The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four MacnicolsBlack, William
General
The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols
Black, William
Great Britain -- Fiction
Just as she was leaving the interior of the church, some one stepped out
of the vestry, followed her for a second, and then addressed her. She
turned and recognised Mr. Jacomb. He had not been officiating; he was
in ordinary clerical costume; and there was something in the primness of
that costume that suited his appearance. For he was a singularly
clean-looking man; his face smooth shaven; his complexion of the fairest
white and pink; his hair yellow almost to whiteness; his eyes gray,
clear, and kindly. For the rest, he was about six-and-thirty; of
stoutish build; and he generally wore a pleasant and complacent smile,
as if the world had treated him kindly, despite his experiences in that
poor parish in the south-east of London, and as if, whatever might
happen to him, anxiety was not likely to put a premature end to his
existence.
'Dear me,' said he, 'what a coincidence! I saw your sister Madge about
twenty minutes ago. She seemed very happy about something or other.'
'Mr. Jacomb,' said Nan, 'do you know the lady who left a minute ago?'
'No,' said he, wondering a little at the earnestness--or rather the
absentness--of her manner. 'I only caught a glimpse of her. She
belongs to one of the visiting sisterhoods.'
Nan was silent for a second or two.
'You came to the wedding, of course?' continued Mr. Jacomb, cheerfully.
'A capital match, that, for young De la Poer. She will have 18,000
pounds a year when her mother dies; and she is pretty too. She puts a
little side on, perhaps, when she's talking to strangers; but that's
nothing. His brother was at Oxford when I was there, I remember--an
awfully fast fellow; but they say all the sons of clergymen are; the
other swing of the pendulum, you know. There's a medium in all things;
and if one generation gives itself over too much to piety, the next goes
as far the other way. I suppose it's human nature.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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