"
said
Theodore
,
and
caught
the
hold-all
in
time
.
In
another
moment
Marjorie
was
out
of
the
train
,
had
done
the
swift
kissing
proper
to
the
occasion
,
and
rolled
a
hand
over
Toupee
's
head
—
Toupee
,
who
,
after
a
passionate
lunge
at
a
particularly
savoury
drover
from
the
next
compartment
,
was
now
frantically
trying
to
indicate
that
Marjorie
was
the
one
human
being
he
had
ever
cared
for
.
Brother
and
sister
were
both
sketching
out
the
state
of
affairs
at
Buryhamstreet
Vicarage
in
rapid
competitive
jerks
,
each
eager
to
tell
things
first
—
and
the
whole
party
moved
confusedly
towards
the
station
exit
.
Things
pelted
into
Marjorie
's
mind
.
"
We
've
got
an
old
donkey-cart
.
I
thought
we
should
n't
get
here
—
ever
...
.
Madge
,
we
can
go
up
the
church
tower
whenever
we
like
,
only
old
Daffy
wo
n't
let
me
shin
up
the
flagstaff
.
It
's
perfectly
safe
—
you
could
n't
fall
off
if
you
tried
...
.
Had
positively
to
get
out
at
the
level
crossing
and
pull
him
over
...
.
There
's
a
sort
of
moat
in
the
garden
...
.
You
never
saw
such
furniture
,
Madge
!
And
the
study
!
It
's
hung
with
texts
,
and
stuffed
with
books
about
the
Scarlet
Woman
...
.
Piano
's
rather
good
,
it
's
a
Broadwood
...
.
The
Dad
's
got
a
war
on
about
the
tennis
net
.
Oh
,
frightful
!
You
'll
see
.
It
wo
n't
keep
up
.
He
's
had
a
letter
kept
waiting
by
the
Times
for
a
fortnight
,
and
it
's
a
terror
at
breakfast
.
Says
the
motor
people
have
used
influence
to
silence
him
.
Says
that
's
a
game
two
can
play
at
...
.
Old
Sid
got
herself
upset
stuffing
windfalls
.
Rather
a
sell
for
old
Sid
,
considering
how
refined
she
's
getting
...
.
"
There
was
a
brief
lull
as
the
party
got
into
the
waiting
governess
cart
.
Toupee
,
after
a
preliminary
refusal
to
enter
,
made
a
determined
attempt
on
the
best
seat
,
from
which
he
would
be
able
to
bark
in
a
persistent
,
official
manner
at
anything
that
passed
.
That
suppressed
,
and
Theodore
's
proposal
to
drive
refused
,
they
were
able
to
start
,
and
attention
was
concentrated
upon
Daffy
's
negotiation
of
the
station
approach
.
Marjorie
turned
on
her
brother
with
a
smile
of
warm
affection
.
"
How
are
you
,
old
Theodore
?
"
"
I
'm
all
right
,
old
Madge
.
"
"
Mummy
?
"
"
Every
one
's
all
right
,
"
said
Theodore
;
"
if
it
was
n't
for
that
damned
infernal
net
—
—
"
"
Ssssh
!
"
cried
both
sisters
together
.
"
He
says
it
,
"
said
Theodore
.
Both
sisters
conveyed
a
grave
and
relentless
disapproval
.
"
Pretty
bit
of
road
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
I
like
that
little
house
at
the
corner
.
"
A
pause
and
the
eyes
of
the
sisters
met
.
"
He
's
here
,
"
said
Daffy
.
Marjorie
affected
ignorance
.
"
Who
's
here
?
"
"
Il
vostro
senior
Miraculoso
.
"
"
Just
as
though
a
fellow
could
n't
understand
your
kiddy
little
Italian
,
"
said
Theodore
,
pulling
Toupee
's
ear
.
"
Oh
well
,
I
thought
he
might
be
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
regardless
of
her
brother
.
"
Oh
!
"
said
Daffy
.
"
I
did
n't
know
—
—
"
Both
sisters
looked
at
each
other
,
and
then
both
glanced
at
Theodore
.
He
met
Marjorie
's
eyes
with
a
grimace
of
profound
solemnity
.
"
Little
brothers
,
"
he
said
,
"
should
n't
know
.
Just
as
though
they
did
n't
!
Rot
!
But
let
's
change
the
subject
,
my
dears
,
all
the
same
.
Lemme
see
.
There
are
a
new
sort
of
flea
on
Toupee
,
Madge
,
that
he
gets
from
the
hens
.
"
"
Is
a
new
sort
,
"
corrected
Daffy
.
"
He
's
horrider
than
ever
,
Madge
.
He
leaves
his
soap
in
soak
now
to
make
us
think
he
has
used
it
.
This
is
the
village
High
Street
.
Is
n't
it
jolly
?
"
"
Corners
do
n't
bite
people
,
"
said
Theodore
,
with
a
critical
eye
to
the
driving
.
Marjorie
surveyed
the
High
Street
,
while
Daffy
devoted
a
few
moments
to
Theodore
.
The
particular
success
of
the
village
was
its
brace
of
chestnut
trees
which
,
with
that
noble
disregard
of
triteness
which
is
one
of
the
charms
of
villages
the
whole
world
over
,
shadowed
the
village
smithy
.
