H. Rider Haggard

“ Yet it brought home to Barbara the grim fact of her loss more completely than perhaps anything had done. Her beloved husband was dead, of no more account in the world than those who had passed from it at Eastwich a thousand years ago. He was dead, and soon would be forgotten by all save her, and she was alone, in heart utterly alone.
The summer came and everyone grew cheerful. Aunt Thompson arrived at the Hall to stay, and urged Barbara to put away past things and resign herself to the will of Providence—as she had done in the case of the departed Samuel. ”

“ That mother of his don’t know how to manage him. She’s another breed.”
“Yes,” said the questioner, “the mistress is a lady, she is, and gentle like the squire who’s gone. But how did they get such a one as Master Anthony?”
“Don’t know,” replied Bess; “but father says that when he was a boy in the Fens, they’d have told that the fairy folk changed him at birth. Any way, I like him well enough, for he suits me.”
Barbara went back to her sitting-room, where not long afterwards the boy came to her. ”

“ As it is, you still look quite a girl, having kept your figure so well; you are comfortably off and have a good position, and in short there is no knowing what may happen in the future. You must come up and stay with me this winter, dear, instead of poking yourself away in this damp old house where everybody seems to die of consumption. ”

“ Also she took a fancy to the boy, in whose rough, energetic nature she found something akin to her own.
“I am sick of women,” she said; “it is a comfort to have to do with a male thing.”
So it came about that after he went to school young Anthony spent a large portion of his holidays at his great-aunt’s London house. It may be added that he got no good from these visits, since Lady Thompson spoilt him and let him have his way in everything. Also she gave him more money than a boy ought to have. As a result, or partly so, Barbara found that her son grew more and more uncontrollable. ”

“ Also his grandfather, who prepared him for confirmation, announced that the lad’s nature seemed to have softened.
So things remained for some time—to be accurate, for just as long as the girl Bess was a servant at the Hall.
Anthony might talk about his mother’s influence over him, and without doubt when he was in his normal state this was considerable. Also it served to prevent him from breaking out. But when he did break out Bess Catton alone could deal with him. Naturally it would be thought that there was some mutual attraction between these young people. ”

“ Her complexion, however, was purely English, and her character had all the coarseness of those who have lived for generations in the Fens whence her father came, uncontrolled by higher influences such as the fellowship of gently-bred and educated folk. ”