A Tale of a Lonely Parish

A Tale of a Lonely Parish by F. Marion Crawford

F. Marion Crawford's "A Tale of a Lonely Parish" opens in the isolated Essex parish of Billingsfield, where the Reverend Augustin Ambrose, an ageing former Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, supplements his meagre vicar's income by tutoring pupils for university entrance. Weary of most of his charges, he has grown especially fond of John Short, the impoverished but brilliant son of an old college friend, whom he tutors at reduced cost alongside the wealthy, amiable but dull Honourable Cornelius Angleside. Ambrose and his practical, orderly wife live a life of strict routine, enlivened chiefly by minor incidents like chasing a neighbor's cat from the asparagus beds. Before John leaves for Trinity College, he glimpses a beautiful, sorrowful lady in black and her small daughter Nellie visiting the vicarage; he never learns her name but is deeply struck by her, secretly composing Greek and Latin verses to her memory as he throws himself into years of hard, poverty-stricken study at Cambridge, winning scholarships and a growing reputation as a scholar. Not long after John's departure, the mysterious visitor, Mrs. Mary Goddard, writes to Ambrose asking to rent a cottage in Billingsfield, enclosing money and referring obliquely to a "great sorrow" she had confided to him during her visit. Despite his wife's suspicions about her background, the Ambroses help Mrs. Goddard and Nellie settle into the cottage opposite the park gate, and she gradually becomes part of the small parish circle, dining regularly at the vicarage. About two years later, the long-disputed Juxon estate at Billingsfield Hall finally emerges from Chancery, and Charles James Juxon, a well-travelled, book-loving bachelor of reticent past, arrives to take up residence as squire. He quickly befriends the vicar and grows increasingly attached to Mrs. Goddard, visiting her cottage daily, though neither he nor she acknowledges any deeper feeling, and she conceals from him the secret she once told the vicar. After two and a half years away, John returns to Billingsfield for a Christmas visit, now a poised and accomplished young scholar. He discovers that the lady in black is Mrs. Goddard and is overwhelmed to find his old boyish infatuation reawakened by her real presence. Over the following days he competes, half-consciously, with the older, steadier Juxon for her attention—during church decorating, skating parties, and fireside gatherings—growing jealous and short-tempered whenever the squire is favored. Mrs. Goddard, amused and flattered but treating John essentially as a clever boy, does not take his devotion seriously, while Juxon, sensing a rival, calmly asserts his own claims. Alarmed, John presses Ambrose to say whether Juxon intends to marry Mrs. Goddard, thereby revealing his own infatuation; the vicar is horrified, reminding John of Mrs. Goddard's greater age and the impracticality of the match, and John reluctantly agrees to say nothing until after his examinations. Mrs. Ambrose, meanwhile, guesses the secret through her husband's evasiveness and grows quietly disapproving. On the eve of his departure, John pays a final visit to Mrs. Goddard, hinting at his feelings and his plans for the future, and raises the question of giving up a potential fellowship in order to marry, a prospect she meets with light, deflecting amusement.

By F. Marion Crawford · First published 1891 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Coming-of-Age, Drama · 24 chapters · 126,281 words

First lines

The Reverend Augustin Ambrose would gladly have given up taking pupils. He was growing old and his sight was beginning to trouble him; he was very weary of Thucydides, of Homer, of the works of Mr. Todhunter of which the green bindings expressed a hope still unrealised, of conic sections -- even of his beloved Horace. He was tired of the stupidities of the dull young men who were sent to him because they could not "keep up", and he had long ceased to be surprised or interested by the remarks of the clever ones who were sent to him because their education had not prepared them for an English University. The dull ones could never be made to understand anything, though Mr. Ambrose generally succeeded in making them remember enough to matriculate, by dint of ceaseless repetition and a system of _memoria technica_ which embraced most things necessary to the salvation of dull youth.

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Gothic fiction · Mystery · Supernatural · Rural setting · Isolation · Loneliness · Parish life · Clergy · Village drama · Secrets · Suspense · Atmospheric

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