He would astonish the county by his charities, and in bad
years by the munificence of his reductions in rents.
Perhaps if there were a particularly bad harvest, he would
decline all over his estate to exact any rent whatever.
Fancy what a noble sensation that would make! A Duke could
do no more.
It was very clear to him now that he desired to have children
of his own,--say two at least, a son and a daughter,
or perhaps a son and two daughters: two little girls
would be company for each other. As he prefigured
these new beings, the son was to exist chiefly for
purposes of distinction and the dignity of heirship,
and the paternal relations with him would be always
somewhat formal, and, though affectionate, unexpansive.
But the little girls--they would put their arms round
their father's neck, and walk out with him to see the
pigs and the dogs, and be the darlings of his heart.
He would be an old man by the time they grew up.
A beatific vision of himself took form in his mind--of
himself growing grey and pleasurably tired, surrounded by
opulence and the demonstrative respect of everybody,
smiling with virtuous content as he strolled along between
his two daughters, miracles of beauty and tenderness,
holding each by a hand.
The entrance of a clerk broke abruptly upon this daydream.
Pages:
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411