There sat the schoolmaster, in conversation
with a lady, whom the woman of the house, awed by her sternness and
grandeur, had, out of regard to her lodger's feelings, shown into
her parlour and not into his bedroom.
Cherishing the hope that the patent consequences of his line of action
might have already taught him moderation, Mrs Marshal, instead of
going to chapel to hear Mr Masquar, had paid Mr Graham a visit,
with the object of enlisting his sympathies if she could, at all
events his services, in the combating of the scruples he had himself
aroused in the bosom of her son. What had passed between them I
do not care to record, but when Lady Clementina--unannounced of
the landlady--entered, there was light enough, notwithstanding
the non reflective properties of the water butt, to reveal Mrs
Marshal flushed and flashing, Mr Graham grave and luminous, and
to enable the chapel business eye of Mrs Marshal, which saw every
stranger that entered "Hope," at once to recognise her as having
made one of the congregation the last Sunday evening.
Evidently one of Mr Graham's party, she was not prejudiced in her
favour. But there was that in her manner which impressed her--
that something ethereal and indescribable which she herself was
constantly aping, and, almost involuntarily, she took upon herself
such honours as the place, despicable in her eyes, would admit of.
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