He had been here for two years, an unmarried man; now it was made
known that this state of things was to come to an end; moreover, to
the disappointment of not a few households, it was understood that
the future Mrs. Enderby had been chosen from among his own people,
in London. The lady came, and there was a field-day of criticism.
Mrs. Enderby looked very young, and was undeniably pretty; she had
accomplishments, and evidently liked to exhibit them before her
homely visitors. She exaggerated the refinement of her utterance
that it might all the more strike off against the local accent. It
soon became clear that she would be anything but an assistance to
her husband in his parochial work; one or two attempts were made,
apparently with good will, at intercourse with the poor
parishioners, but the enterprise was distinctly a failure; it had to
be definitively given up. Presently a child was born in the
parsonage, and for a little while the young mother's attention was
satisfactorily engaged at home. The child was a girl and received
the name of Maud.
Paul Enderby struggled to bate no jot of his former activity, but a
change was obvious to all. No less obvious the reason of it.
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