Explore "The Nether Millstone" by Fred M. White on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Mr. George Dashwood staggered into the hall at the dower house with an exaggeration of grief that filled Mary with contempt. The dethroned head of the house seemed to have no thought for anything but himself. His eyes were filled with tears, his voice was weak and tremulous with selfish emotion.
"This is dreadful," he moaned. "Really, I had expected something better at your hands, Darnley. Still, I suppose you are merely here to fulfil a promise to Ralph Dashwood. Most selfish of a man to keep in the background all these years and then spring a mine on one like this. And here am I, at my time of life, with nothing to fall back on, not even a pension, for I commuted mine when I left the Service. Still, that young fellow did not behave at all badly. Don't forget, my dear that he offered us the free use of the Hall for the present, at any rate. And he said that he was not a marrying man. Well, if you play your cards properly, Mary -- -- "