'Oh yes, my tulip,' Mr. Dunborough answered with gloomy meaning. 'But

there have been worse. I know what I know. See Collins's Peerage, volume

4, page 242: "Married firstly Sarah, widow of Colonel John Clark, of

Exeter, in the county of Devon"--all a hum, Tommy! If they had said

spinster, of Bridewell, in the county of Middlesex, 'twould have been

as true! I know what I know.' After that Mr. Thomasson went out of Magdalen, feeling that the world

was turning round with him. If Dunborough were capable of such a step as

this--Dunborough, who had seen life and service, and of whose past he

knew a good deal--where was he to place dependence? How was he to trust

even the worst of his acquaintances? The matter shook the pillars of the

tutor's house, and filled him with honest disgust.

Moreover, it frightened him. In certain circumstances he might have

found his advantage in fostering such a mésalliance. But here, not

only had he reason to think himself distasteful to the young lady whose

elevation was in prospect, but he retained too vivid a recollection of

Lady Dunborough to hope that that lady would forget or forgive him!

Moreover, at the present moment he was much straitened for money;

difficulties of long standing were coming to a climax. Venuses and

Titian copies have to be paid for. The tutor, scared by the prospect, to

which he had lately opened his eyes, saw in early preferment or a

wealthy pupil his only way of escape. And in Lady Dunborough lay his

main hope, which a catastrophe of this nature would inevitably shatter.

That evening he sent his servant to learn what he could of the

Mastersons' movements.

The man brought word that they had left the town that morning; that the

cottage was closed, and the key had been deposited at the college gates.

'Did you learn their destination?' the tutor asked, trimming his

fingernails with an appearance of indifference.

The servant said he had not; and after adding the common gossip of the

court, that Masterson had left money, and the widow had gone to her own

people, concluded, 'But they were very close after Masterson's death,

and the neighbours saw little of them. There was a lawyer in and out, a

stranger; and it is thought he was to marry the girl, and that that had

set them a bit above their position, sir.' 'That will do,' said the tutor. 'I want to hear no gossip,' And, hiding

his joy, he went off hot-foot to communicate the news to his pupil.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024