Page:Gaskell - North and South, vol. II, 1855.djvu/276

 "I fancy he is when he is in town. He has been on circuit now since I came. But—Mr. Bell— have you come from Oxford or from Milton?"

"From Milton. Don't you see I'm smoke-dried?"

"Certainly. But I thought that it might be the effect of the antiquities of Oxford."

"Come now, be a sensible woman! In Oxford, I could have managed all the landlords in the place, and had my own way, with half the trouble your Milton landlord has given me, and defeated me after all. He won't take the house off our hands till next June twelvemonth. Luckily, Mr. Thornton found a tenant for it. Why don't you ask after Mr. Thornton, Margaret? He has proved himself a very active friend of yours, I can tell you. Taken more than half the trouble off my hands."

"And how is he? How is Mrs. Thornton?" asked Margaret hurriedly and below her breath, though she tried to speak out.

"I suppose they're well. I've been staying at their house till I was driven out of it by the perpetual clack about that Thornton girl's marriage. It was too much for Thormton himself, though she was his sister. He used to go and sit in his own room perpetually. He's getting past the age for caring for such things, either as principal or accessory. I was surprised to find the old lady falling into the current, and carried away by her daughter's enthusiasm for orange-blossoms and lace. I thought Mrs. Thornton had been made of sterner stuff."

"She would put on any assumption of feeling to