SQUIRE ARDEN.
VOL. II.
SQUIRE ARDEN.
BY
MRS. OLIPHANT,
AUTHOR OF
“CHRONICLES OF CARLINGFORD,”
“SALEM CHAPEL,” “THE MINISTER’S WIFE,”
ETC., ETC.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HURST & BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
13 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1871.
The Right of Translation is Reserved.
PERTH:
Samuel Cowan & Co., Printers.
Chapter I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XIII., XIV., XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., XIX., XX., XXI., XXII., XXIII., XXIV., XXV., XXVI., XXVII., XXVIII.
SQUIRE ARDEN.
CHAPTER I.
Up to this time it had been Clare who had made herself anxious about herbrother, worrying herself over his ways and his words, and all theceaseless turns of thought and expression and perplexing spontaneousnesswhich made him so unlike the Ardens; and Edgar had been conscious of heranxiety with a sense of amusement rather than of any other feeling. Butnow that their positions were reversed, and that it was he who wasanxious about Clare, the matter was a great deal more serious. EdgarArden felt but lightly the slights or the censures of fortune; he wasnot specially concerned about himself, nor prone to consider, unless onthe strongest provocation, what people thought of him, or if he wastaking the best way to obtain their suffrage. But this easy mind, whichClare sometimes took as a sign of levity of disposition, forsook himcompletely when his own duties were in question. He took them notlightly, but seriously,{2} as Mr. Fazakerley, and Perfitt the steward, andeverybody connected with the estate already knew. And not even theestate was so important as Clare. He asked himself, with a puzzled senseof ignorance and incapacity, what in such circumstances a brother oughtto do. He had all the theories of a young man against any restraint orcontradiction of the affections; but held them much more strongly thanmost young men,