Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 24, 2025
Although Mavis's hair and colouring might only appeal to a certain order of taste, the girl's distinction, to which one of the Miss Mees had alluded earlier in the day, was glaringly patent to Mrs Devitt's sharp eyes; beside this indefinable personal quality, Mrs Devitt observed with a shudder, Victoria seemed middle-class.
Some half hour before the time by which Harold and his wife could arrive at Melkbridge House, the Devitt family were assembled in the library; in this room, because it was on the ground floor, and, therefore, more convenient for Harold's use, he having to be carried up and down stairs if going to other floors of the house. Devitt was frankly ill at ease.
If a few moments of pleasure are worth purchasing at a cost of many hours of crowded disappointment, it was as well that Mavis was ignorant of the way in which her prospects had been prejudiced by the trend of events at Melkbridge House since Mrs Devitt had replied to Miss Mee's letter.
Whenever Montague, a borough magistrate, met the buffers of the great families upon the bench, or in the hunting field, he found them civil enough; but their young men would have little to do with Lowther, while its womenfolk ignored the assiduities of the Devitt females.
"What's what's to be done?" gasped Mrs Devitt, when she was presently able to speak. "Don't ask me!" replied her husband. "Can't you do anything?" asked Miss Spraggs, during a pause in her hysterical weeping. "Do what?" "Something: anything. You're a man." "I haven't grasped it yet.
And I've done you a good turn." "I'm sorry to hear it. I wish you good morning." "What have I done to upset you?" asked Mavis. "Don't pretend you don't know." "But I don't." "What! Then I'll tell you. You've married young Devitt, when there's a man worth all the women who ever lived eating his heart out for you." Mavis stopped, amazed at the other woman's vehemence.
Mavis, also, pointed out to Devitt the advisability of rescuing from the lumber rooms several fine old pieces of furniture which were hidden away in disgrace, largely because they had belonged to Montague's humble grandfather. The handiwork of Chippendale and Hepplewhite was furbished up and put about the house, replacing Tottenham Court Road monstrosities.
Mavis's fate, as far as the Devitts were concerned, was decided in the twinkling of an eye. For all this decision, so suddenly arrived at, Mrs Devitt greeted Mavis kindly; indeed, the friendliness that she displayed caused the girl's hopes to rise. "Luncheon will be ready directly. We are only waiting for my husband," said Mrs Devitt. "You must be hungry after your journey," added Victoria.
It was her husband's turn to express astonishment. "Surely you'll do something?" she urged. "What can I do?" "As you know, it can't be a marriage in in the worldly sense; when it's like that something can surely be done," said Mrs Devitt, annoyed at having to make distant allusions to a subject hateful to her heart. "What about Harold's feelin's?" "But " "He probably loves her dearly.
"Better let her stay," said Devitt, while Mrs Devitt, seeing the girl's flushed face, recalled the passage in Miss Mee's letter which referred to Mavis's sudden anger. Mrs Devitt hated a display of emotion; she put down Mavis's interference with Lowther's design to bad form.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking