E-text prepared by Kenneth David Cooperand revised by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.
DOCTOR THORNE
by
Anthony Trollope
First published in 1858
CONTENTS
I. The Greshams of Greshamsbury II. Long, Long Ago III. Dr Thorne IV. Lessons from Courcy Castle V. Frank Gresham's First Speech VI. Frank Gresham's Early Loves VII. The Doctor's Garden VIII. Matrimonial Prospects IX. Sir Roger Scatcherd X. Sir Roger's Will XI. The Doctor Drinks His Tea XII. When Greek Meets Greek, Then Comes the Tug of War XIII. The Two Uncles XIV. Sentence of Exile XV. Courcy XVI. Miss Dunstable XVII. The Election XVIII. The Rivals XIX. The Duke of Omnium XX. The Proposal XXI. Mr Moffat Falls into Trouble XXII. Sir Roger Is Unseated XXII. Retrospective XXIV. Louis Scatcherd XXV. Sir Roger Dies XXVI. War XXVII. Miss Thorne Goes on a Visit XXVIII. The Doctor Hears Something to His Advantage XXIX. The Donkey Ride XXX. Post Prandial XXXI. The Small End of the Wedge XXXII. Mr Oriel XXXIII. A Morning Visit XXXIV. A Barouche and Four Arrives at Greshamsbury XXXV. Sir Louis Goes Out to Dinner XXXVI. Will He Come Again? XXXVII. Sir Louis Leaves Greshamsbury XXXVIII. De Courcy Precepts and de Courcy Practice XXXIX. What the World Says about Blood XL. The Two Doctors Change Patients XLI. Doctor Thorne Won't Interfere XLII. What Can You Give in Return? XLIII. The Race of Scatcherd Becomes Extinct XLIV. Saturday Evening and Sunday Morning XLV. Law Business in London XLVI. Our Pet Fox Finds a Tail XLVII. How the Bride Was Received, and Who Were Asked to the Wedding
CHAPTER I
The Greshams of Greshamsbury
Before the reader is introduced to the modest country medicalpractitioner who is to be the chief personage of the followingtale, it will be well that he should be made acquainted with someparticulars as to the locality in which, and the neighbours amongwhom, our doctor followed his profession.
There is a county in the west of England not so full of life, indeed,nor so widely spoken of as some of its manufacturing leviathanbrethren in the north, but which is, nevertheless, very dear to thosewho know it well. Its green pastures, its waving wheat, its deepand shady and--let us add--dirty lanes, its paths and stiles, itstawny-coloured, well-built rural churches, its avenues of beeches,and frequent Tudor mansions, its constant county hunt, its socialgraces, and the general air of clanship which pervades it, has madeit to its own inhabitants a favoured land of Goshen. It is purelyagricultural; agricultural in its produce, agricultural in its poor,and agricultural in its pleasures. There are towns in it, of course;depots from whence are brought seeds and groceries, ribbons andfire-shovels; in which markets are held and county balls are carriedon which return members to Parliament, generally--in spite of ReformBills, past, present, and coming--in accordance with the dictatesof some neighbouring land magnate: from whence emanate the countrypostmen, and where is located the supply of post-horses necessaryfor county visitings. But these towns add nothing to the importanceof the county; they consist, with the exception of the assize town,of dull, all but death-like single streets. Each possesses twopumps, three hotels, ten shops, fifteen beer-houses, a beadle, and amarket-place.
Indeed, the town population of the county reckons for nothing whenthe importance of the county is discussed, with the exception, asbefore said, of the assize town, which is also a cathedral city.Herein is a clerical aristocracy, which is certainly not without itsdue weight. A resident bishop, a resident dean, an archdeacon, threeor four resident prebendaries, and all their numerous chaplains,vicars, and ecclesiastical satellites, do make up a societysufficiently powerful to be counted as something by the countysquirearchy. In other respects the greatness of Barsetshire dependswholly on the landed powers.
Barsetshire, however, is not now so essentially one whole as it wasbefore the Reform Bill divided it. There is in these days an EastBarsetshire, and there is a West Barsetshire; and people conversantwith Barsetshire doings declare that they can already decipher somedifference of feeling, some division of interests. The eastern moietyof the county is more purely Conservative than the western; thereis, or was, a taint of Peelism in the latter; and then, too, theresidence of two such great Whig magnates as the Duke of Omnium andthe Earl de Courcy in that locality in some degree overshadows andrenders less influential the gentlemen who live near them.
It is to East Barsetshire that we are called. When the division abovespoken of was first contemplated, in those stormy days in whichgallant men were still combatting reform ministers, if not with hope,still with spirit, the battle was fought by none more bravely thanby John Newbold Gresham of Greshamsbury, the member for Barsetshire.Fate, however, and the Duke of Wellington were adverse, and in thefollowing Parliament John Newbold Gresham was only member for EastBarsetshire.
Whether or not it was true, as stated at the time, that the aspect ofthe men with whom he was called on to associate at St Stephen's brokehis heart, it is not for us now to inquire. It is certainly true thathe did not live to see the first year of the reformed Parliamentbrought to a close. The then Mr Gresham was not an old man at thetime of his death, and his eldest son, Francis Newbold Gresham, was avery young man; but, notwithstanding his youth, and notwithstandingother grounds of objection which stood in the way of such preferment,and which must be explained, he was chosen in his father's place.The father's services had been too recent, too well appreciated, toothoroughly in unison with the feelings of those around him to allowof any other choice; and in this way young Frank Gresham foundhimself member for East Barsetshire, although the very men whoelected him knew that they had but slender ground for trusting himwith their suffrages.
Frank Gresham, though then only twenty-four years of age, was amarried man, and a father. He had already chosen a wife, and byhis choice had given much ground of distrust to the men of EastBarsetshire. He had married no other than Lady Arabella de Courcy,the sister of the great Whig earl who lived at Courcy Castle in thewest; that earl who not only voted for the Reform Bill, but had beeninfamously active in bringing over other young peers so to vote,and whose name therefore stank in the nostrils of the staunch Torysquires of the county.
Not only had Frank Gresham so wedded, but having thus improperly andunpatriotically chosen a wife, he had added to his sins by becomingrecklessly intimate with his wife's relations. It is true that hestill called himself a Tory, belonged to the club of which his fatherhad been one of the most honoured members, and in the days of thegreat battle got his head broken in a row, on the right side; but,nevertheless, it was felt by the good men, true and blue, of EastBarsetshire, that a constant sojourner at Courcy Castle could not beregarded as a consistent Tory. When, however, his father died, thatbroken head served him in good stead: his sufferings in the causewere made the most of; these, in unison with his father's merits,turned the scale, and it was accordingly decided, at a meeting heldat the George and Dragon, at Barchester, that Frank Gresham shouldfill his father's shoes.
But Frank Gresham could not fill his father's shoes; they were toobig for him. He did become member for East Barsetshire, but he wassuch a member--so lukewarm, so indifferent, so prone to associatewith the enemies of the good cause, so little willing to fight thegood fight, that he soon disgusted those who most dearly loved thememory of the old squire.
De Courcy Castle in those days had great allurements for a young man,and all those allurements were made the most of to win over youngGresham. His wife, who was a year or two older than himself, was afashionable woman, with thorough Whig tastes and aspirations, suchas became the daughter of a great Whig earl; she cared for politics,or thought that she ca
red for them, more than her husband did; fora month or two previous to her engagement she had been attached tothe Court, and had been made to believe that much of the policy ofEngland's rulers depended on the political intrigues of England'swomen. She was one who would fain be doing something if she onlyknew how, and the first important attempt she made was to turn herrespectable young Tory husband into a second-rate Whig bantling. Asthis lady's character will, it is hoped, show itself in the followingpages, we need not now describe it more closely.
It is not a bad thing to be son-in-law to a potent earl, member ofParliament for a county, and a possessor of a fine old English seat,and a fine old English fortune. As a very young man, Frank Greshamfound the life to which he was thus introduced agreeable enough. Heconsoled himself as best he might for the blue looks with which hewas greeted by his own party, and took his revenge by consorting morethoroughly than ever with his political adversaries. Foolishly, likea foolish moth, he flew to the bright light, and, like the moths,of course he burnt his wings. Early in 1833 he had become a memberof Parliament, and in the autumn of 1834 the dissolution came.Young members of three or four-and-twenty do not think much ofdissolutions, forget the fancies of their constituents, and are tooproud of the present to calculate much as to the future. So it waswith Mr Gresham. His father had been member for Barsetshire all hislife, and he looked forward to similar prosperity as though it werepart of his inheritance; but he failed to take any of the steps whichhad secured his father's seat.
In the autumn of 1834 the dissolution came, and Frank Gresham, withhis honourable lady wife and all the de Courcys at his back, foundthat he had mortally offended the county. To his great disgustanother candidate was brought forward as a fellow to his latecolleague, and though he manfully fought the battle, and spent tenthousand pounds in the contest, he could not recover his position. Ahigh Tory, with a great Whig interest to back him, is never a popularperson in England. No one can trust him, though there may be thosewho are willing to place him, untrusted, in high positions. Suchwas the case with Mr Gresham. There were many who were willing, forfamily considerations, to keep him in Parliament; but no one thoughtthat he was fit to be there. The consequences were, that a bitterand expensive contest ensued. Frank Gresham, when twitted with beinga Whig, foreswore the de Courcy family; and then, when ridiculed ashaving been thrown over by the Tories, foreswore his father's oldfriends. So between the two stools he fell to the ground, and, as apolitician, he never again rose to his feet.
He never again rose to his feet; but twice again he made violentefforts to do so. Elections in East Barsetshire, from variouscauses, came quick upon each other in those days, and before he waseight-and-twenty years of age Mr Gresham had three times contestedthe county and been three times beaten. To speak the truth of him,his own spirit would have been satisfied with the loss of the firstten thousand pounds; but Lady Arabella was made of higher mettle. Shehad married a man with a fine place and a fine fortune; but she hadnevertheless married a commoner and had in so far derogated from herhigh birth. She felt that her husband should be by rights a member ofthe House of Lords; but, if not, that it was at least essential thathe should have a seat in the lower chamber. She would by degrees sinkinto nothing if she allowed herself to sit down, the mere wife of amere country squire.
Thus instigated, Mr Gresham repeated the useless contest three times,and repeated it each time at a serious cost. He lost his money, LadyArabella lost her temper, and things at Greshamsbury went on by nomeans as prosperously as they had done in the days of the old squire.
In the first twelve years of their marriage, children came fast intothe nursery at Greshamsbury. The first that was born was a boy; andin those happy halcyon days, when the old squire was still alive,great was the joy at the birth of an heir to Greshamsbury; bonfiresgleamed through the country-side, oxen were roasted whole, andthe customary paraphernalia of joy, usual to rich Britons on suchoccasions were gone through with wondrous eclat. But when the tenthbaby, and the ninth little girl, was brought into the world, theoutward show of joy was not so great.
Then other troubles came on. Some of these little girls were sickly,some very sickly. Lady Arabella had her faults, and they were such aswere extremely detrimental to her husband's happiness and her own;but that of being an indifferent mother was not among them. She hadworried her husband daily for years because he was not in Parliament,she had worried him because he would not furnish the house in PortmanSquare, she had worried him because he objected to have more peopleevery winter at Greshamsbury Park than the house would hold; but nowshe changed her tune and worried him because Selina coughed, becauseHelena was hectic, because poor Sophy's spine was weak, and Matilda'sappetite was gone.
