"I didn't suppose you'd have done it, Maude! You might play tricks upon
other people, I think, but not upon your own mother."
The interlude was rather welcome to Maude, rousing her from her apathy.
Not for some few moments, however, could she understand the cause of
complaint.
It appeared that the countess-dowager, with that absence of all sense of
the fitness of things which so eminently characterized her, had joined
the Ashtons after service, inquiring with quite motherly solicitude after
Mrs. Ashton's health, complimenting Anne upon her charming looks; making
herself, in short, as agreeable as she knew how, and completely ignoring
the past in regard to her son-in-law. Gentlewomen in mind and manners,
they did not repulse her, were even courteously civil; and she graciously
accompanied them across the road to the Rectory-gate, and there took a
cordial leave, saying she would look in on the morrow.
In returning she met Dr. Ashton. He was passing her with nothing but a
bow; but he little knew the countess-dowager. She grasped his hand; said
how grieved she was not to have had an opportunity of explaining away her
part in the past; hoped he would let bygones be bygones; and finally,
whilst the clergyman was scheming how to get away from her without
absolute rudeness, she astonished him with a communication touching the
action-at-law. There ensued a little mutual misapprehension, followed by
a few emphatic words of denial from Dr.
Pages:
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342