"She wants a touch of
hardship," he would say, "to bring her to. If Larry would just give
her a cold shoulder for six months, she'd be ready to jump into his
arms." And Dr. Nupper had been heard to remark that she might go
farther and fare worse. "If it were my girl I'd let her know all
about it," Ribbs the butcher had said in the bosom of his own
family. When it was found that Mr. Surtees the curate was not to be
the fortunate man, the matter was more inexplicable than ever. Had
it then been declared that the owner of Hoppet Hall had proposed to
her, all these tongues would have been silenced, and the refusal
even of Larry Twentyman would have been justified. But what was to
be said and what was to be thought when it was known that she was
to be the mistress of Bragton? For a day or two the prosperity of
the attorney was hardly to be endured by his neighbours. When it
was first known that the stewardship of the property was to go back
into his hands, his rise in the world was for a time slightly
prejudicial to his popularity; but this greater stroke of luck,
this latter promotion which would place him so much higher in
Dillsborough than even his father or his grandfather had ever been,
was a great trial of friendship.
Mrs. Masters felt it all very keenly. All possibility for reproach
against either her husband or her step-daughter was of course at an
end.
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