On
either
side
of
the
roadway
between
it
and
the
paths
was
a
careless
width
of
vivid
grass
protected
by
white
posts
,
which
gave
way
to
admit
a
generous
access
on
either
hand
to
a
jolly
public
house
,
leering
over
red
blinds
,
and
swinging
a
painted
sign
against
its
competitor
.
Several
of
the
cottages
had
real
thatch
and
most
had
porches
;
they
had
creepers
nailed
to
their
faces
,
and
their
gardens
,
crowded
now
with
flowers
,
marigolds
,
begonias
,
snapdragon
,
delphiniums
,
white
foxgloves
,
and
monkshood
,
seemed
almost
too
good
to
be
true
.
The
doctor
's
house
was
pleasantly
Georgian
,
and
the
village
shop
,
which
was
also
a
post
and
telegraph
office
,
lay
back
with
a
slight
air
of
repletion
,
keeping
its
bulging
double
shop-windows
wide
open
in
a
manifest
attempt
not
to
fall
asleep
.
Two
score
of
shock-headed
boys
and
pinafored
girls
were
drilling
upon
a
bald
space
of
ground
before
the
village
school
,
and
near
by
,
the
national
emotion
at
the
ever-memorable
Diamond
Jubilee
of
Queen
Victoria
had
evoked
an
artistic
drinking-fountain
of
grey
stone
.
Beyond
the
subsequent
green
—
there
were
the
correctest
geese
thereon
—
the
village
narrowed
almost
to
a
normal
road
again
,
and
then
,
recalling
itself
with
a
start
,
lifted
a
little
to
the
churchyard
wall
about
the
grey
and
ample
church
.
"
It
's
just
like
all
the
villages
that
ever
were
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
and
gave
a
cry
of
delight
when
Daffy
,
pointing
to
the
white
gate
between
two
elm
trees
that
led
to
the
vicarage
,
remarked
:
"
That
's
us
.
"
In
confirmation
of
which
statement
,
Sydney
and
Rom
,
the
two
sisters
next
in
succession
to
Marjorie
,
and
with
a
strong
tendency
to
be
twins
in
spite
of
the
year
between
them
,
appeared
in
a
state
of
vociferous
incivility
opening
the
way
for
the
donkey-carriage
.
Sydney
was
Sydney
,
and
Rom
was
just
short
for
Romola
—
one
of
her
mother
's
favourite
heroines
in
fiction
.
"
Old
Madge
,
"
they
said
;
and
then
throwing
respect
to
the
winds
,
"
Old
Gargoo
!
"
which
was
Marjorie
's
forbidden
nickname
,
and
short
for
gargoyle
(
though
surely
only
Victorian
Gothic
,
ever
produced
a
gargoyle
that
had
the
remotest
right
to
be
associated
with
the
neat
brightness
of
Marjorie
's
face
)
.
She
overlooked
the
offence
,
and
the
pseudo-twins
boarded
the
cart
from
behind
,
whereupon
the
already
overburthened
donkey
,
being
old
and
in
a
manner
wise
,
quickened
his
pace
for
the
house
to
get
the
whole
thing
over
.
"
It
's
really
an
avenue
,
"
said
Daffy
;
but
Marjorie
,
with
her
mind
strung
up
to
the
Carmel
standards
,
could
n't
agree
.
It
was
like
calling
a
row
of
boy-scouts
Potsdam
grenadiers
.
The
trees
were
at
irregular
distances
,
of
various
ages
,
and
mostly
on
one
side
.
Still
it
was
a
shady
,
pleasant
approach
.
And
the
vicarage
was
truly
very
interesting
and
amusing
.
To
these
Londoners
accustomed
to
live
in
a
state
of
compression
,
elbows
practically
touching
,
in
a
tall
,
narrow
fore-and-aft
stucco
house
,
all
window
and
staircase
,
in
a
despondent
Brompton
square
,
there
was
an
effect
of
maundering
freedom
about
the
place
,
of
enlargement
almost
to
the
pitch
of
adventure
and
sunlight
to
the
pitch
of
intoxication
.
The
house
itself
was
long
and
low
,
as
if
a
London
house
holidaying
in
the
country
had
flung
itself
asprawl
;
it
had
two
disconnected
and
roomy
staircases
,
and
when
it
had
exhausted
itself
completely
as
a
house
,
it
turned
to
the
right
and
began
again
as
rambling
,
empty
stables
,
coach
house
,
cart
sheds
,
men
's
bedrooms
up
ladders
,
and
outhouses
of
the
most
various
kinds
.
On
one
hand
was
a
neglected
orchard
,
in
the
front
of
the
house
was
a
bald
,
worried-looking
lawn
area
capable
of
simultaneous
tennis
and
croquet
,
and
at
the
other
side
a
copious
and
confused
vegetable
and
flower
garden
full
of
roses
,
honesty
,
hollyhocks
,
and
suchlike
herbaceous
biennials
and
perennials
,
lapsed
at
last
into
shrubbery
,
where
a
sickle-shaped
,
weedy
lagoon
of
uncertain
aims
,
which
had
evidently
,
as
a
rustic
bridge
and
a
weeping
willow
confessed
,
aspired
to
be
an
"
ornamental
water
,
"
declined
at
last
to
ducks
.
