Dynevor Terrace; Or, The Clue of Life — Volume 2Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
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Dynevor Terrace; Or, The Clue of Life — Volume 2
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Cousins -- Fiction; Domestic fiction; English fiction -- 19th century; Upper class -- England -- Fiction
The party entered the carriage, and the crowd of little boys and girls,
flymen and porters, got up another 'hurrah!' as the four horses went
thundering off, with Mrs. Frost apologizing--'Poor Oliver's notions
were on such a grand scale!--He had been so long absent, that he did
not know how much these things had been disused.' But no one could look
at her bright tearful eyes, and quivering mouth, without seeing that
she exulted in her son's affection and his victory; and after all it
was natural to her, and a resumption of old habits.
They drove through two miles of brown flat heath, with far-away
mountain outlines, which she greeted as dear friends. Here and there
the engine-house of a mine rose up among shabby buildings, and
by-and-by was seen a square church-tower, with lofty pinnacles, among
which floated forth a flag. The old lady caught hold convulsively of
Clara's hand--'The old church!--My old church!--See, Clara, that is
where your dear grandfather lies!--My last home!'
With brimming eyes Mrs. Frost gazed on it as it came forth more
distinctly, and Clara looked with a sense of awe; but rending her away
from grave thoughts, shouts burst upon her ears, and above them the
pealing crash of all the bells, as they dashed under a splendid
triumphal arch, all evergreens and dahlias, forming the word 'Welcome!'
and were met by a party on horseback waving their hats, while a great
hurrah burst out from the numbers who lined the street. Mrs. Frost
bowed her thanks and waved her hand. 'But oh!' she said, almost
sobbing, 'where am I? This is not Cheveleigh.'
Lord Ormersfield showed her a few old houses that they both recognised,
looking antiquated in the midst of a modern growth of narrow, conceited
new tenements. The shouting crowd had, to Fitzjocelyn's eyes, more the
aspect of a rabble than of a genuine rejoicing peasantry. What men
there were looked beer-attracted rather than reputable, and the main
body were whooping boys, women, nurse-girls, and babies. The suspicion
crossed him that it was a new generation, without memories of forty
years since, wondering rather than welcoming, in spite of arches,
bells, and shouts.
After another half-mile, a gate swung wide beneath another arch, all
over C. D., the F. studiously omitted; and the carriage wheeled in amid
a shower of tight little nosegays from a squadron of school-children.
They drove up the long approach, through fir plantations, which drew
from Mrs. Frost a cry of friendly recognition--for her husband had
planted them; but they had not taken kindly to the soil, and fifty
years had produced but a starveling growth. Beyond lay an expanse of
parched brown turf, here and there an enclosure of unprosperous trees,
and full in front stood the wide space of stuccoed wall, with a great
Gothic window full in the midst, and battlements in the castellated
style of the early years of the nineteenth century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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