Worrying from such causes was pardonable it will be said. So it was;but the manner was hardly pardonable. Selina's cough was certainlynot fairly attributable to the old-fashioned furniture in PortmanSquare; nor would Sophy's spine have been materially benefited byher father having a seat in Parliament; and yet, to have heard LadyArabella discussing those matters in family conclave, one would havethought that she would have expected such results.
As it was, her poor weak darlings were carried about from London toBrighton, from Brighton to some German baths, from the German bathsback to Torquay, and thence--as regarded the four we have named--tothat bourne from whence no further journey could be made under theLady Arabella's directions.
The one son and heir to Greshamsbury was named as his father, FrancisNewbold Gresham. He would have been the hero of our tale had not thatplace been pre-occupied by the village doctor. As it is, those whoplease may so regard him. It is he who is to be our favourite youngman, to do the love scenes, to have his trials and his difficulties,and to win through them or not, as the case may be. I am too old nowto be a hard-hearted author, and so it is probable that he may notdie of a broken heart. Those who don't approve of a middle-agedbachelor country doctor as a hero, may take the heir to Greshamsburyin his stead, and call the book, if it so please them, "The Loves andAdventures of Francis Newbold Gresham the Younger."
And Master Frank Gresham was not ill adapted for playing the partof a hero of this sort. He did not share his sisters' ill-health,and though the only boy of the family, he excelled all his sistersin personal appearance. The Greshams from time immemorial had beenhandsome. They were broad browed, blue eyed, fair haired, born withdimples in their chins, and that pleasant, aristocratic dangerouscurl of the upper lip which can equally express good humour or scorn.Young Frank was every inch a Gresham, and was the darling of hisfather's heart.
The de Courcys had never been plain. There was too much hauteur, toomuch pride, we may perhaps even fairly say, too much nobility intheir gait and manners, and even in their faces, to allow of theirbeing considered plain; but they were not a race nurtured by Venusor Apollo. They were tall and thin, with high cheek-bones, highforeheads, and large, dignified, cold eyes. The de Courcy girls hadall good hair; and, as they also possessed easy manners and powersof talking, they managed to pass in the world for beauties till theywere absorbed in the matrimonial market, and the world at large caredno longer whether they were beauties or not. The Misses Gresham weremade in the de Courcy mould, and were not on this account the lessdear to their mother.
The two eldest, Augusta and Beatrice, lived, and were apparentlylikely to live. The four next faded and died one after another--allin the same sad year--and were laid in the neat, new cemetery atTorquay. Then came a pair, born at one birth, weak, delicate, fraillittle flowers, with dark hair and dark eyes, and thin, long, palefaces, with long, bony hands, and long bony feet, whom men looked onas fated to follow their sisters with quick steps. Hitherto, however,they had not followed them, nor had they suffered as their sistershad suffered; and some people at Greshamsbury attributed this to thefact that a change had been made in the family medical practitioner.
Then came the youngest of the flock, she whose birth we have said wasnot heralded with loud joy; for when she came into the world, fourothers, wit
h pale temples, wan, worn cheeks, and skeleton, whitearms, were awaiting permission to leave it.
Such was the family when, in the year 1854, the eldest son came ofage. He had been educated at Harrow, and was now still at Cambridge;but, of course, on such a day as this he was at home. That coming ofage must be a delightful time to a young man born to inherit broadacres and wide wealth. Those full-mouthed congratulations; thosewarm prayers with which his manhood is welcomed by the grey-hairedseniors of the county; the affectionate, all but motherly caresses ofneighbouring mothers who have seen him grow up from his cradle, ofmothers who have daughters, perhaps, fair enough, and good enough,and sweet enough even for him; the soft-spoken, half-bashful, buttender greetings of the girls, who now, perhaps for the first time,call him by his stern family name, instructed by instinct rather thanprecept that the time has come when the familiar Charles or familiarJohn must by them be laid aside; the "lucky dogs," and hints ofsilver spoons which are poured into his ears as each young compeerslaps his back and bids him live a thousand years and then never die;the shouting of the tenantry, the good wishes of the old farmers whocome up to wring his hand, the kisses which he gets from the farmers'wives, and the kisses which he gives to the farmers' daughters; allthese things must make the twenty-first birthday pleasant enough toa young heir. To a youth, however, who feels that he is now liableto arrest, and that he inherits no other privilege, the pleasure mayvery possibly not be quite so keen.
