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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Orley Farm
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THE MASONS OF GROBY PARK. VIII. MRS. MASON'S HOT LUNCHEON. IX. A CONVIVIAL MEETING. X. MR., MRS., AND MISS FURNIVAL. XI. MRS. FURNIVAL AT HOME. XII. MR. FURNIVAL'S CHAMBERS. XIII. GUILTY, OR NOT GUILTY. XIV. DINNER AT THE CLEEVE. XV. A MORNING CALL AT MOUNT PLEASANT VILLA. XVI. MR. DOCKWRATH IN BEDFORD ROW. XVII. VON B... | |
SHOWING HOW THINGS WENT ON AT NONINGSBY. LIII. LADY MASON RETURNS HOME. LIV. TELLING ALL THAT HAPPENED BENEATH THE LAMP-POST. LV. WHAT TOOK PLACE IN HARLEY STREET. LVI. HOW SIR PEREGRINE DID BUSINESS WITH MR. ROUND. LVII. THE LOVES AND HOPES OF ALBERT FITZALLEN. LVIII. MISS STAVELEY DECLINES TO EAT MINCED VEAL. LIX. NO... | |
CHAPTER XIV
VON BAUHR'S DREAM. CHAPTER XVII
THE ENGLISH VON BAUHR AND HIS PUPIL. CHAPTER XVIII
CHRISTMAS AT NONINGSBY--MORNING. CHAPTER XXII
CHRISTMAS AT NONINGSBY--EVENING. CHAPTER XXII
"WHY SHOULD I NOT?" CHAPTER XXV
MONKTON GRANGE. CHAPTER XXVIII
FELIX GRAHAM IN TROUB... | |
Were it true, I should call this story "The Great Orley Farm Case." But who would ask for the ninth number of a serial work burthened
with so very uncouth an appellation? Thence, and therefore,--Orley
Farm. I say so much at commencing in order that I may have an opportunity
of explaining that this book of mine will ... | |
Sir Joseph had been a London merchant; had made his own money, having
commenced the world, no doubt, with half a crown; had become, in
turn, alderman, mayor, and knight; and in the fulness of time was
gathered to his fathers. He had purchased this estate in Yorkshire
late in life--we may as well become acquainted w... | |
On the birth of his youngest
son, at which time his eldest was nearly forty years old, he made
certain moderate provision for the infant, as he had already made
moderate provision for his young wife; but it was then clearly
understood by the eldest son that Orley Farm was to go with the Groby
Park estate to him as... | |
All the circumstances of the trial need not be detailed here. It was
clearly proved that Sir Joseph had during his whole life expressed
his intention of leaving Orley Farm to his eldest son; that he was a
man void of mystery, and not given to secrets in his money matters,
and one very little likely to change his op... | |
These two last,
together with Mr. Usbech, were the three witnesses whose names
appeared in the codicil. There had been no secrets between Lady Mason
and her husband as to his will. She had always, she said, endeavoured
to induce him to leave Orley Farm to her child from the day of the
child's birth, and had at las... | |
He did remember witnessing a signature of his
master about the time specified by the date of the codicil, and he
remembered the maid-servant also signing at the same time. Mr. Usbech
was then present; but he did not remember Mr. Usbech having the
pen in his hand. Mr. Usbech, he knew, could not write at that time,
... | |
The last witness was Miriam Usbech, then a very pretty, simple girl
of seventeen. Her father had told her once that he hoped Sir Joseph
would make provision for her. This had been shortly before her
father's death. At her father's death she had been sent for to Orley
Farm, and had remained there till Sir Joseph die... | |
That stupid young
clerk was responsible for the only weak part of the matter; but if
he proved nothing on one side, neither did he prove anything on the
other. This was the commencement of the great Orley Farm Case, and having
been then decided in favour of the infant it was allowed to slumber
for nearly twenty ye... | |
It was in vain to tell her that the
character of young Dockwrath did not stand high, and that young
Kenneby, the clerk, should be promoted to all manner of good things. Soft and mild-eyed as Miriam was, Love was still the lord of all. In
this matter she would not be persuaded; and eventually she gave her
two thousa... | |
Among other solid benefits conferred by Lady Mason had been the
letting to Mr. Dockwrath of certain two fields, lying at the
extremity of the farm property, and quite adjacent to the town of
Hamworth in which old Mr. Usbech had resided. These had been let by
the year, at a rent not considered to be too high at that... | |
One, called
the Old Farm, was let to an old farmer named Greenwood, and had been
let to him and to his father for many years antecedent to the days
of the Masons. Mr. Greenwood held about three hundred acres of land,
paying with admirable punctuality over four hundred a year in rent,
and was regarded by all the Or... | |
This also was tiled, and the rooms were nearly as low; but
