Trimblerigg : $b A book of revelationHousman, Laurence
Religion
Trimblerigg : $b A book of revelation
Housman, Laurence
Clergy -- Fiction; Romans à clef; Satire
‘I haven’t forgotten you, Jonathan. I’ve remembered you in both; but I
haven’t left you so much in the one as in the other. You see, I’d got
Davidina in my mind, then: and there was Caroline, too.... I should
be leaving you more, Jonathan, if it wasn’t for Caroline. But now,
she’s lived with me all these last years, I’ve got to provide for
her--differently to what I meant.’
He spoke slowly, picking his words a little. Mr. Trimblerigg listened
to them without disappointment or dismay. He had no objection to
Caroline being provided for on a generous scale; and as his own share
was apparently to be increased, Davidina was now evidently the one who
would have to give way.
‘And then,’ said his uncle, ‘there was the chapel to think about. Now
that you’ve accepted the Lord’s word I know what to do.’
With quavering hand he drew out a key, and directed his nephew to a
drawer with certain contents.
Under instruction Mr. Trimblerigg brought him the two documents.
He looked them through, and separating the one from the other had
it returned to the drawer and locked back into safety. He then did
something which convinced Mr. Trimblerigg that at last he trusted him.
He put into his hands the remaining document.
‘When you go downstairs, Jonathan, put that into the fire,’ he
said, ‘and see that it burns. It’s not wanted now.’ And as he heard
those words Mr. Trimblerigg felt that his future was assured (and
incidentally Caroline’s also). His anxieties were all over, but
curiosity remained.
When Uncle Phineas dismissed him he went downstairs with spirits
quietly elated; and seeing that his future wife was then busily
occupying the kitchen, he went into the parlour to consider matters.
First he opened and read the discarded will; its contents were not
sensational, but they would, had they outlived the testator, have
disappointed him. His uncle had left him an income of a hundred pounds,
and his books. The chapel went to Trustees with a small stipend for
the ministry of the Word according to the tenets of True Belief. The
residue of his property, real and personal, was divided in equal
portions between Caroline and Davidina; Caroline’s share including the
house he lived in. This meant that Caroline and Davidina would have
each got an income of over two hundred a year, of rising value.
When Caroline went up aloft at the ringing of Uncle Phineas’s handbell,
Mr. Trimblerigg went into the kitchen and without reluctance put the
document into the fire according to his instructions. And when Caroline
came down again to go on with the cooking, he proposed to her and was
accepted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account