Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George MeredithMeredith, George
General
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith
Meredith, George
English fiction -- 19th century
Mrs. Doris Foray was the eldest of the three sisters of the baronet, a
florid affable woman, with fine teeth, exceedingly fine light wavy hair,
a Norman nose, and a reputation for understanding men; and that, with
these practical creatures, always means the art of managing them. She had
married an expectant younger son of a good family, who deceased before
the fulfilment of his prospects; and, casting about in her mind the
future chances of her little daughter and sole child, Clare, she marked
down a probability. The far sight, the deep determination, the resolute
perseverance of her sex, where a daughter is to be provided for and a man
to be overthrown, instigated her to invite herself to Raynham, where,
with that daughter, she fixed herself.
The other two Feverel ladies were the wife of Colonel Wentworth and the
widow of Mr. Justice Harley: and the only thing remarkable about them was
that they were mothers of sons of some distinction.
Austin Wentworth's story was of that wretched character which to be
comprehended, that justice should be dealt him, must be told out and
openly; which no one dares now do.
For a fault in early youth, redeemed by him nobly, according to his
light, he was condemned to undergo the world's harsh judgment: not for
the fault--for its atonement.
"--Married his mother's housemaid," whispered Mrs. Doria, with a ghastly
look, and a shudder at young men of republican sentiments, which he was
reputed to entertain. "'The compensation for Injustice,' says the
'Pilgrim's Scrip,' is, that in that dark Ordeal we gather the worthiest
around us."
And the baronet's fair friend, Lady Blandish, and some few true men and
women, held Austin Wentworth high.
He did not live with his wife; and Sir Austin, whose mind was bent on the
future of our species, reproached him with being barren to posterity,
while knaves were propagating.
The principal characteristic of the second nephew, Adrian Harley, was his
sagacity. He was essentially the wise youth, both in counsel and in
action.
"In action," the "Pilgrim's Scrip" observes, "Wisdom goes by majorities."
Adrian had an instinct for the majority, and, as the world invariably
found him enlisted in its ranks, his appellation of wise youth was
acquiesced in without irony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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