Englefield Grange; or, Mary Armstrong's TroublesPaull, H. B., Mrs.
General
Englefield Grange; or, Mary Armstrong's Troubles
Paull, H. B., Mrs.
Fiction
"Yes, Clara Marston. Why, it must be two or three and twenty years ago.
They lived at Bayswater for some time after their marriage, but I have
seen nothing of them since they removed to Kilburn."
"And this daughter, papa," said Lady Dora, "did you ever see her?"
"Well, my dear, I have some recollection of a little dark-eyed girl
named Fanny, to whom I was introduced in one of my visits at Bayswater.
She was then, I should say, about eight years old, and the Halfords have
resided nearly eleven years at Kilburn."
"If the little girl was named Fanny, papa, she must be the same who has
just married, for the name in the paper is Frances. Oh yes," added Lady
Dora, after another glance at the _Times_, "and it says only daughter,
so this must be the bride."
"You appear greatly interested in this young married lady, my dear,"
said her father.
Lady Dora blushed. Her interest was only that of girls of seventeen in
all ranks of society about brides in general, and one in particular if
her age, parentage, and antecedents are known. "I think I am interested
now," replied the young lady, "because you knew the bride when she was a
little girl, and her father was your tutor; but the name of Englefield
first attracted me in the newspaper. Papa," she continued after a slight
pause, during which no one spoke, "Englefield is a strange title for any
house, especially such a beautiful estate as this. Do you know how it
originated?"
"From nothing very mysterious or romantic," said her father,
laughing,--"at least, none that I ever heard of. According to the
etymology of the word, however, we ought to be descended from the
gipsies, for Engle is evidently derived from the old Saxon word Ingle,
which signifies a hearth or chimney corner. Ingle or Engle in a field,
as the name of this estate implies, must denote a cosy, homelike
fireplace, in a meadow or on a common, such as only gipsies can invent.
But you must decide upon this matter yourself, Dora," continued the
earl, as he rose and looked at his watch; "I have no time for farther
discussion upon the origin of a name which belonged to this estate more
than four hundred years ago."
"How very absurd you are, Dora!" said her elder sister, when the earl
had left the room, "just as if it mattered to us what originated the
name of an estate which has descended to papa through so many
generations. And why you should be interested about the marriage of a
schoolmaster's daughter I cannot imagine."
"A schoolmaster's daughter!" repeated Lady Dora, "I did not know Dr.
Halford kept a school."
"He does, my dear," said Lady Rivers, gently, "but Dr. Halford and his
wife are truly well-bred people, and their profession has never lessened
the respect and kind interest with which both your father and
grandfather have always treated them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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