there were three stories, and the building therefore was considerably
higher. For five-and-twenty years the farm-house, so arranged, had
sufficed for the common wants of Sir Joseph and his family; but when
he determined to give up his establishment in the C... | |
As I have
said before, it was irregular and straggling, but at the same time
roomy and picturesque. Such was Orley Farm-house. There were about two hundred acres of land attached to it, together
with a large old-fashioned farm-yard, standing not so far from the
house as most gentlemen farmers might perhaps desire. ... | |
Orley Farm-house itself is somewhat more than a mile distant from
the town of Hamworth, but the land runs in the direction of the
town, not skirting the high road, but stretching behind the cottages
which stand along the pathway; and it terminates in those two fields
respecting which Mr. Dockwrath the attorney beca... | |
Sir Peregrine is not a rich man, not rich, that is, it being
borne in mind that he is a baronet, that he represented his county in
parliament for three or four sessions, and that his ancestors have
owned The Cleeve estate for the last four hundred years; but he is by
general repute the greatest man in these parts. ... | |
Haven't I paid her her rent every half-year as it came due? what more
would she have? Ungrateful, indeed! She is one of those women who
think that you ought to go down on your knees to them if they only
speak civilly to you. I'll let her know whether I'm ungrateful." These words were spoken by angry Mr. Samuel Dockw... | |
A family of sixteen
children is a heavy burden for a country attorney with a small
practice, even though his wife may have had a fortune of two thousand
pounds; and thus Mr. Dockwrath, though he had never himself loved
Lady Mason, had permitted his wife to accept all those numberless
kindnesses which a lady with c... | |
Those trumpery presents from Orley Farm were very
well while he was struggling for bare bread, but now, now that he had
turned the corner,--now that by his divine art and mystery of law
he had managed to become master of that beautiful result of British
perseverance, a balance at his banker's, he could afford to in... | |
"Sorry; yes, and I'll make her sorry, the proud minx. There's an old
saying, that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." "But, Samuel, I don't think she means to be doing you any harm. You
know she always did say-- Don't, Bessy; how can you put your fingers
into the basin in that way?" "Sam has take... | |
On the whole Miriam Usbech might have done better had she followed
the advice of her patroness in early life, and married the stupid
clerk. CHAPTER II. LADY MASON AND HER SON. I trust that it is already perceived by all persistent novel readers
that very much of the interest of this tale will be centred in the
pers... | |
But a fall had come upon
them,--as a fall does come very often to our excellent commercial
representatives--and Mr. Johnson was in the "Gazette." It would be
long to tell how old Sir Joseph Mason was concerned in these affairs,
how he acted as the principal assignee, and how ultimately he took
to his bosom as his ... | |
This was specially the case with Sir Joseph's son, to
whom the father had made over lands and money sufficient to enable
him to come before the world as a country gentleman with a coat of
arms on his coach-panel. It would be inconvenient for us to run off
to Groby Park at the present moment, and I will therefore sa... | |
The three daughters were circumstanced much
in the same way: they had all married gentlemen, and were bent on
rising in the world; moreover, the steadfast resolution of purpose
which characterised their father was known by them all,--and by
their husbands: they had received their fortunes, with some settled
contin... | |
She burthened him with no requests for gay society, and
took his home as she found it, making the best of it for herself, and
making it for him much better than he had ever hitherto known it. His
own children had always looked down upon him, regarding him merely
as a coffer from whence money might be had; and he, t... | |
How dreadfully would the young heir of Groby be curtailed
in his dignities and seignories if it should be found at the last day
that Orley Farm was not to be written in his rent-roll! And then, while they were yet bethinking themselves how they might
best bestir themselves, news arrived that Sir Joseph had suddenly
... | |
It resulted in
the favour of young Lucius Mason, and therefore, also, in the favour
of the widow;--in the favour moreover of Miriam Usbech, and thus
ultimately in the favour of Mr. Samuel Dockwrath, who is now showing
