England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Fortunately for my peace of mind, this day was already Friday. I had
not, therefore, long to wait. Millflowers church still belonged to the
old order of things. There were two or three square pews, cushioned and
curtained, for the "upper ten" of the village, one of which, of course,
was appropriated to the Manor-house, and another to Grimsthorpe; and
Isabel kindly arranged, not without some conscientious scruples, I fear,
however, that I should occupy the corner whence the melancholy quartette
could best be seen. She made a little plan of the church and the pews
the evening before, for my benefit.
But without anything of this kind--almost, I think, without having been
on the look-out for the denizens of the Grim House at all--they would,
it seems to me, at once have attracted my attention. Indeed, at the
first moment, I felt surprised that every one in the church did not turn
round to look at them, forgetting the many years--years more than my
whole existence--during which the solemn little procession of the four
sad-faced people had, Sunday after Sunday, made their way up the aisle
to the gloomy old pew. No--sad I can scarcely call them all, without
making one exception. The face of the younger brother was, as Isabel
had said, not only sweet, but calm and peaceful in expression, though he
appeared pathetically delicate, with large soft eyes and almost
colourless complexion.
"_He_ is not the guilty one, if guilty one there is," I decided. "_He_
is not the cause of the family unhappiness and isolation. I should say
he is a sort of saint, happy to bear for the sake of others."
Then my eyes turned to the elder brother. The sisters I had already
glanced at, and found them exactly what I had expected from Isabel's
description--refined, rather insignificant-looking, inexpressibly
melancholy; but the face of the senior of the party was in a sense the
most interesting of all. He was evidently a strong man, well-made and
originally powerful. But his frame was prematurely bent, the lines of
his fine features were worn and furrowed. It was a good face, but the
expression had become almost fiercely defiant and hard.
I made up my mind on the spot--I think I am naturally gifted with a
certain amount of insight into character and idiosyncrasies--I made up
my mind on the spot that Isabel was mistaken.
"It _is_ the elder brother," I mentally ejaculated, "who is at the root
of it all! He is the most miserable of the four, because he feels that
he has brought their trouble upon them. But nevertheless it would be
very difficult to believe that that man has ever done anything mean or
dishonourable." And I felt that the personal sight of the Grey family
had to me only deepened the mystery. And then a sudden recollection
flashed across my mind--the man I had met, the young man who had lost
his pocket-book, was _not_ one of the group in the square pew! Who was
he? A ghost, after all?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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