The Three BridesYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
General
The Three Brides
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Marriage -- Fiction
"Nothing! while there is this blot on Archie's name, and he is
living in exile, and that Moy is revelling in prosperity. Nothing!
Why don't you publish it to every one?"
"My dear Jenny, I have only known it a week, and I have not been
able to find out where Mr. Moy is."
"What, to have him taken up?"
"Taken up, no; I don't imagine he could be prosecuted after this
length of time and on this kind of evidence. No, to give him
warning."
"Warning? To flee away, and never clear Archie! What are you
about, Julius? He ought to be exposed at once, if he cannot be made
to suffer otherwise."
"Nay, Jenny, that would be hard measure."
"Hard measure!" she interrupted; "what has my innocent Archie had?"
"Think of the old man, his wife and daughter, Jenny."
"She's a Proudfoot.--And that girl the scandal of the country! You
want to sacrifice Archie to them, Julius?"
"You are tired and shaken, Jenny, or you would see that all I want
to do is to act with common consideration and honour."
She interrupted again. "What honour do you mean? You are not
making it a secret of the confessional?"
"You are misunderstanding me, Joanna," Julius gently said.
"Herbert's vigil spared me from that difficulty, but--"
"Then you would have sacrificed Archie to this imaginary--"
"Hush, Jenny! I fear he is wandering again. Alas! it is the sad
old refrain!"
As they came to the door together, Herbert's voice, under that
strange change which wandering brings, was heard muttering, "Give an
account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward."
And Mrs. Cranstoun received them, with her head shaking, and tearful
eyes. "It has come on again, sir; I was afraid it would be too much
for him."
Herbert's prayer had been granted, inasmuch as the horrible ravings
that he feared repeating never passed his lips. If he had gone down
to the smoke of Tartarus to restore his sister's lover, none of its
blacks were cleaning to him; but whether conscious or wandering, the
one thought of his wasted year seemed to be crushing him. It was a
curious contrast between poor Mr. Fuller's absence of regret for a
quarter of a century's supineness, and this lad's repentance for
twelve months' idleness. That his follies had been guileless in
themselves might be the very cause that his spirit had such power of
repentance. His admiration of Lady Tyrrell had been burnt out, and
had been fancy, not heart, and no word of it passed his lips, far
less of the mirth with the Strangeways. Habit sometimes brought the
phrases of the cricket-field, but these generally ended in a shudder
of self-recollection and prayer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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