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The Daltons; or, Three roads in life. With illustr. by Phiz
The Daltons or Three roads in life With illustr by Phiz Author:Charles James Lever Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IIL "the Forest Boad." This dry epistle Dalton read and re-read, trying, if not to discover some touch of kindliness or interest, to detect, at lea... more »st, some clue to its writer's nature; but to no use, its quaint formalism baffled all speculation, and he gave up the pursuit in despair. That "the Count" was his father's only brother, and a " Dalton," were the only grains of comfort he could extract from his meditations; but he had lived long enough in the world to know how little binding were the ties of kindred when once slackened by years and distance. The Count might, therefore, regard them in the light of intruders, and feel the very reverse of pleasure at the revival of a relationship which had slept for more than half a century. Dalton's pride— or what he thought his pride— revoked against this thought; for, although this same pride would not have withheld him from asking a favour of the Count, it would have assumed a most indignant attitude if refused, or even grudgingly accorded. When the thought first occurred to him of applying to his uncle in Frank's behalf, he never hesitated about the propriety of addressing a request to one with whom he had never interchanged a line in all his life; and now he was quite ready to take offence, if all the warmth of blood relationship, should not fill the heart of him who, had been an exile from home and family, since his earliest boyhood. An easy, indolent selfishness had been the spirit of Dalton's whole fife. He liked to keep a good house, and to see company about him; and this obtained for him the reputation of hospitality. He disliked unpopularity, and dreaded the " bad word" of the people; and hence he suffered his tenantry to fall into arrears and his estate into ruin. A vain rivalry with wealthier neighbours, pr...« less