And
there
was
access
to
the
church
,
and
the
key
of
the
church
tower
,
and
one
went
across
the
corner
of
the
lawn
,
and
by
a
little
iron
gate
into
the
churchyard
to
decipher
inscriptions
,
as
if
the
tombs
of
all
Buryhamstreet
were
no
more
than
a
part
of
the
accommodation
relinquished
by
the
vicar
's
household
.
Marjorie
was
hurried
over
the
chief
points
of
all
this
at
a
breakneck
pace
by
Sydney
and
Rom
,
and
when
Sydney
was
called
away
to
the
horrors
of
practice
—
for
Sydney
in
spite
of
considerable
reluctance
was
destined
by
her
father
to
be
"
the
musical
one
"
—
Rom
developed
a
copious
affection
,
due
apparently
to
some
occult
æsthetic
influence
in
Marjorie
's
silvery-grey
and
green
,
and
led
her
into
the
unlocked
vestry
,
and
there
prayed
in
a
whisper
that
she
might
be
given
"
one
good
hug
,
just
one
"
—
and
so
they
came
out
with
their
arms
about
each
other
very
affectionately
to
visit
the
lagoon
again
.
And
then
Rom
remembered
that
Marjorie
had
n't
seen
either
the
walnut-tree
in
the
orchard
,
or
the
hen
with
nine
chicks
...
.
Somewhere
among
all
these
interests
came
tea
and
Mrs.
Pope
.
Mrs.
Pope
kissed
her
daughter
with
an
air
of
having
really
wanted
to
kiss
her
half
an
hour
ago
,
but
of
having
been
distracted
since
.
She
was
a
fine-featured
,
anxious-looking
little
woman
,
with
a
close
resemblance
to
all
her
children
,
in
spite
of
the
fact
that
they
were
markedly
dissimilar
one
to
the
other
,
except
only
that
they
took
their
ruddy
colourings
from
their
father
.
She
was
dressed
in
a
neat
blue
dress
that
had
perhaps
been
hurriedly
chosen
,
and
her
method
of
doing
her
hair
was
a
manifest
compromise
between
duty
and
pleasure
.
She
embarked
at
once
upon
an
exposition
of
the
bedroom
arrangements
,
which
evidently
involved
difficult
issues
.
Marjorie
was
to
share
a
room
with
Daffy
—
that
was
the
gist
of
it
—
as
the
only
other
available
apartment
,
originally
promised
to
Marjorie
,
had
been
secured
by
Mr.
Pope
for
what
he
called
his
"
matutinal
ablutions
,
videlicet
tub
.
"
"
Then
,
when
your
Aunt
Plessington
comes
,
you
wo
n't
have
to
move
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
with
an
air
of
a
special
concession
.
"
Your
father
's
looking
forward
to
seeing
you
,
but
he
must
n't
be
disturbed
just
yet
.
He
's
in
the
vicar
's
study
.
He
's
had
his
tea
in
there
.
He
's
writing
a
letter
to
the
Times
answering
something
they
said
in
a
leader
,
and
also
a
private
note
calling
attention
to
their
delay
in
printing
his
previous
communication
,
and
he
wants
to
be
delicately
ironical
without
being
in
any
way
offensive
.
He
wants
to
hint
without
actually
threatening
that
very
probably
he
will
go
over
to
the
Spectator
altogether
if
they
do
not
become
more
attentive
.
The
Times
used
to
print
his
letters
punctually
,
but
latterly
these
automobile
people
seem
to
have
got
hold
of
it
...
.
He
has
the
window
on
the
lawn
open
,
so
that
I
think
,
perhaps
,
we
'd
better
not
stay
out
here
—
for
fear
our
voices
might
disturb
him
.
"
"
Better
get
right
round
the
other
side
of
the
church
,
"
said
Daffy
.
"
He
'd
hear
far
less
of
us
if
we
went
indoors
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
.
The
vicarage
seemed
tight
packed
with
human
interest
for
Marjorie
and
her
mother
and
sisters
.
Going
over
houses
is
one
of
the
amusements
proper
to
her
sex
,
and
she
and
all
three
sisters
and
her
mother
,
as
soon
as
they
had
finished
an
inaudible
tea
,
went
to
see
the
bedroom
she
was
to
share
with
Daffy
,
and
then
examined
,
carefully
and
in
order
,
the
furniture
and
decoration
of
the
other
bedrooms
,
went
through
the
rooms
downstairs
,
always
excepting
and
avoiding
very
carefully
and
closing
as
many
doors
as
possible
on
,
and
hushing
their
voices
whenever
they
approached
the
study
in
which
her
father
was
being
delicately
ironical
without
being
offensive
to
the
Times
.
None
of
them
had
seen
any
of
the
vicarage
people
at
all
—
Mr.
Pope
had
come
on
a
bicycle
and
managed
all
the
negotiations
—
and
it
was
curious
to
speculate
about
the
individuals
whose
personalities
pervaded
the
worn
and
faded
furnishings
of
the
place
.
The
Popes
'
keen-eyed
inspection
came
at
times
,
I
think
,
dangerously
near
prying
.
