Pemberley Shades. D. A.Bonavia-Hunt
Читать онлайн.| Название | Pemberley Shades |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | D. A.Bonavia-Hunt |
| Жанр | Языкознание |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | Языкознание |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 4064066057947 |
D. A. Bonavia-Hunt
Pemberley Shades
A Riveting Sequel to Pride and Prejudice
e-artnow, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
EAN: 4064066057947
Table of Contents
“Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH,
Chapter 56, Pride and Prejudice
CHAPTER I.
When old Dr. Robinson, who had been Rector of Pemberley in Derbyshire for over fifty years, died one night in his sleep at the age of eighty-seven, a long life of little eventfulness and placid prosperity came to a not untimely end.
He had been presented to the living by the grandfather of the present patron, Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire, of Pemberley House, whom he had christened as an infant, receiving on the occasion a present of ten pounds. Without prejudice to more congenial occupations in his house and garden he had generally done what was expected of him in church and parish, and was on the whole well liked by his parishioners, who spoke of him as a good, kind old gentleman. But in sober truth this was the most that could be said of him, particularly in his latter years when he had become sluggish both in body and mind. His reading of the services was a mumble, his sermons were so extremely dull that as soon as he ascended the pulpit Mr. Darcy stifled a yawn behind his hand, while Mrs. Darcy, though fixing her bright eyes on the preacher, as often as not slipped into meditations wholly unconnected with her surroundings. Who could have foretold that Dr. Robinson, who had done nothing of note in all his lifetime should, by the common and natural act of dying, set in motion a train of events so strange, so startling, so far removed from probability, as to emulate the riotous fancies of a disordered mind?
The funeral over, Mr. Darcy began to cast about for a successor to the benefice. In the meanwhile his friend, Robert Mortimer of Clopwell Priory, having taken orders before inheriting the family estate on the death of an elder brother, undertook to ride over to Pemberley on Sundays and at other times when a clergyman’s ministrations were required. The arrangement suited Darcy very well as a temporary measure, for Mortimer, though an indifferent parish priest, having been ever more addicted to field sports, especially fox-hunting, than to the more sedentary pursuits associated with his cloth, was a most amiable, obliging young man and made an excellent stop-gap; Darcy was thus able to set about filling the vacancy at his leisure, partly out of consideration for the two elderly daughters of the late rector whose departure from the Parsonage he did not wish to hasten unduly, but chiefly that he might have time to find a clergyman who would answer all his requirements in being everything in which Dr. Robinson had been deficient.
He had settled in his own mind that the new rector should be under forty, of superior birth, breeding and education, a scholar without pedantry, or irreproachable life, but not too exigent in matters affecting the usages of the polite world, and preferably married to a gentlewoman who would be acceptable to the ladies of Pemberley, his wife Elizabeth and his sister Georgiana. These demands appeared to him to be so moderate that he was hopeful of their attainment without difficulty or much delay. But that he should have exactly the sort of man he wanted he was thoroughly determined.
“As nearly every family of standing in the country has a younger son in the church it should not be impossible,” said Mrs. Darcy. “But would not it be easier, and perhaps more expeditious, to prevail upon an angel to fly down to Pemberley? Seriously, Fitz, there must be plenty of charming young men in orders.”
“I distrust charming young men,” said Darcy.
“I comprehend perfectly. He must be agreeable and gentleman-like but not at all charming, of pleasing appearance but by no means handsome, endowed with sufficient understanding to converse with his patron on serious subjects, but not so clever as to outshine him. That he should be a model of virtue and industry needs no saying. And if I am to be consulted, he must in no way resemble Mr. Collins, except in being a clergyman.”
“Have you done?” inquired Mr. Darcy.
“No, for there is his wife, unless you can think of any young woman in the family for whom he would do as a husband.”
“There may be in your family, but not in mine.”
“If I did not so hate the trouble of matchmaking I might marry him off to poor Kitty who is still single, though