A London Home in the Nineties by Hughes M. V.;

Author:Hughes, M. V.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Papamoa Press
Published: 2019-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

IX. Preparations

§ 1

THE year 1896 was humming with preparations for the Queen’s coming Jubilee. Arthur and I too were humming a little on our own account. The Golden Jubilee had been the occasion of our first meeting, and we thought it a good idea to be married in the Diamond one. The risk was great, but the future was bound to be uncertain, wait we never so long. Arthur had built up a fair practice at the Bar, and I had saved a nest-egg of two hundred pounds, so, we thought, why not? and fixed on 1897 as our second lucky year. Realizing that I should have no more chance, when married, of paying ‘bachelor’ visits to my brothers, I determined to allot my remaining holidays between them—Christmas with Tom and Easter with Dym. A third visit, an earlier summer one, was thrown in, and it so chanced that these three visits served as a preparation for married life, since they gave me a glimpse of it in three important stages—in the second year, in the tenth year, and in middle age. The visits came in the reverse order chronologically, and that is the order I must follow.

It was in the summer that a barrister friend of Arthur’s, named James Corner, invited us both to spend a fortnight at his place in Hereford. Holmer Park was a real ‘place’ in the old-fashioned sense—a mansion in large rambling grounds, with horses and carriages, friendly dogs, and other animals everywhere about. There must be hundreds of such places in England, and I should not mention our visit were it not for the unusual characteristics of the owners. Mr. and Mrs. Corner were rich and contented. Their one son was now grown up, and they were left alone to enjoy together a delightful middle age. I have come across a few wealthy people and an untold number of jolly people, but this combination of wealth, jollity, and middle age is unique in my experience. The servants of the establishment seemed endless—maids, grooms, gardeners, and odd boys about, all busy over something. But it was Mrs. Corner herself who opened the door to us when we drove up from the station; and although we had resplendent meals, there was none of the fussy formality of being over-waited upon that detracts from the fun.

We were taken for long drives in the country, shown the cathedral and other interests of the town, including the old house that had once been the Butchers’ Guildhall. Here the carvings amused us, for the sainted bullocks with wings and what looked like haloes gave the impression of the beasts in Revelation. We had lazy afternoons pottering in the garden, the stables, the kennels, and the poultry-runs, or lying in hammocks and reading. New books and periodicals were scattered about untidily everywhere, competing with the dogs for the best chairs. In short, it was a house to delight a man, being at once comfortable and well mauled.

But it was the talk that I enjoyed most.

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