The case with young Frank Gresham may be supposed to much nearer theformer than the latter; but yet the ceremony of his coming of agewas by no means like that which fate had accorded to his father. MrGresham was now an embarrassed man, and though the world did not knowit, or, at any rate, did not know that he was deeply embarrassed, hehad not the heart to throw open his mansion and receive the countywith a free hand as though all things were going well with him.
Nothing was going well with him. Lady Arabella would allow nothingnear him or around him to be well. Everything with him now turned tovexation he was no longer a joyous, happy man, and the people ofEast Barsetshire did not look for gala doings on a grand scale whenyoung Gresham came of age.
Gala doings, to a certain extent, there were there. It was in July,and tables were spread under the oaks for the tenants. Tables werespread, and meat, and beer, and wine were there, and Frank, as hewalked round and shook his guests by the hand, expressed a hope thattheir relations with each other might be long, close, and mutuallyadvantageous.
We must say a few words now about the place itself. GreshamsburyPark was a fine old English gentleman's seat--was and is; but we canassert it more easily in past tense, as we are speaking of it withreference to a past time. We have spoken of Greshamsbury Park; therewas a park so called, but the mansion itself was generally known asGreshamsbury House, and did not stand in the park. We may perhapsbest describe it by saying that the village of Greshamsbury consistedof one long, straggling street, a mile in length, which in the centreturned sharp round, so that one half of the street lay directly atright angles to the other. In this angle stood Greshamsbury House,and the gardens and grounds around it filled up the space so made.There was an entrance with large gates at each end of the village,and each gate was guarded by the effigies of two huge pagans withclubs, such being the crest borne by the family; from each entrance abroad road, quite straight, running through to a majestic avenue oflimes, led up to the house. This was built in the richest, perhaps weshould rather say in the purest, style of Tudor architecture; so muchso that, though Greshamsbury is less complete than Longleat, lessmagnificent than Hatfield, it may in some sense be said to be thefinest specimen of Tudor architecture of which the country can boast.
It stands amid a multitude of trim gardens and stone-built terraces,divided one from another: these to our eyes are not so attractive asthat broad expanse of lawn by which our country houses are generallysurrounded; but the gardens of Greshamsbury have been celebrated fortwo centuries, and any Gresham who would have altered them would havebeen considered to have destroyed one of the well-known landmarks ofthe family.
Greshamsbury Park--properly so called--spread far away on the otherside of the village. Opposite to the two great gates leading upto the mansion were two smaller gates, the one opening on to thestables, kennels, and farm-yard, and the other to the deer park. Thislatter was the principal entrance to the demesne, and a grand andpicturesque entrance it was. The avenue of limes which on one sidestretched up to the house, was on the other extended for a quarter ofa mile, and then appeared to be terminated only by an abrupt rise inthe ground. At the entrance there were four savages and four clubs,two to each portal, and what with the massive iron gates, surmountedby a stone wall, on which stood the family arms supported by twoother club-bearers, the stone-built lodges, the Doric, ivy-coveredcolumns which surrounded the circle, the four grim savages, and theextent of the space itself through which the high road ran, and whichjust abutted on the village, the spot was sufficiently significant ofold family greatness.
