|
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 78
"None of my neighbors can say wrong of me. I have always done my duty
to them. I have paid every one what I owe"--
"Not enough, squire; not enough. Follow on, as Hosea says, to love them.
Don't always give them the white, and keep the yolk for yourself. You
know your duty. Haste you back home, then, and do it."
"I will not be put off in such a way, sir. You must interfere in this
matter: make these silly women behave themselves. I cannot have the
whole country-side talking of my affairs."
"Me interfere! No, no! I am not in your livery, squire; and I won't
fight your quarrels. Sir, my time is engaged."
"I have a right"--
"My time is engaged. It is my hour for reading the Evening Service. Stay
and hear it, if you desire. But it is a bad neighborhood, where a man
can't say his prayers quietly." And he stood up, walked slowly to his
reading-desk, and began to turn the leaves of the Book of Common Prayer.
Then Julius went out in a passion, and the rector muttered, "The Devil
may quote Scripture, but he does not like to hear it read. Come,
Charlotte, let us thank God, thank him twice, nay, thrice, not alone
for the faith of Christ Jesus, but also for the legacy of Christ Jesus.
Oh, child, amid earth's weary restlessness and noisy quarrels, how rich
a legacy,"--
"'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.'"
CHAPTER XI.
SANDAL AND SANDAL.
"Time will discover every thing; it is a babbler, and speaks even
when no question is put."
"Run, spindles! Run, and weave the threads of doom."
Next morning very early, Stephen had a letter from Charlotte. He was
sitting at breakfast with Ducie when the rector's boy brought it; and it
came, as great events generally come, without any premonition or
heralding circumstance. Ducie was pouring out coffee; and she went on
with her employment, thinking, not of the letter Stephen was opening,
but of the malt, and of the condition of the brewing-boiler. An angry
exclamation from Stephen made her lift her eyes to his face. "My word,
Stephen, you are put out! What's to do?"
"Julius has turned Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte from house and home,
yesterday afternoon. They are at the rectory. I am going, mother."
"Stop a moment, Steve. This is now my affair."
Stephen looked at his mother with amazement. Her countenance, her voice,
her whole manner, had suddenly changed. An expression of angry purpose
was in her wide-open eyes and firm mouth, as she asked, "Can you or
Jamie, or any of the men, drive me to Kendal?"
"To-day?"
"I want to leave within an hour."
"The rain down-pours; and it is like to be worse yet, if the wind does
not change."
"If it were ten times worse, I must to Kendal. I am much to blame that I
have let weather stop me so far and so long. While Dame Nature was busy
about her affairs, I should have been minding mine. Deary me, deary me!"
"If you are for Kendal, then I will drive. The cart-road down the fell
is too bad to trust you with any one but myself. Can we stop a moment at
the rectory on our road?"
"We can stop a goodish bit. I have a deal to say to the parson. Have the
tax-cart ready in half an hour; for there will be no betterness in the
weather until the moon--God bless her!--is full round; and things are
past waiting for now."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|