A Little Folly Read Online Free PDF

of his past – of which, being then only a girl, she had a mere sketch of remembrance – to be an occasion of shame. Altogether she could not understand it: unless his unhappy adventure in matrimony had left him so defeated that his self-respect was quite extinguished.
    There was something of that in Mr Tresilian’s appearance: in his lean angular frame, his sadly scuffed boots, and the dusty-fair hair, which – to the impatience of Valentine, who was particular about his Grecian crop – he allowed to grow like a careless boy’s. His habit of silence suggested it likewise; but he could speak with quickness and point when the subject interested him, as now, when on sitting down to dinner Mr Lappage mentioned the war news.
    ‘It is an apt time for new departures,’ Mr Tresilian said. ‘The latest intelligence is that the Austrians are within a hundred miles of Paris, Wellington is far advanced into the south, and Bonaparte is at bay on all sides.’
    ‘Surely he is finished at last,’ said Mr Lappage.
    ‘He may yet have a trick up his sleeve – but certainly he cannot produce new armies out of thin air.’
    ‘That detestable monster,’ cried Mrs Lappage, who felt warmly on every subject. ‘I hope he will be brought sternly to answer for all the wrongs he has done.’
    ‘Of course, the loser in any dispute is always in the wrong,’ Mr Tresilian remarked.
    ‘Come, Tresilian, never tell me you feel any sympathy for Bonaparte,’ Valentine said. ‘The war has been putting your ships in danger a hundred times.’
    ‘Oh, I only wonder, as a matter of curiosity, whom we shall find to hate after he is gone: we have got so used to a good, comfortable state of loathing that I fear we may be bereft without it. For myself, I shall be glad to see him fall. All that tedious adventuring. Crossing the Alps and whatnot.’
    ‘Well, there, for all his later tyrannies, one must admire the spirit of daring that animated him,’ Louisa said.
    ‘Really?’ said Mr Tresilian. ‘I don’t see why. The Alps must have been put there for a very good reason. I have never wished to cross even a single Alp. He should have stayed at home and found an occupation: that was the trouble.’
    ‘Well, we have had enough of war, that is certain,’ said Valentine. He had already had his glass refilled several times, and it was with a dreamy inward look that he added: ‘Aye, we have had enough of those times.’
    ‘My dear Valentine, those are my sentiments exactly,’ Mrs Lappage cried. Then, in a lower tone: ‘Dear me – old habit – of course I should say Mr Carnell.’
    ‘No, no, ma’am, none of that frosty ceremony,’ said Valentine, eagerly. ‘I would have only openness and ease at Pennacombe from now on. If the master of this house is to receive any respect, let it be earned by genuine esteem and affection. – Mr Lappage, I see your glass is not filled. Christmas, now – come next Christmas, I mean to observe it in the proper manner. I regret to say that lately even the village carollers have been frightened to approach the gate. Next time we shall see some true hospitality.’
    ‘Watchmaking,’ said Mr Tresilian. ‘There’s a proper profession. Plenty of interest and satisfaction. One never hears of a watchmaker crossing the Alps.’
    ‘But, my dear James, he might want to,’ gently suggested his sister.
    ‘Then he would be a very silly watchmaker,’ Mr Tresilian said gloomily. ‘What do you think, Miss Rose?’
    The lady thus addressed had been taken into the household at The Ridings a few years ago, being a second cousin of the Tresilians and having fallen upon hard times – meaning she had reached a certain age without anybody wanting to marry her. For Sir Clement this charity had been a slight further evidence of the softening of Mr Tresilian’s brain consequent on the chasing of hats; but it might with justice have been a sorer cause of repentance for a man not possessed of Mr Tresilian’s patience. Not