The Small House at Allington eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 972 pages of information about The Small House at Allington.

The Small House at Allington eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 972 pages of information about The Small House at Allington.
where he knew that he should meet her, a letter came to him by the post.  He well knew the hand and the intimation which it would contain.  It was from the duke’s agent, Mr Fothergill, and informed him that a certain sum of money had been placed to his credit at his banker’s.  But the letter went further, and informed him also that the duke had given his agent to understand that special instructions would be necessary before the next quarterly payment could be made.  Mr Fothergill said nothing further, but Mr Palliser understood it all.  He felt his blood run cold round his heart; but, nevertheless, he determined that he would not break his word to Lady de Courcy that night.

And Lady Dumbello received her letter also on the same morning.  She was being dressed as she read it, and the maidens who attended her found no cause to suspect that anything in the letter had excited her ladyship.  Her ladyship was not often excited, though she was vigilant in exacting from them their utmost cares.  She read her letter, however, very carefully, and as she sat beneath the toilet implements of her maidens, thought deeply of the tidings which had been brought to her.  She was angry with no one;—­she was thankful to no one.  She felt no special love for any person concerned in the matter.  Her heart did not say, “Oh, my lord and husband!” or “Oh, my lover!” or “Oh, my mother, the friend of my childhood!” But she became aware that matter for thought had been brought before her, and she did think.  “Send my love to Lord Dumbello,” she said, when the operations were nearly completed, “and tell him that I shall be so glad to see him if he will come to me while I am at breakfast.”

“Yes, my lady.”  And then the message came back:  “His lordship would be with her ladyship certainly.”

“Gustavus,” she said, as soon as she had seated herself discreetly in her chair, “I have had a letter from my mother, which you had better read;” and she handed to him the document.  “I do not know what I have done to deserve such suspicions from her; but she lives in the country, and has probably been deceived by ill-natured people.  At any rate you must read it, and tell me what I should do.”

We may predicate from this that Mr Palliser’s chance of being able to shipwreck himself upon that rock was but small, and that he would, in spite of himself, be saved from his uncle’s anger.  Lord Dumbello took the letter and read it very slowly, standing, as he did so, with his back to the fire.  He read it very slowly, and his wife, though she never turned her face directly upon his, could perceive that he became very red, that he was fluttered and put beyond himself, and that his answer was not ready.  She was well aware that his conduct to her during the last three months had been much altered from his former usages; that he had been rougher with her in his speech when alone, and less courteous in his attention when in society; but she had made no complaint or

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The Small House at Allington from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.