Domestic fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Wales -- Fiction
The reader need not be detained with any elaborate account of the
funeral. Every tenant and every labourer about the place was there;
as also were many of the people from Carmarthen. Llanfeare Church,
which stands on a point of a little river just as it runs into a
creek of the sea, is not more than four miles distant from the town;
but such was the respect in which the old squire was held that a
large crowd was present as the body was lowered into the vault. Then
the lunch followed, just as Isabel had said. There was Cousin Henry,
and there were the doctor and the lawyer, and there were the tenants
who had been specially honoured by invitation, and there was Joseph
Cantor the younger. The viands were eaten freely, though the occasion
was not a happy one. Appetites are good even amidst grief, and the
farmers of Llanfeare took their victuals and their wine in funereal
silence, but not without enjoyment. Mr Apjohn and Dr Powell also were
hungry, and being accustomed, perhaps, to such entertainments, did
not allow the good things prepared to go waste. But Cousin Henry,
though he made an attempt, could not swallow a morsel. He took a
glass of wine, and then a second, helping himself from the bottle as
it stood near at hand; but he ate nothing, and spoke hardly a word.
At first he made some attempt, but his voice seemed to fail him. Not
one of the farmers addressed a syllable to him. He had before the
funeral taken each of them by the hand, but even then they had not
spoken to him. They were rough of manner, little able to conceal
their feelings; and he understood well from their bearing that he was
odious to them. Now as he sat at table with them, he determined that
as soon as this matter should be settled he would take himself away
from Llanfeare, even though Llanfeare should belong to him. While
they were at the table both the lawyer and the doctor said a word to
him, making a struggle to be courteous, but after the first struggle
the attempt ceased also with them. The silence of the man, and even
the pallor of his face might be supposed to be excused by the nature
of the occasion.
"Now," said Mr Apjohn, rising from the table when the eating and
drinking had ceased, "I think we might as well go into the next room.
Miss Brodrick, who has consented to be present, will probably be
waiting for us."
They passed through the hall into the parlour in a long string, Mr
Apjohn leading the way, followed by Cousin Henry. There they found
Isabel sitting with the housekeeper beside her. She shook hands in
silence with the attorney, the doctor, and all the tenants, and then,
as she took her seat, she spoke a word to Mr Apjohn. "As I have felt
it hard to be alone, I have asked Mrs Griffith to remain with me. I
hope it is not improper?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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