He had intended to hunt that day in compliance with
John Morton's advice, but had felt himself quite unable to make the
effort. It was not only that he had been thrown over by Mary
Masters, but that everybody knew that he had been thrown over. If
he had kept the matter secret, perhaps he might have borne it; but
it is so hard to bear a sorrow of which all one's neighbours are
conscious. When a man is reduced by poverty to the drinking of beer
instead of wine, it is not the loss of the wine that is so heavy on
him as the consciousness that those around him are aware of the
reason. And he is apt to extend his idea of this consciousness to a
circle that is altogether indifferent of the fact. That a man
should fail in his love seems to him to be of all failures the most
contemptible, and Larry thought that there would not be one in the
field unaware of his miserable rejection. In spite of his mother's
prayers he had refused to go, and had hung about the farm all day.
Then there came to him Lord Rufford's note. It had been quite
unexpected, and a month or two before, when his hopes had still
been high in regard to Mary Masters, would have filled him with
delight. It was the foible of his life to be esteemed a gentleman,
and his poor ambition to be allowed to live among men of higher
social standing than himself.
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