The
ideals
of
decoration
and
interests
of
the
vanished
family
were
so
absolutely
dissimilar
to
the
London
standards
as
to
arouse
a
sort
of
astonished
wonder
in
their
minds
.
Some
of
the
things
they
decided
were
perfectly
hideous
,
some
quaint
,
some
were
simply
and
weakly
silly
.
Everything
was
different
from
Hartstone
Square
.
Daffy
was
perhaps
more
inclined
to
contempt
,
and
Mrs.
Pope
to
refined
amusement
and
witty
appreciation
than
Marjorie
.
Marjorie
felt
there
was
something
in
these
people
that
she
did
n't
begin
to
understand
,
she
needed
some
missing
clue
that
would
unlock
the
secret
of
their
confused
peculiarity
.
She
was
one
of
those
people
who
have
an
almost
instinctive
turn
for
decoration
in
costume
and
furniture
;
she
had
already
had
a
taste
of
how
to
do
things
in
arranging
her
rooms
at
Bennett
College
,
Oxbridge
,
where
also
she
was
in
great
demand
among
the
richer
girls
as
an
adviser
.
She
knew
what
it
was
to
try
and
fail
as
well
as
to
try
and
succeed
,
and
these
people
,
she
felt
,
had
n't
tried
for
anything
she
comprehended
.
She
could
n't
quite
see
why
it
was
that
there
was
at
the
same
time
an
attempt
at
ornament
and
a
disregard
of
beauty
,
she
could
n't
quite
do
as
her
mother
did
and
dismiss
it
as
an
absurdity
and
have
done
with
it
.
She
could
n't
understand
,
too
,
why
everything
should
be
as
if
it
were
faded
and
weakened
from
something
originally
bright
and
clear
.
All
the
rooms
were
thick
with
queer
little
objects
that
indicated
a
quite
beaver-like
industry
in
the
production
of
"
work
.
"
There
were
embroidered
covers
for
nearly
every
article
on
the
wash-hand-stand
,
and
mats
of
wool
and
crochet
wherever
anything
stood
on
anything
;
there
were
"
tidies
"
everywhere
,
and
odd
little
brackets
covered
with
gilded
and
varnished
fir
cones
and
bearing
framed
photographs
and
little
jars
and
all
sorts
of
colourless
,
dusty
little
objects
,
and
everywhere
on
the
walls
tacks
sustained
crossed
fans
with
badly
painted
flowers
or
transfer
pictures
.
There
was
a
jar
on
the
bedroom
mantel
covered
with
varnished
postage
stamps
and
containing
grey-haired
dried
grasses
.
There
seemed
to
be
a
moral
element
in
all
this
,
for
in
the
room
Sydney
shared
with
Rom
there
was
a
decorative
piece
of
lettering
which
declared
that
—
"
Something
attempted
,
something
done
,
Has
earned
a
night
's
repose
.
"
There
were
a
great
number
of
texts
that
set
Marjorie
's
mind
stirring
dimly
with
intimations
of
a
missed
significance
.
Over
her
own
bed
,
within
the
lattice
of
an
Oxford
frame
,
was
the
photograph
of
a
picture
of
an
extremely
composed
young
woman
in
a
trailing
robe
,
clinging
to
the
Rock
of
Ages
in
the
midst
of
histrionically
aggressive
waves
,
and
she
had
a
feeling
,
rather
than
a
thought
,
that
perhaps
for
all
the
oddity
of
the
presentation
it
did
convey
something
acutely
desirable
,
that
she
herself
had
had
moods
when
she
would
have
found
something
very
comforting
in
just
such
an
impassioned
grip
.
And
on
a
framed
,
floriferous
card
,
these
incomprehensible
words
:
Thy
Grace
is
Sufficient
for
Me
.
seemed
to
be
saying
something
to
her
tantalizingly
just
outside
her
range
of
apprehension
.
Did
all
these
things
light
up
somehow
to
those
dispossessed
people
—
from
some
angle
she
did
n't
attain
?
Were
they
living
and
moving
realities
when
those
others
were
at
home
again
?
The
drawing-room
had
no
texts
;
it
was
altogether
more
pretentious
and
less
haunted
by
the
faint
and
faded
flavour
of
religion
that
pervaded
the
bedrooms
.
It
had
,
however
,
evidences
of
travel
in
Switzerland
and
the
Mediterranean
.
There
was
a
piano
in
black
and
gold
,
a
little
out
of
tune
,
and
surmounted
by
a
Benares
brass
jar
,
enveloping
a
scarlet
geranium
in
a
pot
.
There
was
a
Japanese
screen
of
gold
wrought
upon
black
,
that
screened
nothing
.
There
was
a
framed
chromo-lithograph
of
Jerusalem
hot
in
the
sunset
,
and
another
of
Jerusalem
cold
under
a
sub-tropical
moon
,
and
there
were
gourds
,
roses
of
Jericho
,
sandalwood
rosaries
and
kindred
trash
from
the
Holy
Land
in
no
little
profusion
upon
a
what-not
.
Such
books
as
the
room
had
contained
had
been
arranged
as
symmetrically
as
possible
about
a
large
,
pink-shaded
lamp
upon
the
claret-coloured
cloth
of
a
round
table
,
and
were
to
be
replaced
,
Mrs.
