The Imaginary Marriage

The Imaginary Marriage

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Title: The Imaginary Marriage
Author: Henry St. John Cooper
Release Date: February 18, 2005 [EBook #15103]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE IMAGINARY MARRIAGE
by Henry St. John Cooper
CHAPTER I

A MASTERFUL WOMAN
"Don't talk to me, miss," said her ladyship. "I don't want to hear any
nonsense from you!"
The pretty, frightened girl who shared the drawing-room at this
moment with Lady Linden of Cornbridge Manor House had not dared
to open her lips. But that was her ladyship's way, and "Don't talk to
me!" was a stock expression of hers. Few people were permitted to talk
in her ladyship's presence. In Cornbridge they spoke of her with bated
breath as a "rare masterful woman," and they had good cause.
Masterful and domineering was Lady Linden of Cornbridge, yet she
was kind-hearted, though she tried to disguise the fact.
In Cornbridge she reigned supreme, men and women trembled at her
approach. She penetrated the homes of the cottagers, she tasted of their
foods, she rated them on uncleanliness, drunkenness, and thriftlessness;
she lectured them on cooking.
On many a Saturday night she raided, single-handed, the Plough Inn
and drove forth the sheepish revellers, personally conducting them to
their homes and wives.
They respected her in Cornbridge as the reigning sovereign of her small
estate, and none did she rule more autocratically and completely than
her little nineteen-year-old niece Marjorie.
A pretty, timid, little maid was Marjorie, with soft yellow hair, a sweet
oval face, with large pathetic blue eyes and a timid, uncertain little
rosebud of a mouth.
"A rare sweet maid her be," they said of her in the village, "but terribul
tim'rous, and I lay her ladyship du give she a rare time of it...." Which
was true.
"Don't talk to me, miss!" her ladyship said to the silent girl. "I know
what is best for you; and I know, too, what you don't think I know--ha,

ha!" Her ladyship laughed terribly. "I know that you have been meeting
that worthless young scamp, Tom Arundel!"
"Oh, aunt, he is not worthless--"
"Financially he isn't worth a sou--and that's what I mean, and don't
interrupt. I am your guardian, you are entirely in my charge, and until
you arrive at the age of twenty-five I can withhold your fortune from
you if you marry in opposition to me and my wishes. But you
won't--you won't do anything of the kind. You will marry the man I
select for you, the man I have already selected--what did you say, miss?
"And now, not another word. Hugh Alston is the man I have selected
for you. He is in love with you, there isn't a finer lad living. He has
eight thousand a year, and Hurst Dormer is one of the best old
properties in Sussex. So that's quite enough, and I don't want to hear
any more nonsense about Tom Arundel. I say nothing against him
personally. Colonel Arundel is a gentleman, of course, otherwise I
would not permit you to know his son; but the Arundels haven't a
pennypiece to fly with and--and now--Now I see Hugh coming up the
drive. Leave me. I want to talk to him. Go into the garden, and wait by
the lily-pond. In all probability Hugh will have something to say to you
before long."
"Oh, aunt, I--"
"Shut up!" said her ladyship briefly.
Marjorie went out, with hanging head and bursting heart. She believed
herself the most unhappy girl in England. She loved; who could help
loving happy-go-lucky, handsome Tom Arundel, who well-nigh
worshipped the ground her little feet trod upon? It was the first love
and the only love of her life, and of nights she lay awake picturing his
bright, young boyish face, hearing again all the things he had said to
her till her heart was well-nigh bursting with love and longing for him.
But she did not hate Hugh. Who could hate Hugh Alston, with his
cheery smile, his ringing voice, his big generous heart, and his fine

manliness? Not she! But from the depths of her heart she wished Hugh
Alston a great distance away from Cornbridge.
"Hello, Hugh!" said her ladyship. He had come in, a man of
two-and-thirty, big and broad, with suntanned face and eyes as blue as
the