Those who examined it more closely might see that under the arms wasa scroll bearing the Gresham motto, and that the words were repeatedin smaller letters under each of the savages. "Gardez Gresham,"had been chosen in the days of motto-choosing probably by someherald-at-arms as an appropriate legend for signifying the peculiarattributes of the family. Now, however, unfortunately, men were notof one mind as to the exact idea signified. Some declared, with muchheraldic warmth, that it was an address to the savages, calling onthem to take care of their patron while others, with whom I myselfam inclined to agree, averred with equal certainty that it was anadvice to the people at large, especially to those inclined to rebelagainst the aristocracy of the county, that they should "beware theGresham." The latter signification would betoken strength--so saidthe holders of this doctrine; the former weakness. Now the Greshamswere ever a strong people, and never addicted to a false humility.
We will not pretend to decide the question. Alas! either constructionwas now equally unsuited to the family fortunes. Such changes hadtaken place in England since the Greshams had founded themselves thatno savage could any longer in any way protect them; they must protectthemselves like common folk, or live unprotected. Nor now was itnecessary that any neighbour should shake in his shoes when theGresham frowned. It would have been to be wished that the presentGresham himself could have been as indifferent to the frowns of someof his neighbours.
But the old symbols remained, and may such symbols long remain amongus; they are still lovely and fit to be loved. They tell us of thetrue and manly feelings of other times; and to him who can readaright, they explain more fully, more truly than any written historycan do, how Englishmen have become what they are. England is not yeta commercial country in the sense in which that epithet is used forher; and let us still hope that she will not soon become so. Shemight surely as well be called feudal England, or chivalrous England.If in western civilised Europe there does exist a nation among whomthere are high signors, and with whom the owners of the land arethe true aristocracy, the aristocracy that is trusted as being bestand fittest to rule, that nation is the English. Choose out the tenleading men of each great European people. Choose them in France, inAustria, Sardinia, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Spain (?), andthen select the ten in England whose names are best known as those ofleading statesmen; the result will show in which country there stillexists the closest attachment to, the sincerest trust in, the oldfeudal and now so-called landed interests.
England a commercial country! Yes; as Venice was. She may excelother nations in commerce, but yet it is not that in which she mostprides herself, in which she most excels. Merchants as such are notthe first men among us; though it perhaps be open, barely open, toa merchant to become one of them. Buying and selling is good andnecessary; it is very necessary, and may, possibly, be very good; butit cannot be the noblest work of man; and let us hope that it may notin our time be esteemed the noblest work of an Englishman.
Greshamsbury Park was very large
; it lay on the outside of the angleformed by the village street, and stretched away on two sides withoutapparent limit or boundaries visible from the village road or house.Indeed, the ground on this side was so broken up into abrupt hills,and conical-shaped, oak-covered excrescences, which were seen peepingup through and over each other, that the true extent of the park wasmuch magnified to the eye. It was very possible for a stranger to getinto it and to find some difficulty in getting out again by any ofits known gates; and such was the beauty of the landscape, that alover of scenery would be tempted thus to lose himself.
I have said that on one side lay the kennels, and this will giveme an opportunity of describing here one especial episode, a longepisode, in the life of the existing squire. He had once representedhis county in Parliament, and when he ceased to do so he still feltan ambition to be connected in some peculiar way with that county'sgreatness; he still desired that Gresham of Greshamsbury should besomething more in East Barsetshire than Jackson of the Grange, orBaker of Mill Hill, or Bateson of Annesgrove. They were all hisfriends, and very respectable country gentlemen; but Mr Gresham ofGreshamsbury should be more than this: even he had enough of ambitionto be aware of such a longing. Therefore, when an opportunityoccurred he took to hunting the county.
For this employment he was in every way well suited--unless it was inthe matter of finance. Though he had in his very earliest manly yearsgiven such great offence by indifference to his family politics,and had in a certain degree fostered the ill-feeling by contestingthe county in opposition to the wishes of his brother squires,nevertheless, he bore a loved and popular name. Men regretted that heshould not have been what they wished him to be, that he should nothave been such as was the old squire; but when they found that suchwas the case, that he could not be great among them as a politician,they were still willing that he should be great in any other way ifthere were county greatness for which he was suited. Now he was knownas an excellent horseman, as a thorough sportsman, as one knowing indogs, and tender-hearted as a sucking mother to a litter of youngfoxes; he had ridden in the county since he was fifteen, had a finevoice for a view-hallo, knew every hound by name, and could wind ahorn with sufficient music for all hunting purposes; moreover, he hadcome to his property, as was well known through all Barsetshire, witha clear income of fourteen thousand a year.
Thus, when some old worn-out master of hounds was run to ground,about a year after Mr Gresham's last contest for the county, itseemed to all parties to be a pleasant and rational arrangement thatthe hounds should go to Greshamsbury. Pleasant, indeed, to all exceptthe Lady Arabella; and rational, perhaps, to all except the squirehimself.
All this time he was already considerably encumbered. He had spentmuch more than he should have done, and so indeed had his wife, inthose two splendid years in which they had figured as great among thegreat ones of the earth. Fourteen thousand a year ought to have beenenough to allow a member of Parliament with a young wife and two orthree children to live in London and keep up their country familymansion but then the de Courcys were very great people, and LadyArabella chose to live as she had been accustomed to do, and as hersister-in-law the countess lived: now Lord de Courcy had much morethan fourteen thousand a year. Then came the three elections, withtheir vast attendant cost, and then those costly expedients to whichgentlemen are forced to have recourse who have lived beyond theirincome, and find it impossible so to reduce their establishments asto live much below it. Thus when the hounds came to Greshamsbury, MrGresham was already a poor man.
Lady Arabella said much to oppose their coming; but Lady Arabella,though it could hardly be said of her that she was under herhusband's rule, certainly was not entitled to boast that she had himunder hers. She then made her first grand attack as to the furniturein Portman Square; and was then for the first time specially informedthat the furniture there was not matter of much importance, as shewould not in future be required to move her family to that residenceduring the London seasons. The sort of conversations which grew fromsuch a commencement may be imagined. Had Lady Arabella worried herlord less, he might perhaps have considered with more coolness thefolly of encountering so prodigious an increase to the expense of hisestablishment; had he not spent so much money in a pursuit which hiswife did not enjoy, she might perhaps have been more sparing in herrebukes as to his indifference to her London pleasures. As it was,the hounds came to Greshamsbury, and Lady Arabella did go to Londonfor some period in each year, and the family expenses were by nomeans lessened.
The kennels, however, were now again empty. Two years previous to thetime at which our story begins, the hounds had been carried off tothe seat of some richer sportsman. This was more felt by Mr Greshamthan any other misfortune which he had yet incurred. He had beenmaster of hounds for ten years, and that work he had at any rate donewell. The popularity among his neighbours which he had lost as apolitician he had regained as a sportsman, and he would fain haveremained autocratic in the hunt, had it been possible. But he soremained much longer than he should have done, and at last they wentaway, not without signs and sounds of visible joy on the part of LadyArabella.
But we have kept the Greshamsbury tenantry waiting under theoak-trees by far too long. Yes; when young Frank came of age therewas still enough left at Greshamsbury, still means enough at thesquire's disposal, to light one bonfire, to roast, whole in its skin,one bullock. Frank's virility came on him not quite unmarked, asthat of the parson's son might do, or the son of the neighbouringattorney. It could still be reported in the Barsetshire Conservative_Standard_ that "The beards wagged all" at Greshamsbury, now as theyhad done for many centuries on similar festivals. Yes; it was soreported. But this, like so many other such reports, had but a shadowof truth in it. "They poured the liquor in," certainly, those whowere there; but the beards did not wag as they had been wont to wagin former years. Beards won't wag for the telling. The squire was athis wits' end for money, and the tenants one and all had so heard.Rents had been raised on them; timber had fallen fast; the lawyeron the estate was growing rich; tradesmen in Barchester, nay, inGreshamsbury itself, were beginning to mutter; and the squire himselfwould not be merry. Under such circumstances the throats of atenantry will still swallow, but their beards will not wag.