Pope
said
,
at
their
departure
.
At
present
they
were
piled
on
a
side-table
.
The
girls
had
been
through
them
all
,
and
were
ready
with
the
choicer
morsels
for
Marjorie
's
amusement
.
There
was
"
Black
Beauty
,
"
the
sympathetic
story
of
a
soundly
Anglican
horse
,
and
a
large
Bible
extra-illustrated
with
photographs
of
every
well-known
scriptural
picture
from
Michael
Angelo
to
Doré
,
and
a
book
of
injunctions
to
young
ladies
upon
their
behaviour
and
deportment
that
Rom
and
Sydney
found
particularly
entertaining
.
Marjorie
discovered
that
Sydney
had
picked
up
a
new
favourite
phrase
.
"
I
'm
afraid
we
're
all
dreadfully
cynical
,
"
said
Sydney
,
several
times
.
A
more
advanced
note
was
struck
by
a
copy
of
"
Aurora
Leigh
,
"
richly
underlined
in
pencil
,
but
with
exclamation
marks
at
some
of
the
bolder
passages
...
.
And
presently
,
still
avoiding
the
open
study
window
very
elaborately
,
this
little
group
of
twentieth
century
people
went
again
into
the
church
—
the
church
whose
foundations
were
laid
in
A.D.
912
—
foundations
of
rubble
and
cement
that
included
flat
Roman
bricks
from
a
still
remoter
basilica
.
Their
voices
dropped
instinctively
,
as
they
came
into
its
shaded
quiet
from
the
exterior
sunshine
.
Marjorie
went
a
little
apart
and
sat
in
a
pew
that
gave
her
a
glimpse
of
the
one
good
stained-glass
window
.
Rom
followed
her
,
and
perceiving
her
mood
to
be
restful
,
sat
a
yard
away
.
Syd
began
a
whispered
dispute
with
her
mother
whether
it
was
n't
possible
to
try
the
organ
,
and
whether
Theodore
might
not
be
bribed
to
blow
.
Daffy
discovered
relics
of
a
lepers
'
squint
and
a
holy-water
stoup
,
and
then
went
to
scrutinize
the
lettering
of
the
ten
commandments
of
the
Mosaic
law
that
shone
black
and
red
on
gold
on
either
side
of
the
I.H.S.
monogram
behind
the
white-clothed
communion
table
that
had
once
been
the
altar
.
Upon
a
notice
board
hung
about
the
waist
of
the
portly
pulpit
were
the
numbers
of
hymns
that
had
been
sung
three
days
ago
.
The
sound
Protestantism
of
the
vicar
had
banished
superfluous
crosses
from
the
building
;
the
Bible
reposed
upon
the
wings
of
a
great
brass
eagle
;
shining
blue
and
crimson
in
the
window
,
Saint
Christopher
carried
his
Lord
.
What
a
harmonized
synthesis
of
conflicts
a
country
church
presents
!
What
invisible
mysteries
of
filiation
spread
between
these
ancient
ornaments
and
symbols
and
the
new
young
minds
from
the
whirlpool
of
the
town
that
looked
upon
them
now
with
such
bright
,
keen
eyes
,
wondering
a
little
,
feeling
a
little
,
missing
so
much
?
It
was
all
so
very
cool
and
quiet
now
—
with
something
of
the
immobile
serenity
of
death
.
When
Mr.
Pope
had
finished
his
letter
to
the
Times
,
he
got
out
of
the
window
of
the
study
,
treading
on
a
flower-bed
as
he
did
so
—
he
was
the
sort
of
man
who
treads
on
flower-beds
—
partly
with
the
purpose
of
reading
his
composition
aloud
to
as
many
members
of
his
family
as
he
could
assemble
for
the
purpose
,
and
so
giving
them
a
chance
of
appreciating
the
nuances
of
his
irony
more
fully
than
if
they
saw
it
just
in
cold
print
without
the
advantage
of
his
intonation
,
and
partly
with
the
belated
idea
of
welcoming
Marjorie
.
The
law
presented
a
rather
discouraging
desolation
.
Then
he
became
aware
that
the
church
tower
frothed
with
his
daughters
.
In
view
of
his
need
of
an
audience
,
he
decided
after
a
brief
doubt
that
their
presence
there
was
unobjectionable
,
and
waved
his
MS.
amiably
.
Marjorie
flapped
a
handkerchief
in
reply
...
.
The
subsequent
hour
was
just
the
sort
of
hour
that
gave
Mr.
Pope
an
almost
meteorological
importance
to
his
family
.
He
began
with
an
amiability
that
had
no
fault
,
except
,
perhaps
,
that
it
was
a
little
forced
after
the
epistolary
strain
in
the
study
,
and
his
welcome
to
Marjorie
was
more
than
cordial
.
"
Well
,
little
Madge-cat
!
"
he
said
,
giving
her
an
affectionate
but
sound
and
heavy
thump
on
the
left
shoulder-blade
,
"
got
a
kiss
for
the
old
daddy
?
"
Marjorie
submitted
a
cheek
.
"
That
's
right
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
;
"
and
now
I
just
want
you
all
to
advise
me
—
—
"
He
led
the
way
to
a
group
of
wicker
garden
chairs
.
