A Widow's Tale, and Other StoriesOliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
General
A Widow's Tale, and Other Stories
Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
Fiction; Short stories
But here exact information fails. Her brother Herbert never described
how he found her, or went into any unnecessary details. The pair, who
were henceforward spoken of in the family as the Fitzroys, were at Monte
Carlo when he came up with them; and it was evident enough that "my new
brother-in-law," as Herbert called him, awakened no enthusiasm in the
young man's breast. He acknowledged that he thought the fellow was in
his proper place among the queer society there, though it was not much
like Nelly; and there it appeared they meant to remain, on the ground
that Nelly had showed some symptoms of delicate health, and it was
thought expedient that she should winter in the south of France, which
made it impossible for her to have the children with her, as she had
intended. "So far as that goes, Nelly was silly," Herbert said; "how
could she expect a fellow newly married to have another man's children
dragging after him all over the place? And she knew they'd be safe with
Susan." Susan Evans took this very quietly; but she knew that Nelly had
not intended the children to be with her, but had meant to send for
them, or to come back to them, leaving the issue to the decision of
after events. Poor Nelly, she looked delicate, Herbert allowed. She was
not like herself. He confessed, when he was alone with his sister, and
had become confidential, walking about the room in the twilight when the
changes of his countenance could not be remarked, that perhaps Nelly had
made a mistake, and he was not sure that she had not found it out.
"Do you mean that he is unkind to her?" cried Susan, all aflame.
"I should just like," said Herbert, grimly, "to have seen any man unkind
to her while I was there."
"Isn't he fond of her, then? Then why did he marry her? Do you mean that
they're unhappy, Herbert? So soon, so soon!"
"Now, look here," said Herbert, "I won't be cross-examined; I say that I
think Nelly has made a mistake, and I fear she thinks so too. I can't go
into metaphysical questions why people did that, or why they did this.
I'm not fond myself of Mr Percy Fitzroy--and we are not done with him
yet," Herbert said.
"Done with him? and he Nelly's husband; I should hope not, indeed!" Mrs
Evans cried.
"Then I promise you you'll have your wish," her brother replied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account