Stella Fregelius: A Tale of Three Destinies

  CHAPTER XIX

  MORRIS, THE MARRIED MAN

  More than three years had gone by. Within twelve weeks of the dateof the conversation recorded in the last chapter Morris and Mary weremarried in Monksland church. Although the wedding was what is called"quiet" on account of the recent death of the bride's father, theColonel, who gave her away, was careful that it should be distinguishedby a certain stamp of modest dignity, which he considered to be fittingto the station and fortune of the parties. To him, indeed, this unionwas the cause of heartfelt and earnest rejoicings, which is not strange,seeing that it meant nothing less than a new lease of life to an ancientfamily that was on the verge of disappearance. Had Morris not marriedthe race would have become extinct, at any rate in the direct line;and had he married where there was no money, it might, as his fatherthought, become bankrupt, which in his view was almost worse.

  The one terror which had haunted the Colonel for years like a persistentnightmare was that a day seemed to be at hand when the Monks would bedriven from Monksland, where, from sire to son, they had sat for so manygenerations. That day had nearly come when he was a young man; indeed,it was only averted by his marriage with the somewhat humbly born MissPorson, who brought with her sufficient dowry to enable him to pay offthe major portion of the mortgages which then crippled the estate. Butat that time agriculture flourished, and the rents from the propertywere considerable; moreover, the Colonel was never of a frugal turn ofmind. So it came about that every farthing was spent.

  Afterwards followed a period of falling revenues and unlet farms. Butstill the expenses went on, with the result, as the reader knows, thatat the opening of this history things were worse than they had everbeen, and indeed, without the help received from Mr. Porson, must erethat have reached their natural end. Now the marriage of his son with awealthy heiress set a period to all such anxiety, and unless the coupleshould be disappointed of issue, made it as certain as anything can bein this mutable world, that for some generations to come, at any rate,the name of Monk of Monksland would still appear in the handbooks ofcounty families.

  In the event these fears proved to be groundless, since by an unexpectedturn of the wheel of chance Morris became a rich man in reward of hisown exertions, and was thus made quite independent of his wife's largefortune. This, however, was a circumstance which the Colonel could notbe expected to foresee, for how could he believe that an electricalinvention which he looked upon as a mere scientific toy would ultimatelybring its author not only fame, but an income of many thousands perannum? Yet this happened.

  Other things happened also which, under the circumstances, were quiteas satisfactory, seeing that within two years of his marriage Morris wasthe father of a son and daughter, so that the old Abbey, where, by theespecial request of the Colonel, they had established themselves, oncemore echoed to the voices of little children.