"
You
're
coming
,
mummy
?
"
he
said
,
and
seated
himself
comfortably
and
drew
out
a
spectacle
case
,
while
his
family
grouped
itself
dutifully
.
It
made
a
charming
little
picture
of
a
Man
and
his
Womankind
.
"
I
do
n't
often
flatter
myself
,
"
he
said
,
"
but
this
time
I
think
I
've
been
neat
—
neat
's
the
word
for
it
.
"
He
cleared
his
throat
,
put
on
his
spectacles
,
and
emitted
a
long
,
flat
preliminary
note
,
rather
like
the
sound
of
a
child
's
trumpet
.
"
Er
—
'
Dear
Sir
!
'
"
"
Rom
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
,
"
do
n't
creak
your
chair
.
"
"
It
's
Daffy
,
mother
,
"
said
Rom.
"
Oh
,
Rom
!
"
said
Daffy
.
Mr.
Pope
paused
,
and
looked
with
a
warning
eye
over
his
left
spectacle-glass
at
Rom.
"
Do
n't
creak
your
chair
,
Rom
,
"
he
said
,
"
when
your
mother
tells
you
.
"
"
I
was
not
creaking
my
chair
,
"
said
Rom.
"
I
heard
it
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
,
suavely
.
"
It
was
Daffy
.
"
"
Your
mother
does
not
think
so
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
.
"
Oh
,
all
right
!
I
'll
sit
on
the
ground
,
"
said
Rom
,
crimson
to
the
roots
of
her
hair
.
"
Me
too
,
"
said
Daffy
.
"
I
'd
rather
.
"
Mr.
Pope
watched
the
transfer
gravely
.
Then
he
readjusted
his
glasses
,
cleared
his
throat
again
,
trumpeted
,
and
began
.
"
Er
—
'
Dear
Sir
,
'
"
"
Ought
n't
it
to
be
simply
'
Sir
,
'
father
,
for
an
editor
?
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
Perhaps
I
did
n't
explain
,
Marjorie
,
"
said
her
father
,
with
the
calm
of
great
self-restraint
,
and
dabbing
his
left
hand
on
the
manuscript
in
his
right
,
"
that
this
is
a
private
letter
—
a
private
letter
.
"
"
I
did
n't
understand
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
It
would
have
been
evident
as
I
went
on
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
,
and
prepared
to
read
again
.
This
time
he
was
allowed
to
proceed
,
but
the
interruptions
had
ruffled
him
,
and
the
gentle
stresses
that
should
have
lifted
the
subtleties
of
his
irony
into
prominence
missed
the
words
,
and
he
had
to
go
back
and
do
his
sentences
again
.
Then
Rom
suddenly
,
horribly
,
uncontrollably
,
was
seized
with
hiccups
.
At
the
second
hiccup
Mr.
Pope
paused
,
and
looked
very
hard
at
his
daughter
with
magnified
eyes
;
as
he
was
about
to
resume
,
the
third
burst
its
way
through
the
unhappy
child
's
utmost
effort
.
Mr.
Pope
rose
with
an
awful
resignation
.
"
That
's
enough
,
"
he
said
.
He
regarded
the
pseudo-twin
vindictively
.
"
You
have
n't
the
self-control
of
a
child
of
six
,
"
he
said
.
Then
very
touchingly
to
Mrs.
Pope
:
"
Mummy
,
shall
we
try
a
game
of
tennis
with
the
New
Generation
?
"
"
Ca
n't
you
read
it
after
supper
?
"
asked
Mrs.
Pope
.
"
It
must
go
by
the
eight
o'clock
post
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
,
putting
the
masterpiece
into
his
breast
pocket
,
the
little
masterpiece
that
would
now
perhaps
never
be
read
aloud
to
any
human
being
.
"
Daffy
,
dear
,
do
you
mind
going
in
for
the
racquets
and
balls
?
"
The
social
atmosphere
was
now
sultry
,
and
overcast
,
and
Mr.
Pope
's
decision
to
spend
the
interval
before
Daffy
returned
in
seeing
whether
he
could
n't
do
something
to
the
net
,
which
was
certainly
very
unsatisfactory
,
did
not
improve
matters
.
Then
,
unhappily
,
Marjorie
,
who
had
got
rather
keen
upon
tennis
at
the
Carmels
'
,
claimed
her
father
's
first
two
services
as
faults
,
contrary
to
the
etiquette
of
the
family
.
It
happened
that
Mr.
Pope
had
a
really
very
good
,
hard
,
difficult
,
smart-looking
serve
,
whose
only
defect
was
that
it
always
went
either
too
far
or
else
into
the
net
,
and
so
a
feeling
had
been
fostered
and
established
by
his
wife
that
,
on
the
whole
,
it
was
advisable
to
regard
the
former
variety
as
a
legitimate
extension
of
a
father
's
authority
.
Naturally
,
therefore
,
Mr.
Pope
was
nettled
at
Marjorie
's
ruling
,
and
his
irritation
increased
when
his
next
two
services
to
Daffy
perished
in
the
net
.
(
"
Damn
that
net
!
Puts
one
's
eye
out
.
"
)
Then
Marjorie
gave
him
an
unexpected
soft
return
which
he
somehow
muffed
,
and
then
Daffy
just
dropped
a
return
over
the
top
of
the
net
.
