Explore "Given in Marriage" by B.M. Croker on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The new arrival in Charles Street soon discovered that he had by no means bettered his position, on the contrary, appeared to have gone out of the frying-pan, into the fire! Four years had wrought surprising changes in the ménage: Lord Torquilstone had become "more so," as Mayne mentally expressed it; his moustache was blacker, his coat more padded, his temper more irascible, than formerly. He belonged to a type of club man happily becoming extinct, -- loud, aggressive in argument, quarrelsome, gouty, and greedy. He and her ladyship did not now hit it off, -- and saw as little of one another as their mutual ingenuity could contrive. She, never appeared before one o'clock; he, lunched, and frequently dined, at his club, -- unless they happened to have a few guests, or were engaged to present themselves, at some particular function.
Mayne noticed a woeful alteration in his mother; she looked faded, and worn, there were deep lines about her mouth, her voice was querulous, and her attitude the pose of one enduring "the bitter winter of her discontent!" In her cold, unemotional way, she was glad to welcome Derek, a handsome, creditable fellow and like his father; but in character much stronger, and more self-assertive.