Sabine Baring-Gould

“ The chaplain had previously visited Miss Pengelly as one of his flock, but Mrs Chaplain had declined to do so—it was well known that she had been in a menial position; she was a fossil in a different social bed from that which contained Mrs Chaplain. Asheton had plenty to say for himself; he had no occupation, his time was at his own disposal, and as he knew that his father though well off, was not likely to leave him much more than a flourishing business, he thought that twenty-five thousand pounds and a pretty girl would not come amiss. ”

“ The two old women talked over these chances together a good deal, but the person most interested, Jacquetta, gave them little thought. She was very happy at Champolair, intensely interested in all she saw; the novelty was not worn off, and when her mother spoke of returning home, she begged so earnestly and prettily that the holiday might be prolonged, that Mrs Fairbrother yielded at once, and wrote to Fairbrother not to expect either of them back for months. Did she like either of the young men? Certainly she did—she did more—she liked both, and liked Asheton best. ”

“ Among savages it is ‘bad form’ to call things by their proper names, it is much the same among the cultured. Mrs Asheton went out of her way to be civil to the Fairbrothers, she had never fancied Miss Graham, not because Miss Graham was other than an excellent and accomplished girl, but because Miss Graham was one of sixteen children, and the consul had only three hundred a year on which to live, and could lay by nothing; also because she saw that James had no aptitude for business, and that if he were taken into the merchant’s office, he would let the business slip away. ”