Doctor Thorne | Page 9

and they were proud of the young member and his lady
bride in spite of a little hauteur. None of them were proud of him now.
He walked once round among the guests, and spoke a few words of
welcome at each table; and as he did so the tenants got up and bowed
and wished health to the old squire, happiness to the young one, and
prosperity to Greshamsbury; but, nevertheless, it was but a tame affair.
There were also other visitors, of the gentle sort, to do honour to the
occasion; but not such swarms, not such a crowd at the mansion itself
and at the houses of the neighbouring gentry as had always been
collected on these former gala doings. Indeed, the party at
Greshamsbury was not a large one, and consisted chiefly of Lady de
Courcy and her suite. Lady Arabella still kept up, as far as she was able,
her close connexion with Courcy Castle. She was there as much as
possible, to which Mr Gresham never objected; and she took her
daughters there whenever she could, though, as regarded the two elder
girls, she was interfered with by Mr Gresham, and not unfrequently by
the girls themselves. Lady Arabella had a pride in her son, though he
was by no means her favourite child. He was, however, the heir of
Greshamsbury, of which fact she was disposed to make the most, and
he was also a fine open-hearted young man, who could not but be dear
to any mother. Lady Arabella did love him dearly, though she felt a sort
of disappointment in regard to him, seeing that he was not so much like
a De Courcy as he should have been. She did love him dearly; and,
therefore, when he came of age she got her sister-in-law and all the
Ladies Amelia, Rosina etc. to come to Greshamsbury; and she also,
with some difficulty, persuaded the Honourable Georges and the
Honourable Johns to be equally condescending. Lord de Courcy

himself was in attendance at the Court--or said that he was--and Lord
Porlock, the eldest son, simply told his aunt when he was invited that
he never bored himself with those sort of things.
Then there were the Bakers, and the Batesons, and the Jacksons, who
all lived near and returned home at night; there was the Reverend Caleb
Oriel, the High-Church rector, with his beautiful sister Patience Oriel;
there was Mr Yates Umbleby, the attorney and agent; and there was Dr
Thorne, and the doctor's modest, quiet-looking little niece, Miss Mary.
CHAPTER II
LONG, LONG AGO
As Dr Thorne is our hero--or I should rather say my hero, a privilege of
selecting for themselves in this respect being left to all my readers--and
as Miss Mary Thorne is to be our heroine, a point on which no choice
whatsoever is left to any one, it is necessary that they shall be
introduced and explained and described in a proper, formal manner. I
feel quite an apology is due for beginning a novel with two long dull
chapters full of description. I am perfectly aware of the danger of such
a course. In so doing I sin against the golden rule which requires us all
to put our best foot foremost, the wisdom of which is fully recognized
by novelists, myself among the number. It can hardly be expected that
any one will consent to go through with a fiction that offers so little
allurement in its first pages; but twist it as I will I cannot do otherwise.
I find that I cannot make poor Mr Gresham hem and haw and turn
himself uneasily in his arm-chair in a natural manner till I have said
why he is uneasy. I cannot bring my doctor speaking his mind freely
among the bigwigs till I have explained that it is in accordance with his
usual character to do so. This is unartistic on my part, and shows want
of imagination as well as want of skill. Whether or not I can atone for
these faults by straightforward, simple, plain story-telling--that, indeed,
is very doubtful.
Dr Thorne belonged to a family in one sense as good, and at any rate as
old, as that of Mr Gresham; and much older, he was apt to boast, than

that of the De Courcys. This trait in his character is mentioned first, as
it was the weakness for which he was most conspicuous. He was
second cousin to Mr Thorne of Ullathorne, a Barsetshire squire living
in the neighbourhood of Barchester, and who boasted that his estate had
remained in his family, descending from Thorne to Thorne, longer than
had been the case with any other estate or any other family in the
county.
But Dr Thorne was only a second