‘Do, my boy. Honour thy father—that
thy days may be long in the land.’
It seemed to the major as he drove away from Barchester
that everybody was against him; and yet he was sure
that he himself was right. He could not give
up Grace Crawley; and unless he were to do so he could
not live at Cosby Lodge.
A lady presents her compliments
to miss L.D.
One morning while Lily Dale was staying with Mrs Thorne
in London, there was brought up to her room, as she
was dressing for dinner, a letter which the postman
had just left for her. The address was written
in a feminine hand, and Lily was at once aware that
she did not know the writing. The angles were
very acute, and the lines were very straight, and
the vowels looked to be cruel and false, with their
sharp points and their open eyes. Lily at once
knew that it was the performance of a woman who had
been taught to write at school, and not at home, and
she became prejudiced against the writer before she
opened the letter. When she had opened the letter
and read it, her feelings towards the writer were
not of a kindly nature. It was as follows:-
’A lady presents her compliments to Miss L D
and earnestly implores Miss L D to give her answer
to the following question: Is Miss L D engaged
to marry Mr J E? The lady in question pledges
herself not to interfere with Miss L D in any way,
should the answer be in the affirmative. The lady
earnestly requests that a reply to this question may
be sent to M D Post-office 455 Edgware Road.
In order that L D may not doubt that M D had an interest
in J E, M D encloses the last note she received from
him before he started for the Continent.’
Then there was a scrap, which Lily well knew to be
in the handwriting of John Eames, and the scrap was
as follows:—’Dearest M—punctually
at 8.30. Ever and always your unalterable J E.
Lily, as she read this, did not comprehend that John’s
note to M D had been in itself a joke.
Lily Dale had heard of anonymous letters before, but
had never received one, or even received one.
Now that she had one in her hand, it seemed to her
that there could be nothing more abominable than the
writing of such a letter. She let it drop from
her as though the receiving, and opening, and reading
it had been a stain to her. As it lay on the ground
at her feet, she trod upon it. Of what sort could
a woman be who wrote such a letter as that? Answer
it! Of course she would not answer it. It
never occurred to her for a moment that it could become
her to answer it. Had she been at home with her
mother, she would have called her mother to her, and
Mrs Dale would have taken it from the ground, and
have read it, and then destroyed it. As it was,
she must pick it up herself. She did so, and
declared to herself that there should be an end to
it. It might be right that somebody should see
it, and therefore she would show it to Emily Dunstable;
after that it should be destroyed.
