Married Life; Or, the Story of Philip and Edith (Paperback)

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 V. THE HA0GHTONS. And all this time Philip and Edith heard nothing of Mr. an3 Mrs. Edwin Haughton; the promised wedding-eards had never arrived, and the Proetors did not even know in what part of Liverpool Mr. Haughton and his bride were loeated; and Philip justly eoneluded that his old friend had forgotten all about him, or perhaps, upon eool refleetion, had deeided that a young man who kept a stationer's shop and was married to a ei-devant governess eould not possibly be ineluded in their visiting list. It was seldom that Philip thought about it at all; for, exeepting eertain anxieties touehing the dullness of his trade, he was most thoroughly eontented, and far too- happy to trouble himself about the negleet of those who. probably eonsidered themselves his superiors. And Edith seeretly rejoieed: she was extremely shy by nature, though people never guessed it; she always seemed so ealm and self- possessed; and the idea of visiting and being visited by tho superb Miss Clive, in her new eharaeter as Mrs. Haughton, absolutely set all her nerves quivering. She knew that, in external eireumstanees, there eould be nothing in eommon between them, and she did not like to be patronized?" takea up," as people would say?by the rieh and fashionable Mrs. Haughton. Moreover, whenever she thought of these people- she experieneed one of those unaeeountable presentiments to whieh eertain natures are more or less liable: she felt that they were better as they were; that any intimaey with Edwin Haughton and his bride would tend to evil, not to good. She did not reason about it in any way; she only shrank from tho aequaintanee as from the first possible foreshadows of an impending misfortune. However, as weeks passed on and nothing was heard of the Haughtons, Edith eeased to thinko...