Pray remember me to him." Lady Augustus said she
would, and did entertain some little increased respect for the
clergyman who could boast that he had been tipsy in company with
her worthy brother-in-law.
Poor Mr. Cooper did not get on very well with Mrs. Morton. All his
remembrances of the old squire were eulogistic and affectionate.
Hers were just the reverse. He had a good word to say for Reginald
Morton,--to which she would not even listen. She was willing enough
to ask questions about the Mallingham tenants;--but Mr. Cooper
would revert back to the old days, and so conversation was at an
end.
Morton tried to make himself agreeable to his left-hand neighbour,
trying also very hard to make himself believe that he was happy in
his immediate position. How often in the various amusements of the
world is one tempted to pause a moment and ask oneself whether one
really likes it! He was conscious that he was working hard,
struggling to be happy, painfully anxious to be sure that he was
enjoying the luxury of being in love. But he was not at all
contented. There she was, and very beautiful she looked; and he
thought that he could be proud of her if she sat at the end of his
table;--and he knew that she was engaged to be his wife. But he
doubted whether she was in love with him; and he almost doubted
sometimes whether he was very much in love with her.
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