himself to be so signally ungrateful. Joseph Mason, however, retired
from the battle nothing conv... | |
Lady Mason had earned the respect of all those around her by the way
in which she bore herself in the painful days of the trial, and also
in those of her success,--especially also by the manner in which she
gave her evidence. And thus, though she had not been much noticed
by her neighbours during the short period o... | |
Sir
Peregrine was a gentleman now over seventy years of age, whose family
consisted of the widow of his only son, and the only son of that
widow, who was of course the heir to his estate and title. Sir
Peregrine was an excellent old man, as I trust may hereafter be
acknowledged; but his regard for Lady Mason was p... | |
When the first offers
of assistance were made and accepted, Sir Peregrine no doubt did
not at all dream of any such result as this. His family pride, and
especially the pride which he took in his widowed daughter-in-law,
would probably have been shocked by such a surmise; but,
nevertheless, he had seen the friends... | |
In person she was tall and comely. When Sir Joseph had brought her
to his house she had been very fair,--tall, slight, fair, and very
quiet,--not possessing that loveliness which is generally most
attractive to men, because the beauty of which she might boast
depended on form rather than on the brightness of her ey... | |
The quietness and
repose of her manner suited her years and her position; age had given
fulness to her tall form; and the habitual sadness of her countenance
was in fair accordance with her condition and character. And yet
she was not really sad,--at least so said those who knew her. The
melancholy was in her face... | |
At this time--the time which is about to exist for us as the period
at which our narrative will begin--Lucius Mason was over twenty-two
years old, and was living at the farm. He had spent the last three or
four years of his life in Germany, where his mother had visited him
every year, and had now come home intendin... | |
"Looking at the peculiar position of
his mother," said Sir Peregrine to his young daughter-in-law, "at her
very peculiar position, and that of his relatives, I think it will be
better that he should not appear to assume anything early in life;
nothing can be better conducted than Mr. Crabfield's establishment,
and... | |
But added to these, or rather consequent on them, was
a conceit which public-school education would not have created. When their mothers compared them in the holidays, not openly with
outspoken words, but silently in their hearts, Lucius Mason was found
by each to be the superior both in manners and knowledge; but e... | |
As to his future
career in life she did say much both to Sir Peregrine and to Mrs.
Orme, asking the council of the one and expressing her fears to the
other; and then, Sir Peregrine having given his consent, she sent the
lad to Germany. He was allowed to come of age without any special signs of manhood,
or aught o... | |
Looking to the antecedents of
the family, it was only proper that the coming of age of the heir
should be duly celebrated; but Lucius Mason had had no antecedents;
no great-great-grandfather of his had knelt at the feet of an
improper princess; and therefore Lady Mason, though she had been at
The Cleeve, had not m... | |
This
resolve he pronounced very clearly while yet in Germany, whither his
mother visited him, bearing with her a long letter written by the
great Mr. Furnival himself. But nevertheless young Mason would have
none of the law. "I have an idea," he said, "that lawyers are all
liars." Whereupon his mother rebuked him ... | |
When his mother found that he wished to take
up his abode in his own house, she by no means opposed him, and
suggested that, as such was his intention, he himself should farm his
own land. He was very ready to do this, and had she not represented
that such a step was in every way impolitic, he would willingly have
... | |
And thus Mr. Mason became an agriculturist
with special scientific views as to chemistry, and a philologist
with the object of making that pursuit bear upon his studies with
reference to the races of man. He was convinced that by certain
admixtures of ammonia and earths he could produce cereal results
hitherto unk... | |
"Mother," he said, when he had now been at home about three months,
and when the fiat for the expulsion of Samuel Dockwrath had already
gone forth, "I shall go to Liverpool to-morrow." "To Liverpool, Lucius?" "Yes. That guano which I got from Walker is adulterated. I have
analyzed it, and find that it does not conta... | |
"I think I would wait a little, Lucius. It is almost too late for any
change of that kind this year." "Wait! Yes, and what has come of waiting? We don't wait at all in