(
Love-game
.
)
It
was
then
Marjorie
's
turn
to
serve
,
which
she
did
with
a
new
twist
acquired
from
the
eldest
Carmel
boy
that
struck
Mr.
Pope
as
un-English
.
"
Go
on
,
"
he
said
concisely
.
"
Fifteen
love
.
"
She
was
gentle
with
her
mother
and
they
got
their
first
rally
,
and
when
it
was
over
Mr.
Pope
had
to
explain
to
Marjorie
that
if
she
returned
right
up
into
his
corner
of
the
court
he
would
have
to
run
backwards
very
fast
and
might
fall
over
down
the
silly
slope
at
that
end
.
She
would
have
to
consider
him
and
the
court
.
One
did
n't
get
everything
out
of
a
game
by
playing
merely
to
win
.
She
said
"
All
right
,
Daddy
,
"
rather
off-handedly
,
and
immediately
served
to
him
again
,
and
he
,
taken
a
little
unawares
,
hit
the
ball
with
the
edge
of
his
racquet
and
sent
it
out
,
and
then
he
changed
racquets
with
Daffy
—
it
seemed
he
had
known
all
along
she
had
taken
his
,
but
he
had
preferred
to
say
nothing
—
uttered
a
word
of
advice
to
his
wife
just
on
her
stroke
,
and
she
,
failing
to
grasp
his
intention
as
quickly
as
she
ought
to
have
done
,
left
the
score
forty-fifteen
.
He
felt
better
when
he
returned
Marjorie
's
serve
,
and
then
before
she
could
control
herself
she
repeated
her
new
unpleasant
trick
of
playing
into
the
corner
again
,
whereupon
,
leaping
back
with
an
agility
that
would
have
shamed
many
a
younger
man
,
Mr.
Pope
came
upon
disaster
.
He
went
spinning
down
the
treacherous
slope
behind
,
twisted
his
ankle
painfully
and
collapsed
against
the
iron
railings
of
the
shrubbery
.
It
was
too
much
,
and
he
lost
control
of
himself
.
His
daughters
had
one
instant
's
glimpse
of
the
linguistic
possibilities
of
a
strong
man
's
agony
.
"
I
told
her
,
"
he
went
on
as
if
he
had
said
nothing
.
"
Tennis
!
"
For
a
second
perhaps
he
seemed
to
hesitate
upon
a
course
of
action
.
Then
as
if
by
a
great
effort
he
took
his
coat
from
the
net
post
and
addressed
himself
houseward
,
incarnate
Grand
Dudgeon
—
limping
.
"
Had
enough
of
it
,
Mummy
,
"
he
said
,
and
added
some
happily
inaudible
comment
on
Marjorie
's
new
style
of
play
.
The
evening
's
exercise
was
at
an
end
.
The
three
ladies
regarded
one
another
in
silence
for
some
moments
.
"
I
will
take
in
the
racquets
,
dear
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
.
"
I
think
the
other
ball
is
at
your
end
,
"
said
Daffy
...
.
The
apparatus
put
away
,
Marjorie
and
her
sister
strolled
thoughtfully
away
from
the
house
.
"
There
's
croquet
here
too
,
"
said
Daffy
.
"
We
've
not
had
the
things
out
yet
!
"
...
.
"
He
'll
play
,
I
suppose
.
"
"
He
wants
to
play
.
"
...
"
Of
course
,
"
said
Marjorie
after
a
long
pause
,
"
there
's
no
reasoning
with
Dad
!
"
Character
is
one
of
England
's
noblest
and
most
deliberate
products
,
but
some
Englishmen
have
it
to
excess
.
Mr.
Pope
had
.
He
was
one
of
that
large
and
representative
class
which
imparts
a
dignity
to
national
commerce
by
inheriting
big
businesses
from
its
ancestors
.
He
was
a
coach-builder
by
birth
,
and
a
gentleman
by
education
and
training
.
He
had
been
to
City
Merchant
's
and
Cambridge
.
Throughout
the
earlier
half
of
the
nineteenth
century
the
Popes
had
been
the
princes
of
the
coach-building
world
.
Mr.
Pope
's
great-grandfather
had
been
a
North
London
wheelwright
of
conspicuous
dexterity
and
integrity
,
who
had
founded
the
family
business
;
his
son
,
Mr.
Pope
's
grandfather
,
had
made
that
business
the
occupation
of
his
life
and
brought
it
to
the
pinnacle
of
pre-eminence
;
his
son
,
who
was
Marjorie
's
grandfather
,
had
displayed
a
lesser
enthusiasm
,
left
the
house
at
the
works
for
a
home
ten
miles
away
and
sent
a
second
son
into
the
Church
.
It
was
in
the
days
of
the
third
Pope
that
the
business
ceased
to
expand
,
and
began
to
suffer
severely
from
the
competition
of
an
enterprising
person
who
had
originally
supplied
the
firm
with
varnish
,
gradually
picked
up
the
trade
in
most
other
materials
and
accessories
needed
in
coach-building
,
and
passed
on
by
almost
imperceptible
stages
to
delivering
the
article
complete
—
dispensing
at
last
altogether
with
the
intervention
of
Pope
and
Son
—
to
the
customer
.
