CHAPTER VII

Visit to woman’s prison—­interview there with Mrs. Maybrick—­
scene in A LIFER’S cell; the husband who never knew thought wife
made money sewing—­MARGOT’S plea that failed

CHAPTER VIII

MARGOT’S first baby and its loss—­dangerous illness—­letter from
Queen Victoria—­sir William Harcourt’s PLEASANTRIES—­Asquith
ministry falls—­visit from duchess D’AOSTA

CHAPTER IX

Margot in 1906 sums up her life; A lot of love-making, A little
fame and more abuse:  A real man and great happiness

MARGOT ASQUITH

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BOOK ONE

“Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid wooed by incapacity.”—­Blake.

CHAPTER I

THE TENNANT FAMILY—­MARGOT, ONE OF TWELVE CHILDREN—­HOME LIFE IN GLEN, SCOTLAND—­FATHER A SELF-CENTRED BUSINESS-MAN; HIS VANITIES; HIS PRIDE IN HIS CHILDREN—­NEWS OF HIS DEATH—­HANDSOME LORD RIBBLESDALE VISITS GLEN—­MOTHER DELICATE; HER LOVE OF ECONOMY; CONFIDENCES—­TENNANT GIRLS’ LOVE AFFAIRS

I was born in the country of Hogg and Scott between the Yarrow and the Tweed, in the year 1864.

I am one of twelve children, but I only knew eight, as the others died when I was young.  My eldest sister Pauline—­or Posie, as we called her—­was born in 1855 and married on my tenth birthday one of the best of men, Thomas Gordon Duff. [Footnote:  Thomas Gordon Duff, of Drummuir Castle, Keith.] She died of tuberculosis, the cruel disease by which my family have all been pursued.  We were too different in age and temperament to be really intimate, but her goodness, patience and pluck made a deep impression on me.

My second sister, Charlotte, was born in 1858 and married, when I was thirteen, the present Lord Ribblesdale, in 1877.  She was the only member of the family—­except my brother Edward Glenconner—­ who was tall.  My mother attributed this—­and her good looks—­to her wet-nurse, Janet Mercer, a mill-girl at Innerleithen, noted for her height and beauty.  Charty—­as we called her—­was in some ways the most capable of us all, but she had not Laura’s genius, Lucy’s talents, nor my understanding.  She had wonderful grace and less vanity than any one that ever lived; and her social courage was a perpetual joy.  I heard her say to the late Lord Rothschild, one night at a dinner party: