Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: July 2, 2025
'I do not think I ever saw you untidy, Lizzie, said Anne, 'except after a day's nutting in the hanging wood. 'Oh yes, I could generally preserve a little outward tidiness, said Elizabeth; 'besides, a visit at Merton Hall is very different from every day in shabby old Abbeychurch.
'Am I late? said Rupert; 'I hope no one has waited for me. 'I hope not indeed, said Elizabeth; 'pray, did you expect the Bishop and Clergy, and the whole town of Abbeychurch, St. Mary and St. Austin, to wait your pleasure and convenience? Anne, did you ever hear the like? Do you think Prince Rupert himself was ever so favoured and honoured? 'What do you mean? said Rupert.
During breakfast, it was arranged that the three elder ladies should go in the Mertons' carriage to Baysmouth, a large town, which was about ten miles distant from Abbeychurch, and take Winifred and Edward with them; Dora was to accompany the other young people in a long walk, to a farm-house, which report said had been a baronial castle in the days of King Stephen, and from exploring the antiquities of which some of them expected great things, especially as it was known by the mysterious name of Whistlefar.
'The company there present, are, I believe, honoured with due mention of Sir Edward Merton and family, said Rupert; 'but I am speaking of another part of the paper where Miss Merton is especially noted, alone in her glory. 'In what paper did you say, Rupert? said Lady Merton. 'The Abbeychurch Reporter, said he. 'Mr. Higgins's paper! said Anne.
'That when anyone wishes to distinguish the Reverend Hugh Puddington from all other Vicars of Abbeychurch, his appellation is "The man that built the kitchen chimney." 'That being, I suppose, the only record he has left behind him, said Anne. 'The only one now existing, said Elizabeth, 'since Papa has made his great horrid pew in the chancel into open seats.
'No, said Elizabeth, with rather less of the manner of a suspected criminal examined in sight of the rack; 'I am sick of all the Abbeychurch pianos; I know them all perfectly, and hear nothing else. Mrs. Bouverie laughed, and was glad to obtain something like an answer. 'Your cousin plays very well, said she.
He succeeded, as we have heard; and it was the tall white spire of the now Church of St. Austin's, which greeted Anne Merton's delighted eyes, as on the 27th of August, she, with her father and mother, came to the top of a long hill, about five miles from Abbeychurch. What that sight was to her, only those who have shared in the joys of church-building can know.
'She really is a lady, but very badly off, and most of the Abbeychurch gentility are too fine to visit her, so that a little quiet chat with her is by no means of the common-place kind. Besides, she knows and loves us all like her own children. It was one of the first pleasures I can remember, to gather roses for her, and carry them to her from her own old garden here.
'Your inns are on the move, said Anne; 'I see that little beer-shop near the Station calls itself "The Locomotive Hotel." 'I wish it were really locomotive, said Elizabeth, 'so that it would travel out of Abbeychurch; it is ruining half the young men here.
London tradesmen were tempted to retire to 'the beautiful and venerable town of Abbeychurch; the houses were quickly filled, one street after another was built, till the population of the town was more than doubled. A deficiency in church accommodation was soon felt, for the old church had before been but just sufficient for the inhabitants.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking