He was a man in whose
disposition there was a lurking vein of melancholy--a kind of chronic
discontent very common to men of whom it has been said that they might do
great things in the world, and who have succeeded in doing nothing.
It is not to be supposed that Mr. Holbrook intended to keep his wife shut
away from the world in a lonely farm-house all her life. The place suited
him very well for the present; the apartments at the Grange, and the
services of Mr. Carley and his dependents, had been put at his disposal
by the owner of the estate, together with all farm and garden produce.
Existence here therefore cost him very little; his chief expenses were in
gifts to the bailiff and his underlings, which he bestowed with a liberal
hand. His plans for the future were as yet altogether vague and
unsettled. He had thoughts of emigration, of beginning life afresh in a
new country--anything to escape from the perplexities that surrounded him
here; and he had his reasons for keeping his wife secluded. Nor did his
conscience disturb him much--he was a man who had his conscience in very
good training--as to the unfairness of this proceeding. Marian was happy,
he told himself; and when time came for some change in the manner of
her existence, he doubted if the change would be for the better.
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