Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 19, 2025
That was the end of the Ellwells in old Boston. Mark Ellwell never came back. "The old man is done with me." That had been John's comment to his wife. And well might Mark Ellwell be done with him; there was not much left for another clearing up. There were the Four Corners, and his seat in the Board, and then beggary.
The Ellwells had kept the old Four Corners in Middleton long after the family had moved out into the wider world of Boston, and from farming and the ministry had entered the spheres of commerce and money-owning. In the time of old Roper Ellwell the Four Corners had been the parsonage for Middleton, and there first the Rev.
"Well," he said, "is she a bad lot, the woman you have induced to share your future?" Young Ellwell was too miserable to take fire at this brutality. "No, she isn't their sort though; she is a Swedish girl; she is a nurse in a hospital." "You were forced to marry her?" the older man asked. Ellwell nodded assent. "And now she is making it uncomfortable for you."
"Yes, I have known all the Ellwells except these young people. I was just out of Camberton when the war broke out. John Ellwell shirked then; it was not much to do to go to the front. It was in the air to fight." He paused to let this aspect of the case sink in. "Later I was chairman of the committee that requested him to leave the Tremont Club.
Ellwell had never kept improper books from her daughters it seemed so hopeless and she read what her father read, accepting the lurid picture of life presented in the novels plentifully scattered about the house as probably correct, yet with an indifference and weariness.
Miss Ellwell had not uttered a word; her face was bent over her work; and he noticed a few suspicious spots on the dark linen cloth she was hemming. He turned his face away to the sunny lawn and the dark, full-leaved trees that lay beyond the road. A flock of sparrows were rowing in sharp tones among the leaves.
When he became old in service, the congregation, now rich and fashionable, added to his ministrations the vigor of a younger man. Yet Roper Ellwell, on fine Sundays, still fired one of his former discourses from the lofty pulpit of his church. As these days grew rarer, the old pastor divided his time between his son's house on Beacon Street and the Four Corners.
His father gave him a house; as he chose to be a broker, his father started him with his own credit. A few years later, when the war was over and John Ellwell was succeeding in the general tide of success, established with a family and three young children, all seemed well. Now the Four Corners was rarely visited.
"We shall be sorry to miss you, but, if your father is ill, you ought to go." "Do you think one day would make any difference?" said Lily, pleadingly, putting up her lovely face at Maria. "It would mean three days, you know, dear," Maria said. "Of course it would," said George; "and Miss Edgham is entirely right, Lily." "I don't want Fanny Ellwell one bit for maid of honor," Lily said, poutingly.
"You'd better go. You don't care anything particular about going to that Merrill girl's wedding. She can get Fanny Ellwell for her maid of honor. That dress Fanny wore at Eva Granger's wedding will do for her to wear. Your dress will come in handy next summer. You had better go home." Maria sat soberly looking at the letter. "I am afraid father is worse than he says," she said. "I know he is.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking