Lifes Little Ironies

Life's Little Ironies, by Thomas Hardy

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Title: Life's Little Ironies A set of tales with some colloquial sketches entitled A Few Crusted Characters
Author: Thomas Hardy

Release Date: May 18, 2007 [eBook #3047]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES***

Transcribed from the 1920 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email [email protected]

LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES A SET OF TALES WITH SOME COLLOQUIAL SKETCHES ENTITLED A FEW CRUSTED CHARACTERS
BY THOMAS HARDY
WITH A MAP OF WESSEX
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1920
COPYRIGHT
First Collected Edition 1894. New Edition and reprints 1896-1900 First published by Macmillan & Co., Crown 8ov, 1903. Reprinted 1910, 1915 Pockets Edition 1907, 1910, 1913, 1916, 1919 (twice), 1920 Wessex Edition 1912

CONTENTS
The Son's Veto For Conscience' Sake A Tragedy of Two Ambitions On the Western Circuit To Please his Wife The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four A Few Crusted Characters

THE SON'S VETO
CHAPTER I
To the eyes of a man viewing it from behind, the nut-brown hair was a wonder and a mystery. Under the black beaver hat, surmounted by its tuft of black feathers, the long locks, braided and twisted and coiled like the rushes of a basket, composed a rare, if somewhat barbaric, example of ingenious art. One could understand such weavings and coilings being wrought to last intact for a year, or even a calendar month; but that they should be all demolished regularly at bedtime, after a single day of permanence, seemed a reckless waste of successful fabrication.
And she had done it all herself, poor thing. She had no maid, and it was almost the only accomplishment she could boast of. Hence the unstinted pains.
She was a young invalid lady--not so very much of an invalid--sitting in a wheeled chair, which had been pulled up in the front part of a green enclosure, close to a bandstand, where a concert was going on, during a warm June afternoon. It had place in one of the minor parks or private gardens that are to be found in the suburbs of London, and was the effort of a local association to raise money for some charity. There are worlds within worlds in the great city, and though nobody outside the immediate district had ever heard of the charity, or the band, or the garden, the enclosure was filled with an interested audience sufficiently informed on all these.
As the strains proceeded many of the listeners observed the chaired lady, whose back hair, by reason of her prominent position, so challenged inspection. Her face was not easily discernible, but the aforesaid cunning tress-weavings, the white ear and poll, and the curve of a cheek which was neither flaccid nor sallow, were signals that led to the expectation of good beauty in front. Such expectations are not infrequently disappointed as soon as the disclosure comes; and in the present case, when the lady, by a turn of the head, at length revealed herself, she was not so handsome as the people behind her had supposed, and even hoped--they did not know why.
For one thing (alas! the commonness of this complaint), she was less young than they had fancied her to be. Yet attractive her face unquestionably was, and not at all sickly. The revelation of its details came each time she turned to talk to a boy of twelve or thirteen who stood beside her, and the shape of whose hat and jacket implied that he belonged to a well-known public school. The immediate bystanders could hear that he called her 'Mother.'
When the end of the recital was reached, and the audience withdrew, many chose to find their way out by passing at her elbow. Almost all turned their heads to take a full and near look at the interesting woman, who remained stationary in the chair till the way should be clear enough for her to be wheeled out without obstruction. As if she expected their glances, and did not mind gratifying their curiosity, she met the eyes of several of her observers by lifting her own, showing these to be soft, brown, and affectionate orbs, a little plaintive in their regard.
She was conducted out of the gardens, and passed along the pavement till she disappeared from view, the schoolboy walking beside her. To inquiries made by some persons who watched her away, the answer came that she was the second wife of the incumbent of a neighbouring parish, and that she was lame. She was generally believed