A Fatal Silence, Vol. 1 (of 3) by Florence Marryat

MRS GRIBBLE'S TEA-PARTY.

A few days after this interview a tea-party was assembled at the house of Mr Gribble. A rumour of the impending marriage of Hal Rushton with the late ‘school teacher' had circulated Deepdale, and the inhabitants were eager and curious to ascertain the truth, and learn all particulars concerning it. The widow and her son had therefore been invited with much ceremony to spend the evening with the churchwarden and his wife, and all the principal scandalmongers of the place were asked to meet them. There were present Mr and Mrs Axworthy, of course, and old Miss Foker, who was supposed to have seen ‘better days. ' Mrs M‘Causland, the widow of a dissenting minister, and Mr Rohan, the miller, who passed as a very godly man, completed the circle, not forgetting, of course, ferrety-eyed Mr Gribble and his portly spouse, who sat at the head of her tea-table, perspiring in a plum-coloured merino dress, which made her complexion look like a boiled beetroot. Carrie and Lottie, her two sweet children, were also present, with their hair violently oiled and tied with red ribbons, but their hands and faces innocent of soap and water. They were as excited as the rest of the party, as their mamma had particularly urged them to recall every incident they could relative to the famous visit to Haltham, for the benefit of their guests, and they looked forward to the repetition much as other children would to a show performance on the piano or violin. When Mrs Rushton entered, clad in her rusty widow's weeds, appealing to the sympathy of her audience by tottering feebly as though she had no strength to walk, and followed by her sandy-haired and freckled son, she was received much as she would have been had she sustained some crushing misfortune by death or otherwise. Mr Gribble conducted her to a chair, and Mrs Axworthy assisted her to remove her shawl and dispose of her umbrella.