There are women who cannot grow alone as standard trees;⁠—for whom the support and warmth of some wall, some paling, some post, is absolutely necessary;⁠—who, in their growth, will bend and incline th...

There were during the summer months four Dorcas afternoons held weekly in Baslehurst, at all of which Mrs. Prime presided. It was her custom to start soon after dinner, so as to reach the working room...

There was plenty of time for full inquiry and full reply between Mrs. Ray and Mrs. Prime before Rachel opened the cottage door, and interrupted them. It was then nearly half-past ten. Rachel had never...

Rachel was still thinking of Luke Rowan and of the man’s arm when she opened the cottage door, but the sight of her sister’s face, and the tone of her sister’s voice, soon brought her back to a full c...

Mrs. Tappitt was very full of her party. It had grown in her mind as those things do grow, till it had come to assume almost the dimensions of a ball. When Mrs. Tappitt first consulted her husband and...

I am disposed to think that Mrs. Butler Cornbury did Mrs. Tappitt an injury when she with so much ready good nature accepted the invitation for the party, and that Mrs. Tappitt was aware of this befor...

Mrs. Butler Cornbury was a very pretty woman. She possessed that peculiar prettiness which is so often seen in England, and which is rarely seen anywhere else. She was bright, well-featured, with spea...

It came to be voted by public acclamation that Rachel Ray was the belle of the evening. I think this was brought about quite as much by Mrs. Butler Cornbury’s powerful influence as by Rachel’s beauty....

Mrs. Tappitt’s ball was celebrated on a Tuesday, and on the preceding Monday Mrs. Prime moved herself off, bag and baggage, to Miss Pucker’s lodgings. Miss Pucker had been elated with a dismal joy whe...

“The truth is, T., there was some joking among the young people about the wine, and then Rowan went and ordered it.” This was Mrs. Tappitt’s explanation about the champagne, made to her husband on the...

It was the custom of the Miss Tappitts, during these long midsummer days, to start upon their evening walk at about seven o’clock, the hour for the family gathering round the tea-table being fixed at ...

Luke Rowan’s appearance at Mrs. Ray’s tea-table, as described in the last chapter, took place on Wednesday evening, and it may be remembered that on the morning of that same day Mrs. Prime had been cl...

Luke Rowan, when he left the cottage, walked quickly back across the green towards Baslehurst. He had sauntered out slowly on his road from the brewery to Bragg’s End, being in doubt as to what he wou...

Early after breakfast on that morning⁠—that morning on which Tappitt had for a moment thought of braining Luke Rowan with the poker⁠—Mrs. Ray started from the cottage on her mission into Baslehurst. S...

On the Friday morning there was a solemn conference at the brewery between Mrs. Tappitt and Mrs. Rowan. Mrs. Rowan found herself to be in some difficulty as to the line of action which she ought to ta...

On the Monday evening, after tea, Mrs. Prime came out to the cottage. It was that Monday on which Mrs. Rowan and her daughter had left Baslehurst and had followed Luke up to London. She came out and s...

And now, in these days⁠—the days immediately following the departure of Luke Rowan from Baslehurst⁠—the Tappitt family were constrained to work very hard at the task of defaming the young man who had ...

The current of events forced upon Rachel a delay of three or four days in answering her letter, or rather forced upon her that delay in learning whether or no she might answer it; and this was felt by...

Mrs. Ray, in her trouble occasioned by Luke’s letter, had walked up to Mr. Comfort’s house, but had not found him at home. Therefore she had written to him, in his own study, a few very simple words, ...

Rachel, as soon as she had made her mother the promise that she would write the letter, left the parlour and went up to her own room. She had many thoughts to adjust in her mind which could not be adj...

Six weeks passed over them at Bragg’s End, and nothing was heard of Luke Rowan. Rachel’s letter, a copy of which was given in our last chapter, was duly sent away by the postman, but no answer to it c...

In the meantime things were not going on very pleasantly at the brewery, and Mr. Tappitt was making himself unpleasant in the bosom of his family. A lawsuit will sometimes make a man extremely pleasan...

Another fortnight went by, and still nothing further was heard at Bragg’s End from Luke Rowan. Much was heard of him in Baslehurst. It was soon known by everybody that he had bought the cottages; and ...

Towards the end of September the day of the election arrived, and with it arrived Luke Rowan at Baslehurst. The vacancy had been occasioned by the acceptance of the then sitting member of that situati...

By one vote! Old Mr. Cornbury when he heard of it gasped with dismay, and in secret regretted that his son had not been beaten. What seat could be gained by one vote and not be contested, especially w...

Luke Rowan had been told that Mrs. Butler Cornbury wished to see him when the election should be over; and on the evening of the election the victorious candidate, before he returned home, asked Luke ...

During the day or two immediately subsequent to the election, Mr. Tappitt found himself to be rather downhearted. The excitement of the contest was over. He was no longer buoyed up by the consoling an...

When Mrs. Tappitt had settled within her own mind that the brewery should be abandoned to Rowan, she was by no means, therefore, ready to assent that Rachel Ray should become the mistress of the brewe...

Above an hour had passed after the interruption mentioned at the end of the last chapter before Mrs. Ray and Rachel crossed back from the farmhouse to the cottage, and when they went they went alone. ...

Early in November Mr. Tappitt officially announced his intention of abdicating, and the necessary forms and deeds and parchment obligations were drawn out, signed and sealed, for the giving up of the ...