Now if there was anybody whom Georgiana Longestaffe had despised from her youth upwards it was George Whitstable.  He had been a laughing-stock to her when they were children, had been regarded as a lout when he left school, and had been her common example of rural dullness since he had become a man.  He certainly was neither beautiful nor bright;—­but he was a Conservative squire born of Tory parents.  Nor was he rich;—­having but a moderate income, sufficient to maintain a moderate country house and no more.  When first there came indications that Sophia intended to put up with George Whitstable, the more ambitious sister did not spare the shafts of her scorn.  And now she was told that George Whitstable would not speak to her future husband!  She was not to marry Mr Brehgert...