Meeke
were always together, playing duets as if they had their living
to get by it. A more harmless connection than the connection
between those two never existed in this world; and yet, innocent
as it was, it turned out to be the first cause of all the
misfortunes that afterward happened.
My master's treatment of Mr. Meeke was, from the first, the very
opposite of my mistress's. The restless, rackety, bounceable Mr.
James Smith felt a contempt for the weak, womanish, fiddling
little parson, and, what was more, did not care to conceal it.
For this reason, Mr. Meeke (who was dreadfully frightened by my
master's violent language and rough ways) very seldom visited at
the Hall except when my mistress was alone there. Meaning no
wrong, and therefore stooping to no concealment, she never
thought of taking any measures to keep Mr. Meeke out of the way
when he happened to be with her at the time of her husband's
coming home, whether it was only from a riding excursion in the
neighborhood or from a cruise in the schooner. In this way it so
turned out that whenever my master came home, after a long or
short absence, in nine cases out of ten he found the parson at
the Hall.
At first he used to laugh at this circumstance, and to amuse
himself with some coarse jokes at the expense of his wife and her
companion.
Pages:
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418