Mrs. Oliphant

Name: The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family — The Doctor's Family, Chapter 3
Author: Mrs. Oliphant

The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

Summary

“The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family — The Doctor's Family, Chapter 3”, published in 1863, is a work by Mrs. Oliphant. It explores elements such as Fred, Nettie and Rider.

Quotes from The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (Mrs. Oliphant)

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ Edward Rider gazed involuntarily from one to another of this two. He saw the sprite place herself between the husband and wife, a vain little Quixote, balancing these extremes of helplessness and ruin. He could not help looking at her with a certain unconscious admiration and amazement, as he might have looked at a forlorn hope. Thousands of miles away from her friends, wherever and whatever they might be, with Fred and his wife and children on her hands, a household of incapables—what was that little creature to do?
"Good morning, Dr Edward," said Nettie. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ Was it a vague faith in Providence which had brought the helpless household here; or was it a more distinct, if not so elevated, confidence in Nettie? The doctor's heart sank once more within him as he looked round the table. Three helpless by nature—two equally helpless who ought in nature to have been the support of the whole—nothing but one bright ready little spirit between them all and destitution; and what could Nettie do to stave that wolf from the door? Once more Dr Rider's countenance fell. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ If the household broke down in its attempt at independence, who had they to turn to but himself?—such a prospect was not comfortable. When a man works himself to death for his own family, he takes the pleasure with the pain; but when another's family threatens to fall upon his hands, the prospect is naturally appalling—and even if Fred could do anything, what was Fred's life, undermined by evil habit, to depend upon? Silence once more fell over the little company—silence from all but Nettie and the children, who referred to her naturally instead of to their mother. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ It did not improve the doctor's temper in the first place. The chill loneliness of that trim room, with its drawn curtains and tidy pretence of being comfortable, exasperated him beyond bearing. He felt shut up in it, and yet would not leave it. Somebody certainly might come even to-night. Fred himself perhaps, if he could escape from the rigid guardianship he was under; or was that miraculous Australian Nettie a little witch, who had spirited the whole party in a nutshell over the seas? Never was man delivered from a burden with a worse grace than was Dr Rider ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ Surely of all incomprehensible entities, the most amazing is a fool—a creature insensate, unreasoning, whom neither argument nor fact can make any impression upon. Appalled and impressed, the doctor's gaze left that pretty faded face to turn upon the children. Dreadful imps! If Fred had only taken to evil ways after he became possessed of such a family, his brother could have forgiven him. While these thoughts passed through Dr Rider's mind, however, deliverance approached. He heard Nettie's voice in the passage, long before she reached the door. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ The prospect was very different from that which extended before Dr Rider's window. Instinctively he marvelled within himself whether, if Dr Marjoribanks were to die—people cannot live for ever even in Carlingford—whether it might not be a disadvantage to a man to live so far out of the world. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mrs. Oliphant, The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (1863)

“ When one is all by one's self, and has nothing at best but an easy-chair to go home to, and goes home expecting a letter, or a message, or a visitor who has not arrived, and has no chance of arriving, the revulsion of feeling is not agreeable. ”

Mrs. Oliphant

Summary

Quotes from The Rector; and, The Doctor's Family… (Mrs. Oliphant)

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