There were little
things which required to be done, and the lady's-maid certainly had
not time to go to church on Sunday.
But there were other things which troubled her even more than her
clothes. She did not much like Bragton, and at Bragton, in his own
house, she did not very much like her proposed husband. At
Washington he had been somebody. She had met him everywhere then,
and had heard him much talked about. At Washington he had been a
popular man and had had the reputation of being a rich man also;
but here, at home, in the country he seemed to her to fall off in
importance, and he certainly had not made himself pleasant. Whether
any man could be pleasant to her in the retirement of a country
house,--any man whom she would have no interest in running down,--
she did not ask herself. An engagement to her must under any
circumstances be a humdrum thing,--to be brightened only by wealth.
But here she saw no signs of wealth. Nevertheless she was not
prepared to shove away the plank from below her feet, till she was
sure that she had a more substantial board on which to step. Her
mother, who perhaps did not see in the character of Morton all the
charms which she would wish to find in a son-in-law, was anxious to
shake off the Bragton alliance; but Arabella, as she said so often
both to herself and to her mother, was sick of the dust of the
battle and conscious of fading strength.
Pages:
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207