doubling our population every thirty-three years; but when we come
to the feeding of them we are always for waiting. It is that waiting
which has re... | |
That is what I shall
attempt at first, and there can be no great danger in that." And so
he went to Liverpool. Lady Mason during his absence began to regret that she had not left
him in the undisturbed and inexpensive possession of the Mongolidae
and the Iapetidae. His rent from the estate, including that which she... | |
Such men not uncommonly have their tens,
twelves, and twenty thousands a year; but Sir Peregrine's estate
did not give him above three or four. He was lord of the manor of
Hamworth, and possessed seignorial rights, or rather the skeleton and
remembrance of such rights with reference to a very large district of
cou... | |
The soil of the park was not rich, and
could give but little assistance to the chemists in supplying the
plentiful food expected by Mr. Mason for the coming multitudes of the
world; it produced in some parts heather instead of grass, and was
as wild and unprofitable as Cleeve Common, which stretched for miles
outs... | |
The air here was always damp with spray, and
the rocks on both sides were covered with long mosses, as were also
the overhanging boughs of the old trees. This place was the glory
of The Cleeve, and as far as picturesque beauty goes it was very
glorious. There was a spot in the river from whence a steep path led
do... | |
To those who were manifestly
his inferiors he was affable, to his recognised equals he was
courteous, to women he was almost always gentle;--but to men who
claimed an equality which he would not acknowledge, he could make
himself particularly disagreeable. In judging the position which a
man should hold in the wor... | |
He did not
easily believe a fellow-creature to be a liar, but a liar to him once
was a liar always. And then he was amenable to flattery, and few that
are so are proof against the leading-strings of their flatterers. All
this was well understood of Sir Peregrine by those about him. His
gardener, his groom, and his... | |
Such she had been when young
Peregrine Orme brought her home to The Cleeve, and the bride at once
became the darling of her father-in-law. One year she had owned
of married joy, and then all the happiness of the family had been
utterly destroyed, and for the few following years there had been no
sadder household i... | |
Any word from her has been law to him, and he has of
course expected also that her word should be law to others. He has
yielded to her in all things, and attended to her will as though she
were a little queen, recognizing in her feminine weakness a sovereign
power, as some men can and do; and having thus for years ... | |
Every shilling due on the property has been paid
off; and it is well that this should be so, for there is reason to
fear that the heir will want a helping hand out of some of youth's
difficulties,--perhaps once or twice before his passion for rats
gives place to a good English gentleman-like resolve to hunt twice a... | |
The days have not yet
come, though they are no doubt coming, when "detur digniori" shall
be the rule of succession to all titles, honours, and privileges
whatsoever. Only think what a life it would give to the education of
the country in general, if any lad from seventeen to twenty-one could
go in for a vacant duk... | |
He
had assisted in driving a farmer's sow into the man's best parlour,
or had daubed the top of the tutor's cap with white paint, or had
perhaps given liberty to a bag full of rats in the college hall at
dinner-time. Such were the youth's academical amusements, and as they
were pursued with unremitting energy it w... | |
Sir Peregrine turned away and walked twice the length of the library;
then, returning to the spot where the other stood, he put his hand on
his grandson's shoulder. "Well, Peregrine, I will pay them," he said. "I have no doubt that you did so intend when you incurred them;--and
that was perhaps natural. I will pay t... | |
His hair was light; his forehead
was not large, but well formed and somewhat prominent; his nose
had something, though not much, of the eagle's beak; his mouth was
handsome in its curve, and his teeth were good, and his chin was
divided by a deep dimple. His figure was not only short, but stouter
than that of the ... | |
Sir
Peregrine conceived that money was a man's business, and that the
softness of a woman's character should be preserved by a total
absence of all pecuniary thoughts and cares. And then there arose at The Cleeve a question as to what should
immediately be done with the heir. He himself was by no means so well
pre... | |
Going to Leicestershire was quite out of the question for young Orme
at this period of his life, but going to London unfortunately was
not so. He had become acquainted at Oxford with a gentleman of
great skill in his peculiar line of life, whose usual residence
was in the metropolis; and so great had been the attra... | |
Sir Peregrine sent for his grandson into his study, and
insisted on knowing everything;--how much money there was to pay, and
what chance there might be of an action and damages. Of an action and
damages there did not seem to be any chance, and the amount of money
claimed was not large. Rats have this advantage, th... | |
I do not expect you to sacrifice your tastes for me;
but I did think that you loved your mother!" "So I do;--and you too." "I am not speaking about myself sir. When I think what your father
was at your age;--how nobly--" And then the baronet was stopped in
his speech, and wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. "Do yo... | |
If you think that--rats are a proper pursuit for a
gentleman in your sphere of life, and if all that I can say has
no effect in changing your opinion--I shall have done. I have not
many years of life before me, and when I shall be no more, you can
squander the property in any vile pursuits that may be pleasing to
... | |
"Yes, sir; for two years," said the baronet, more angry than ever at
the young man's pertinacity, and yet almost amused at his grandson's
already formed resolve to go back to his occupation at the first
opportunity allowed. "Couldn't you date it from the end of August, sir? The best of the
matches always come off i... | |
It was the manner of Sir Peregrine to forgive altogether when he did
forgive; and to commence his forgiveness in all its integrity from
the first moment of the pardon. There was nothing he disliked so
much as being on bad terms with those around him, and with none more
so than with his grandson. Peregrine well knew... | |
Lady Mason, when she wrote this note, was well aware that it would
not be necessary for her to go to The Cleeve. Sir Peregrine's
courtesy would not permit him to impose any trouble on a lady when
the alternative of taking that trouble on himself was given to him. Moreover, he liked to have some object for his daily ... | |
The distance for a horseman was somewhat greater, seeing that
there was not as yet any bridle-way through Crutchley Wood. Under
these circumstances the journey between the two houses was very
frequently made on foot; and for those walking from The Cleeve House
to Hamworth the nearest way was by Lady Mason's gate. L... | |
She was plainly dressed, without any full
exuberance of costume, and yet everything about her was neat and
pretty, and everything had been the object of feminine care. A very
plain dress may occasion as much study as the most elaborate,--and
may be quite as worthy of the study it has caused. Lady Mason, I am
incli... | |
Sir Peregrine, remembering the affair in Cowcross
Street, and certain other affairs of a somewhat similar nature,
thought that she had; but for all that he would not have exchanged
his own bright-eyed lad for Lucius Mason with all his virtues and all
his learning. "And indeed I am thankful," continued the widow. "N... | |
"I am afraid it is; and now he has gone to Liverpool to buy--guano,"
said the widow, feeling some little shame in coming to so
inconsiderable a conclusion after her somewhat stately prologue. "To buy guano! Why could he not get his guano from Walker, as my man
Symonds does?" "He says it is not good. He analyzed it, ... | |
"He must put a stop to that kind of work very soon, Lady
Mason; he must indeed; or he will bring himself to ruin--and you with
him." Lady Mason's face became very grave and serious. "But what can I say
to him, Sir Peregrine? In such a matter as that I am afraid that he
would not mind me. If you would not object to ... | |
They say that the
pith of a lady's letter is in the postscript, and it may be that that
which remained for Lady Mason to say, was after all the matter as to
which she was most anxious for assistance. "As you are here," she
said to the baronet, "would you let me mention another subject?" "Surely," said he, again put... | |
"I do not know--I do not know what he intends, or whether he intends
anything; but I am sure of this,--that he will give me trouble if he
can. But I will tell you the whole story, Sir Peregrine. It is not
much, and perhaps after all may not be worth attention. You know the
attorney in Hamworth who married Miriam Us... | |
"I think I may say so." "But, dear Lady Mason, may I ask you how you know this as a fact?" "His wife was with me yesterday," she said, with some feeling of
