|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 73
"Surely it is Ducie. It is growing dark. We must go home, Ducie. Eh?
What?"
"William, try and understand what I say. You will go the happier to
heaven for my words." And, as they grew slowly into the squire's
apprehension, a look of amazement, of gratitude, of intense
satisfaction, transfigured the clay for the last time. It seemed as if
the departing soul stood still to listen. He was perfectly quiet until
she ceased speaking; then, in a strange, unearthly tone, he uttered one
word, "Happy." It was the last word that ever parted his lips. Between
shores he lingered until the next daybreak, and then the loving
watchers saw that the pallid wintry light fell on the dead. How peaceful
was the large, worn face! How tranquil! How distant from them! How
grandly, how terribly indifferent! To Squire William Sandal, all the
noisy, sorrowful controversies of earth had grown suddenly silent.
The reading of the squire's will made public the real condition of
affairs. Julius had spoken with the lawyer previously, and made clear to
him his right in equity to stand in the heir's place. But the squires
and statesmen of the Dales heard the substitution with muttered
dissents, or in a silence still more emphatic of disapproval. Ducie and
Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte were shocked and astounded at the revelation,
and there was not a family in Sandal-Side who had that night a good word
for Julius Sandal. He thought it very hard, and said so. He had not
forced Harry in any way. He had taken no advantage of him. Harry was
quite satisfied with the exchange, and what had other people to do with
his affairs? He did not care for their opinion. "That for it!" and he
snapped his fingers defiantly to every point of the compass. But, all
the same, he walked the floor of the east rooms nearly all night, and
kept Sophia awake to listen to his complaints.
Sophia was fretful and sleepy, and not as sympathetic with "the soul
that halved her own," as centuries of fellow-feeling might have claimed;
but she had her special worries. She perceived, even thus early, that as
long as the late squire's widow was in the Seat, her own authority would
be imperfect. "Of course, she did not wish to hurry her mother; but she
would feel, in her place, how much more comfortable for all a change
would be. And mother had her dower-house in the village; a very
comfortable home, quite large enough for Charlotte and herself and a
couple of maids, which was certainly all they needed."
Where did such thoughts and feelings spring from? Were they lying
dormant in her heart that summer when the squire drove home his harvest,
and her mother went joyfully up and down the sunny old rooms, always
devising something for her girls' comfort or pleasures? In those days
how proud Sophia had been of her father and mother! What indignation she
would have felt had one suggested that the time was coming when she
would be glad to see a stranger in her father's place, and feel
impatient to say to her mother, "Step down lower; I would be mistress in
your room"! Alas! there are depths in the human heart we fear to look
into; for we know that often all that is necessary to assuage a great
grief, or obliterate a great loss, is the inheritance of a fine mansion,
or a little money, or a few jewels, or even a rich garment. And as soon
as the squire was in his grave, Julius and Sophia began to discuss the
plans which only a very shallow shame had made them reticent about
before.
Indeed, it soon became necessary for others, also, to discuss the
future. People soon grow unwelcome in a house that is not their own; and
the new squire of Sandal-Side was eager to so renovate and change the
place that it would cease to remind him of his immediate predecessors.
The Sandals of past centuries were welcome, they gave dignity to his
claims; but the last squire, and his son Harry Sandal, only reminded him
of circumstances he felt it more comfortable to forget. So, during the
long, dreary days of midwinter, he and Sophia occupied themselves very
pleasantly in selecting styles of furniture, and colors of draperies,
and in arranging for a full suite of Oriental rooms, which were to
perpetuate in pottery and lacquerware, Indian bronzes and mattings,
Chinese screens and cabinets, the Anglo-Indian possessor of the old
Cumberland estate.
Even pending these alterations, others were in progress. Every family
arrangement was changed in some respect. The hour for breakfast had been
fixed at what Julius called a civilized time. This, of course, delayed
every other meal; yet the servants, who had grumbled at over-work under
the old authority, had not a complaint to make under the new. For the
present master and mistress of Sandal were not people who cared for
complaints. "If you can do the work, Ann, you may stay," said Sophia to
the dissatisfied cook; "if not, the squire will pay you your due wages.
He has a friend in London whose cook would like a situation in the
country." After which explanation Ann behaved herself admirably, and
never found her work hard, though dinner was two hours later, and the
supper dishes were not sent in until eleven o'clock.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|