The Serpent's Tooth by B.M. Croker

On arrival in London the newly married couple established themselves at Claridge's; Blagdon accompanied his wife to the Opera and to Hurlingham, gave smart dinners, and introduced her to his friends; many of his mother's connections called upon her, and prepared to entertain them; but the bride suddenly became indisposed, was confined to her room, and totally unpresentable. The unfortunate victim had been seized upon by that contemptible ailment known as the mumps.

At last Mr. and Mrs. Blagdon appeared at Sharsley, and met with a flattering reception. There were speeches, a deputation, arches in the village, and a troop of the local yeomanry escorted them from the station. Sharsley Court, the ancestral home of the Scropes (who with various family vicissitudes had lived there since the reign of Henry VIII), was a noble Tudor mansion, wisely enlarged by various owners, who were proud of its fame. Sharsley village lay just outside its beautiful old iron gates; the ancient, irregular houses collected at either side of a wide street, or square, were of rusty red brick, or black and white. A venerable inn, furnished with wonderful treasures, attracted no attention, -- as the curio-collecting age had not yet dawned, and many valuable bits to be found in the village and neighbourhood were not merely neglected, but actually despised. At the opposite end, facing the gates of the Court, stood the church, a late Norman, and near it, sheltered by giant elm trees, was a fine old Jacobean Rectory.