shame as she disclosed the source from whence she had obtained her
information. "And did she tell the tale against her own husband?" "Not as meaning to say anythi... | |
"I know you think that I have done wrong," she then said, appealing
to him; and there was a tone of sorrow in her voice which went to his
heart. "No, not wrong; I cannot say that you have done wrong. It may be a
question whether you have done wisely." "Ah! if you only condemn my folly, I will not despair. It is prob... | |
"I doubt if he would throw away his money even for that, unless he
were very sure of his prey. And in this matter, what can he possibly
do? He has the decision of the jury against him, and at the time he
was afraid to carry the case up to a court of appeal." "But, Sir Peregrine, it is impossible to know what documen... | |
And then the baronet, having thus spoken
words of wisdom, sat silent in his arm-chair; and Lady Mason, still
looking into his face, remained silent also for a few minutes. "I am so glad I asked you to come," she then said. "I am delighted, if I have been of any service to you." "Of any service! oh, Sir Peregrine, you... | |
And then taking her hand, the old gentleman bowed over it and kissed
it. "My dearest, dearest friend!" said she; and lifting Sir Peregrine's
beautifully white hand to her lips she also kissed that. It will be
remembered that the gentleman was over seventy, and that this pretty
scene could therefore be enacted witho... | |
Had there been
any one by, she would, it may be surmised, have been more careful. There was no smile in her face now, neither was there any tear in her
eye. The one and the other emblem were equally alien to her present
mood. But there was sorrow at her heart, and deep thought in her
mind. She knew that her enemies... | |
and there had been a
gleam of satisfaction in Samuel's eye as he uttered the words which
had convinced his wife that it was not an idle threat. She knew
nothing of what the box had contained; and now, even if it had not
been kept safe from her under Samuel's private key, the contents
which were of interest had of ... | |
And then
Mr. Dockwrath did start for the north, bearing certain documents with
him; and soon after his departure Mrs. Dockwrath did pay a visit to
Orley Farm. Lady Mason sat there perfectly still for about an hour thinking what
she would do. She had asked Sir Peregrine, and had the advantage of
his advice; but tha... | |
When the hour was ended she had made up her mind that she would do
nothing more in the matter, at any rate on that day. CHAPTER VI. THE COMMERCIAL ROOM, BULL INN, LEEDS. Mr. Samuel Dockwrath was a little man, with sandy hair, a pale face,
and stone-blue eyes. In judging of him by appearance only and not by
the ear, ... | |
It was a nasty, cold,
drizzling night, so that the beauties and marvels of the large
manufacturing town offered him no attraction, and at nine o'clock
he had seated himself before the fire in the commercial room at The
Bull, had called for a pair of public slippers, and was about to
solace all his cares with a gla... | |
All inn-keepers have commercial rooms, as certainly
as they have taps and bars, but all of them do not have commercial
rooms in the properly exclusive sense. A stranger, therefore, who has
asked for and obtained his mutton-chop in the commercial room of The
Dolphin, The Bear, and The George, not unnaturally asks to... | |
The men who are not known are shy, diffident,
doubtful, and anxious to propitiate the chambermaid by great
courtesy. The men who are known are loud, jocular, and assured;--or
else, in case of deficient accommodation, loud, angry, and full of
threats. The guests who had now arrived were well known, and seemed
at pr... | |
This was Mr. Moulder, well known on the
road as being in the grocery and spirit line; a pushing man, who
understood his business, and was well trusted by his firm in spite of
his habitual intemperance. What did the firm care whether or no he
killed himself by eating and drinking? He sold his goods, collected
his m... | |
At whatever he looked he looked sideways; it was not
that he did not look you in the face, but he always looked at you
with a sidelong glance, never choosing to have you straight in front
of him. And the more eager he was in conversation--the more anxious
he might be to gain his point, the more he averted his face ... | |
When I shall have also said that the hair
on Mr. Kantwise's head stood up erect all round to the height of two
inches, and that it was very red, I shall have been accurate enough
in his personal description. That Mr. Moulder represented a firm good business, doing tea, coffee,
and British brandy on a well-establish... | |
