So
before Mrs Weston realised that she had the whole table attending to
her, he said:
"I shall get it out of Robert after dinner. And I'll tell you, Mrs
Quantock."
"Before Atkinson came to the Colonel," said Mrs Weston, going on
precisely where she had left off, "and that was five years before
Elizabeth came to me--let me see--was it five or was it four and a
half?--four and a half we'll say, he had another servant whose name was
Ahab Crowe."
"No!" said Georgie.
"Yes!" said Mrs Weston, hastily finishing her champagne, for she saw
Foljambe coming near--"Yes, Ahab Crowe. He married, too, just like
Atkinson is going to, and that's an odd coincidence in itself. I tell
the Colonel that if Ahab Crowe hadn't married, he would be with him
still, and who can say that he'd have fancied Elizabeth? And if he
hadn't, I don't believe that the Colonel and I would ever have--well,
I'll leave that alone, and spare my blushes. But that's not what I was
saying. Whom do you think Ahab Crowe married? You can have ten guesses
each, and you would never come right, for it can't be a common name. It
was Miss Jackdaw. Crowe: Jackdaw. I never heard anything like that, and
if you ask the Colonel about it, he'll confirm every word I've said.
Boucher, Weston, why that's quite commonplace in comparison, and I'm
sure that's an event enough for me."
Lucia gave her silvery laugh.
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