It was she who encouraged de Barral
to accept the offer of a post in the west-end branch of a great bank. It
appears he shrank from such a great adventure for a long time. At last
his wife's arguments prevailed. Later on she used to say: 'It's the only
time he ever listened to me; and I wonder now if it hadn't been better
for me to die before I ever made him go into that bank.'
You may be surprised at my knowledge of these details. Well, I had them
ultimately from Mrs. Fyne. Mrs. Fyne while yet Miss Anthony, in her days
of bondage, knew Mrs. de Barral in her days of exile. Mrs. de Barral was
living then in a big stone mansion with mullioned windows in a large damp
park, called the Priory, adjoining the village where the refined poet had
built himself a house.
These were the days of de Barral's success. He had bought the place
without ever seeing it and had packed off his wife and child at once
there to take possession. He did not know what to do with them in
London. He himself had a suite of rooms in an hotel. He gave there
dinner parties followed by cards in the evening.
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