"Gen'elman by the 8.22 down," said James. "Commercial?" asked Mr. Moulder, with angry frown. "He says so himself, anyways," said the waiter. "Gammon!" replied Mr. Moulder, who knew all the bearings of a
commercial man thoroughly, and could have put one together if he were
only supplied with a little bit--say the mout... | |
Mr. Moulder had not
been prepared to take any step towards turning the gentleman out,
though doubtless he might have done so had he chosen to exercise
his prerogative. But he did expect that the gentleman would have
acknowledged the weakness of his footing, by moving himself a little
towards one side of the fire, ... | |
"Sir," said Mr. Moulder, having become very red about the cheeks and
chin, "I and this gentleman are going to have a bit of supper, and it
ain't accustomed to smoke in commercial rooms during meals. You know
the rules no doubt if you're commercial yourself;--as I suppose you
are, seeing you in this room." Now Mr. M... | |
"Goodness me, Mr. Moulder, how many times have I seen you sitting
there with a pipe in your mouth, and half a dozen gents eating their
teas the while in this very room? The rule of the case I take it to
be this; when--"
"Bother your rules." "Well; it was you spoke of them." "The question I take to be this," said ... | |
Taking the word in its broadest, strictest, and most
intelligible sense, I am a commercial gentleman; and as such I do
maintain that I have a full right to the accommodation of this public
room." "That's very well put," said Mr. Kantwise. "Waiter," thundered out Mr. Moulder, as though he imagined that that
function... | |
"I travelled for three years in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and
Wiltshire," said Moulder, "and the commercial rooms were as well kept
there as any I ever see." "I alluded to Surrey and Kent," said Mr. Dockwrath. "They're uncommonly miscellaneous in Surrey and Kent," said Kantwise. "There's no doubt in the world about ... | |
So they now sat
round the fire together, the attorney still keeping his seat in the
middle. And then Mr. Moulder ordered his little bit of steak with his
tea. "With the gravy in it, James," he said, solemnly. "And a bit
of fat, and a few slices of onion, thin mind, put on raw, not with
all the taste fried out; and... | |
asked Mr. Kantwise, addressing himself to Mr. Moulder, as
soon as the things had been cleared from the table, and that latter
gentleman had been furnished with a pipe and a supply of cold
without. "I remember his father when I was a boy," said Moulder, not troubling
himself to take his pipe from his mouth, "Mason a... | |
And then,
having enunciated this excellent opinion with much energy, he took a
long pull at his brandy and water. "Very old fashioned, Mr. Moulder," said Kantwise, looking round the
corner, then shutting his eyes and shaking his head. "May be," said Moulder, "and yet none the worse for that. I call it
hawking and p... | |
They go on behind, and you wouldn't know it, sir." To this,
however, Mr. Dockwrath would not assent. As he wanted to see Mr.
Mason very specially, he should go early, and preferred going by
himself. "No offence, I hope," said Mr. Kantwise. "None in the least," said Mr. Dockwrath. "And if you would allow me, sir, to ... | |
Why, sir, I can let you have a set of
drawing-room furniture for fifteen ten that you've never seen
equalled in wood for three times the money;--ornamented in the
tastiest way, sir, and fit for any lady's drawing-room or boodoor. The ladies of quality are all getting them now for their boodoors. There's three tables... | |
"The trouble would be nothing," said Mr. Kantwise, "and it gives me
the greatest pleasure to make them known when I find any one who
can appreciate such undoubted luxuries;" and so saying Mr. Kantwise
skipped out of the room, and soon returned with James and Boots, each
of the three bearing on his shoulder a deal b... |
End of preview. Expand in Data Studio
ForgetRetainBooks
This dataset is derived from the NarrativeQA dataset, created by Kocisky et al. (2018). NarrativeQA is a dataset for evaluating reading comprehension and narrative understanding.
This dataset is an extraction of the book content from the original NarrativeQA dataset.
Citation
If you want to use this dataset, please also cite the original NarrativeQA dataset.
@article{narrativeqa,
author = {Tom\'a\v s Ko\v cisk\'y and Jonathan Schwarz and Phil Blunsom and
Chris Dyer and Karl Moritz Hermann and G\'abor Melis and
Edward Grefenstette},
title = {The {NarrativeQA} Reading Comprehension Challenge},
journal = {Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics},
url = {https://TBD},
volume = {TBD},
year = {2018},
pages = {TBD},
}
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