Marjorie
's
father
had
succeeded
in
the
fulness
of
time
to
the
inheritance
this
insurgent
had
damaged
.
Mr.
Pope
was
a
man
of
firm
and
resentful
temper
,
with
an
admiration
for
Cato
,
Brutus
,
Cincinnatus
,
Cromwell
,
Washington
,
and
the
sterner
heroes
generally
,
and
by
nature
a
little
ill-used
and
offended
at
things
.
He
suffered
from
indigestion
and
extreme
irritability
.
He
found
himself
in
control
of
a
business
where
more
flexible
virtues
were
needed
.
The
Popes
based
their
fame
on
a
heavy
,
proud
type
of
vehicle
,
which
the
increasing
luxury
and
triviality
of
the
age
tended
to
replace
by
lighter
forms
of
carriage
,
carriages
with
diminutive
and
apologetic
names
.
As
these
lighter
forms
were
not
only
lighter
but
less
expensive
,
Mr.
Pope
with
a
pathetic
confidence
in
the
loyalty
of
the
better
class
of
West
End
customer
,
determined
to
"
make
a
stand
"
against
them
.
He
was
the
sort
of
man
to
whom
making
a
stand
is
in
itself
a
sombre
joy
.
If
he
had
had
to
choose
his
pose
for
a
portrait
,
he
would
certainly
have
decided
to
have
one
foot
advanced
,
the
other
planted
like
a
British
oak
behind
,
the
arms
folded
and
the
brows
corrugated
,
—
making
a
stand
.
Unhappily
the
stars
in
their
courses
and
the
general
improvement
of
roads
throughout
the
country
fought
against
him
.
The
lighter
carriages
,
and
especially
the
lighter
carriages
of
that
varnish-selling
firm
,
which
was
now
absorbing
businesses
right
and
left
,
prevailed
over
Mr.
Pope
's
resistance
.
For
crossing
a
mountain
pass
or
fording
a
river
,
for
driving
over
the
scene
of
a
recent
earthquake
or
following
a
retreating
army
,
for
being
run
away
with
by
frantic
horses
or
crushing
a
personal
enemy
,
there
can
be
no
doubt
the
Pope
carriages
remained
to
the
very
last
the
best
possible
ones
and
fully
worth
the
inflexible
price
demanded
.
Unhappily
all
carriages
in
a
civilization
essentially
decadent
are
not
subjected
to
these
tests
,
and
the
manufactures
of
his
rivals
were
not
only
much
cheaper
,
but
had
a
sort
of
meretricious
smartness
,
a
disingenuous
elasticity
,
above
all
a
levity
,
hateful
indeed
to
the
spirit
of
Mr.
Pope
yet
attractive
to
the
wanton
customer
.
Business
dwindled
.
Nevertheless
the
habitual
element
in
the
good
class
customer
did
keep
things
going
,
albeit
on
a
shrinking
scale
,
until
Mr.
Pope
came
to
the
unfortunate
decision
that
he
would
make
a
stand
against
automobiles
.
He
regarded
them
as
an
intrusive
nuisance
which
had
to
be
seen
only
to
be
disowned
by
the
landed
gentry
of
England
.
Rather
than
build
a
car
he
said
he
would
go
out
of
business
.
He
went
out
of
business
.
Within
five
years
of
this
determination
he
sold
out
the
name
,
good
will
,
and
other
vestiges
of
his
concern
to
a
mysterious
buyer
who
turned
out
to
be
no
more
than
an
agent
for
these
persistently
expanding
varnish
makers
,
and
he
retired
with
a
genuine
grievance
upon
the
family
accumulations
—
chiefly
in
Consols
and
Home
Railways
.
He
refused
however
to
regard
his
defeat
as
final
,
put
great
faith
in
the
approaching
exhaustion
of
the
petrol
supply
,
and
talked
in
a
manner
that
should
have
made
the
Automobile
Association
uneasy
,
of
devoting
the
rest
of
his
days
to
the
purification
of
England
from
these
aggressive
mechanisms
.
"
It
was
a
mistake
,
"
he
said
,
"
to
let
them
in
.
"
He
became
more
frequent
at
his
excellent
West
End
club
,
and
directed
a
certain
portion
of
his
capital
to
largely
indecisive
but
on
the
whole
unprofitable
speculations
in
South
African
and
South
American
enterprises
.
He
mingled
a
little
in
affairs
.
He
was
a
tough
conventional
speaker
,
rich
in
established
phrases
and
never
abashed
by
hearing
himself
say
commonplace
things
,
and
in
addition
to
his
campaign
against
automobiles
he
found
time
to
engage
also
in
quasi-political
activities
,
taking
chairs
,
saying
a
few
words
and
so
on
,
cherishing
a
fluctuating
hope
that
his
eloquence
might
ultimately
win
him
an
invitation
to
contest
a
constituency
in
the
interests
of
reaction
and
the
sounder
elements
in
the
Liberal
party
.
He
had
a
public-spirited
side
,
and
he
was
particularly
attracted
by
that
mass
of
modern
legislative
proposals
which
aims
at
a
more
systematic
control
of
the
lives
of
lower
class
persons
for
their
own
good
by
their
betters
.
