CHAPTER I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XVI., XIII., XIV., XV.
MRS. ARTHUR.
BY
MRS. OLIPHANT,
AUTHOR OF
“The Chronicles of Carlingford,”
&c. &c.
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes.
. . . . . . .
A woman mov’d is like a fountain troubled.”
TAMING OF THE SHREW.
DIBDIN.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1877.
All rights reserved.
{1}
MRS. ARTHUR.
CHAPTER I.
ARTHUR CURTIS did not think of the letter which old Davies had given himtill days after. It had been crushed up in the pocket of his coat, thesight of his sister, and all the contending emotions of the time havingput it out of his head; and what could there be agreeable in such acommunication at such a time? A final sermon to him upon his folly, afinal admonition as to all the terrible consequences of his fault—hehad, he thought, enough of these, and he had not cared to make himselfmiserable on his wedding-{2}day with such a communication. It was notunmixed delight, even without that, though this was not a confession hemade to himself, in words, at least. But the sight of his sister’swriting half sickened him when he saw it eventually. To be told that thecourse you are pursuing is ruinous, when you are entirely delighted withthat course, is bad enough; but to be told so when the first shock ofdoubt, the first sharp suspicion of a mistake, has come into your mind,is unendurable. Arthur had not, it may be supposed, allowed to himselfthat this was already the state of affairs within a few days after hismarriage. He was the “happiest of men;” the society of his bride wassweet to him, and her tenderness gave him an exquisite, indescribable,all-penetrating delight, notwithstanding everything. Is the sudden shockof that absolute identification of two different people, the one withthe other, ever for the first moment, a happiness unmingled? It was not,at least,{3} to Arthur. And Nancy was not one of those compliant,s