It was thought that upon the whole she made him a
good wife. She hunted four days a week, and he could afford to
keep horses for her. She never flirted, and wanted no one to open
gates. Tom Spooner himself was not always so forward as he used to
be; but his wife was always there and would tell him all that he
did not see himself. And she was a good housewife, taking care
that nothing should be spent lavishly, except upon the stable. Of
him, too, and of his health, she was careful, never scrupling to
say a word in season when he was likely to hurt himself, either
among the fences, or among the decanters. 'You ain't so young as
you were, Tom. Don't think of doing it.' This she would say to
him with a loud voice when she would find him pausing at a fence.
Then she would hop over herself and he would go round. She as
'quite a providence to him', as her mother, old Mrs Leatherside,
would say.
She was hardly the woman that one would have expected to meet as a
friend in the drawing-room of Lady Chiltern. Lord Chiltern was
perhaps a little rough, but Lady Chiltern was all that a mother, a
wife, and a lady ought to be.
Pages:
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838