England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; English fiction -- 19th century
It looked, too, as if the business in Westminster Bridge Road might
eventually give a substantial return for the money he had invested in
it. Through the winter, naturally, little trade was done; but with
springtime things began to look brisk and hopeful. Harvey had applied
himself seriously to learning the details of the business; he was no
longer a mere looker-on, but could hold practical counsel with his
partner, make useful suggestions, and help in carrying them out.
In the sixth month after her father's decease, Rolfe enjoyed the
privilege of becoming acquainted with Miss Winter. Morphew took him one
afternoon to the house at Earl's Court, where the widow and her
daughter were still living, the prospect of Henrietta's marriage having
made it not worth while for them to change their abode in the interim.
With much curiosity, with not a little mistrust, Harvey entered the
presence of these ladies, whose names and circumstances had been so
familiar to him for years. Henrietta proved to be very unlike the image
he had formed of her. Anticipating weakness, conventionality, and some
affectation, he was surprised to meet a lady of simple, grave manners;
nervous at first, but soon perfectly self-possessed; by no means
talkative, but manifesting in every word a well-informed mind and a
habit of reflection. It astonished him that such a man as Cecil Morphew
should have discovered his ideal in Henrietta Winter; it perplexed him
yet more that Cecil's attachment should have been reciprocated.
Mrs. Winter was a very ordinary person; rather pretentious, rather too
fluent of speech, inclined to fretfulness, and probably of trying
temper. Having for many years lived much beyond his means (in the
manner so often described by Morphew), Mr. Winter had left his family
as good as unprovided for. There was money to be divided between mother
and daughter, but so small a sum that it could not be regarded as a
source of income. To the widow was bequeathed furniture; to Henrietta,
a library of two thousand volumes; _finally_, the testator directed
that the sum of five hundred pounds should be spent on a window of
stained glass (concerning which full particulars were given), to be set
up, in memory of himself, in the church he had been wont to honour with
his pious attendance. This item of her husband's will had so embittered
Mrs. Winter, that she hardly ever spoke of him; if obliged to do so, it
was with cold severity that she uttered his name. Immediately, she
withdrew all opposition to Henrietta's marriage with the man she had
considered so objectionable; she would not have been sorry had her
daughter chosen to be married with the least possible delay. As for the
future, of course she must live in her daughter's house; together, they
must make what they could of their small capital, and hope that Cecil's
business would prosper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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