The master of St. Benedict's, Vol. 2 (of 2)St. Aubyn, Alan
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The master of St. Benedict's, Vol. 2 (of 2)
St. Aubyn, Alan
Cambridge (England) -- Fiction; School principals -- Fiction; Students -- Fiction
'No,' she said coldly; 'I could not continue to make my home here.
My plans are all settled--quite settled. Lucy will stay with
me--until--until she marries'--she could not help a little break in her
voice--'and then I am leaving Cambridge altogether. I am going back to
my old place, to my own people.'
The Senior Tutor had heard nothing about Mary Rae's people until that
day; he never knew she had any people; he had forgotten all about her
mother's relatives.
Cousin Mary began to make her preparations for leaving the lodge at
once. She was only taking with her to the little house she had engaged
at Newnham a few necessary things. She was leaving a great deal of the
old furniture behind. It had been at the lodge for over a century. It
was heavy and clumsy, and some of it was worm-eaten; it was ill suited
for a modern residence. It had been taken off by one Master after
another, and now, unless the new Master turned it out into the court,
or threw it out of the windows into the Cam, it would remain where it
had so long stood.
Lucy consented to its staying almost unwillingly. She had no idea how
valuable those precious old relics of carved oak, and Chippendale, and
old Sheraton furniture would have been in the eyes of a connoisseur.
She didn't mind the old blue Worcester vases remaining on the
mantelpiece, where they had stood so many years; but she would have
preferred some modern gimcrackery for the drawing-room. Her heart
yearned for little satiny chairs with gilt backs, and plush five
o'clock tea-tables, and all the latest abominations of the modern
upholsterer.
It was very sad work turning out all the old Master's papers, going
through all his drawers and turning out all the private records of his
life.
Mary never knew until she went through his papers how generous he had
been to all those poor relations she had left sleeping beside him in
the churchyard at Northwold. Some of these old letters she turned
out from their hiding-places, yellow with age, written by hands long
folded, touched her deeply. Some were from her own kin, and some, most
of all, from Lucy's father, grandfather, great-grandfather, three
generations, all telling the same story of benefits received, of the
unfailing liberality of that generous hand.
Mary did not know what to do with the papers. The Master had left
little else--an old scholar's wardrobe, a rusty gown and hood, an
old-fashioned silver watch; no rings or jewellery or knick-knacks;
nothing but books and papers, everlasting papers.
Lucy would have burnt them all unread--nothing would have given her
greater pleasure than to have put all the musty old lumber in the
flames; but Mary would not destroy a single line.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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