"I minds well," said Farmer Oaklerath to his neighbour, "when thesquoire hisself comed of age. Lord love 'ee! There was fun going thatday. There was more yale drank then than's been brewed at the bighouse these two years. T'old squoire was a one'er."
"And I minds when squoire was borned; minds it well," said an oldfarmer sitting opposite. "Them was the days! It an't that long agoneither. Squoire a'nt come o' fifty yet; no, nor an't nigh it, thoughhe looks it. Things be altered at Greemsbury"--such was the ruralpronunciation--"altered sadly, neebor Oaklerath. Well, well; I'llsoon be gone, I will, and so it an't no use talking; but arter payingone pound fifteen for them acres for more nor fifty year, I didn'tthink I'd ever be axed for forty shilling."
Such was the style of conversation which went on at the varioustables. It had certainly been of a very different tone when thesquire was born, when he came of age, and when, just two yearssubsequently, his son had been born. On each of these events similarrural fetes had been given, and the squire himself had on theseoccasions been frequent among his guests. On the first, he had beencarried round by his father, a whole train of ladies and nursesfollowing. On the second, he had himself mixed in all the sports, thegayest of the gay, and each tenant had squeezed his way up to thelawn to get a sight of the Lady Arabella, who, as was already known,was to come from Courcy Castle to Greshamsbury to be their mistress.It was little they any of them cared now for the Lady Arabella. Onthe third, he himself had borne his child in his arms as his fatherhad before borne him; he was then in the zenith of his pride, andthough the tenantry whispered that he was somewhat less familiar withthem than of yore, that he had put on somewhat too much of the deCourcy airs, still he was their squire, their master, the rich manin whose hand they lay. The old squire was then gone
, and they wereproud of the young member and his lady bride in spite of a littlehauteur. None of them were proud of him now.
He walked once round among the guests, and spoke a few words ofwelcome at each table; and as he did so the tenants got up and bowedand wished health to the old squire, happiness to the young one, andprosperity to Greshamsbury; but, nevertheless, it was but a tameaffair.
There were also other visitors, of the gentle sort, to do honour tothe occasion but not such swarms, not such a crowd at the mansionitself and at the houses of the neighbouring gentry as had alwaysbeen collected on these former gala doings. Indeed, the party atGreshamsbury was not a large one, and consisted chiefly of Lady deCourcy and her suite. Lady Arabella still kept up, as far as she wasable, her close connexion with Courcy Castle. She was there as muchas possible, to which Mr Gresham never objected; and she took herdaughters there whenever she could, though, as regarded the two eldergirls, she was interfered with by Mr Gresham, and not unfrequently bythe girls themselves. Lady Arabella had a pride in her son, thoughhe was by no means her favourite child. He was, however, the heir ofGreshamsbury, of which fact she was disposed to make the most, andhe was also a fine gainly open-hearted young man, who could not butbe dear to any mother. Lady Arabella did love him dearly, though shefelt a sort of disappointment in regard to him, seeing that he wasnot so much like a de Courcy as he should have been. She did love himdearly; and, therefore, when he came of age she got her sister-in-lawand all the Ladies Amelia, Rosina etc., to come to Greshamsbury; andshe also, with some difficulty, persuaded the Honourable Georges andthe Honourable Johns to be equally condescending. Lord de Courcyhimself was in attendance at the Court--or said that he was--and LordPorlock, the eldest son, simply told his aunt when he was invitedthat he never bored himself with those sort of things.
Then there were the Bakers, and the Batesons, and the Jacksons, whoall lived near and returned home at night; there was the ReverendCaleb Oriel, the High-Church rector, with his beautiful sister,Patience Oriel; there was Mr Yates Umbleby, the attorney and agent;and there was Dr Thorne, and the doctor's modest, quiet-lookinglittle niece, Miss Mary.
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