{"product_id":"2940012127785","title":"WIVES AND DAUGHTERS","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DAWN OF A GALA DAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo begin with the old rigmarole of childhood. In a country there was a\u003cbr\u003eshire, and in that shire there was a town, and in that town there was a\u003cbr\u003ehouse, and in that house there was a room, and in that room there was a\u003cbr\u003ebed, and in that bed there lay a little girl; wide awake and longing to\u003cbr\u003eget up, but not daring to do so for fear of the unseen power in the\u003cbr\u003enext room--a certain Betty, whose slumbers must not be disturbed until\u003cbr\u003esix o'clock struck, when she wakened of herself 'as sure as clockwork',\u003cbr\u003eand left the household very little peace afterwards. It was a June\u003cbr\u003emorning, and early as it was, the room was full of sunny warmth and\u003cbr\u003elight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the drawers opposite to the little white dimity bed in which Molly\u003cbr\u003eGibson lay, was a primitive kind of bonnet-stand on which was hung a\u003cbr\u003ebonnet, carefully covered over from any chance of dust, with a large\u003cbr\u003ecotton handkerchief, of so heavy and serviceable a texture that if the\u003cbr\u003ething underneath it had been a flimsy fabric of gauze and lace and\u003cbr\u003eflowers, it would have been altogether 'scromfished' (again to quote\u003cbr\u003efrom Betty's vocabulary). But the bonnet was made of solid straw, and\u003cbr\u003eits only trimming was a plain white ribbon put over the crown, and\u003cbr\u003eforming the strings. Still, there was a neat little quilling inside,\u003cbr\u003eevery plait of which Molly knew, for had she not made it herself the\u003cbr\u003eevening before, with infinite pains? and was there not a little blue\u003cbr\u003ebow in this quilling, the very first bit of such finery Molly had ever\u003cbr\u003ehad the prospect of wearing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSix o'clock now! the pleasant, brisk ringing of the church bells told\u003cbr\u003ethat; calling every one to their daily work, as they had done for\u003cbr\u003ehundreds of years. Up jumped Molly, and ran with her bare little feet\u003cbr\u003eacross the room, and lifted off the handkerchief and saw once again the\u003cbr\u003ebonnet; the pledge of the gay bright day to come. Then to the window,\u003cbr\u003eand after some tugging she opened the casement, and let in the sweet\u003cbr\u003emorning air. The dew was already off the flowers in the garden below,\u003cbr\u003ebut still rising from the long hay-grass in the meadows directly\u003cbr\u003ebeyond. At one side lay the little town of Hollingford, into a street\u003cbr\u003eof which Mr. Gibson's front door opened; and delicate columns, and\u003cbr\u003elittle puffs of smoke were already beginning to rise from many a\u003cbr\u003ecottage chimney where some housewife was already up, and preparing\u003cbr\u003ebreakfast for the bread-winner of the family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMolly Gibson saw all this, but all she thought about it was, 'Oh! it\u003cbr\u003ewill be a fine day! I was afraid it never, never would come; or that,\u003cbr\u003eif it ever came, it would be a rainy day!' Five-and-forty years ago,\u003cbr\u003echildren's pleasures in a country town were very simple, and Molly had\u003cbr\u003elived for twelve long years without the occurrence of any event so\u003cbr\u003egreat as that which was now impending. Poor child! it is true that she\u003cbr\u003ehad lost her mother, which was a jar to the whole tenour of her life;\u003cbr\u003ebut that was hardly an event in the sense referred to; and besides, she\u003cbr\u003ehad been too young to be conscious of it at the time. The pleasure she\u003cbr\u003ewas looking forward to to-day was her first share in a kind of annual\u003cbr\u003efestival in Hollingford.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe little straggling town faded away into country on one side close to\u003cbr\u003ethe entrance-lodge of a great park, where lived my Lord and Lady Cumnor\u003cbr\u003e'the earl' and 'the countess', as they were always called by the\u003cbr\u003einhabitants of the town; where a very pretty amount of feudal feeling\u003cbr\u003estill lingered, and showed itself in a number of simple ways, droll\u003cbr\u003eenough to look back upon, but serious matters of importance at the\u003cbr\u003etime. It was before the passing of the Reform Bill, but a good deal of\u003cbr\u003eliberal talk took place occasionally between two or three of the more\u003cbr\u003eenlightened freeholders living in Hollingford; and there was a great\u003cbr\u003eTory family in the county who, from time to time, came forward and\u003cbr\u003econtested the election with the rival Whig family of Cumnor. One would\u003cbr\u003ehave thought that the above-mentioned liberal-talking inhabitants would\u003cbr\u003ehave, at least, admitted the possibility of their voting for the Hely-\u003cbr\u003eHarrison, and thus trying to vindicate their independence But no such\u003cbr\u003ething. 'The earl' was lord of the manor, and owner of much of the land\u003cbr\u003eon which Hollingford was built; he and his household were fed, and\u003cbr\u003edoctored, and, to a certain measure, clothed by the good people of the\u003cbr\u003etown; their fathers' grandfathers had always voted for the eldest son\u003cbr\u003eof Cumnor Towers, and following in the ancestral track every man-jack\u003cbr\u003ein the place gave his vote to the liege lord, totally irrespective of\u003cbr\u003esuch chimeras as political opinion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis was no unusual instance of the influence of the great landowners\u003cbr\u003eover humbler neighbours in those days before railway","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147415699696,"sku":"2940012127785","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012127785_p0.jpg?v=1763552716","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012127785","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}