The Small House at Allington, Anthony Trollope [best ebook reader for chromebook .txt] 📗

The Small House at Allington

By
Anthony Trollope.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint I: The Squire of Allington II: The Two Pearls of Allington III: The Widow Dale of Allington IV: Mrs. Roper’s Boardinghouse V: About L. D. VI: Beautiful Days VII: The Beginning of Troubles VIII: It Cannot Be IX: Mrs. Dale’s Little Party X: Mrs. Lupex and Amelia Roper XI: Social Life XII: Lilian Dale Becomes a Butterfly XIII: A Visit to Guestwick XIV: John Eames Takes a Walk XV: The Last Day XVI: Mr. Crosbie Meets an Old Clergyman on His Way to Courcy Castle XVII: Courcy Castle XVIII: Lily Dale’s First Love-Letter XIX: The Squire Makes a Visit to the Small House XX: Dr. Crofts XXI: John Eames Encounters Two Adventures, and Displays Great Courage in Both XXII: Lord De Guest at Home XXIII: Mr. Plantagenet Palliser XXIV: A Mother-in-Law and a Father-in-Law XXV: Adolphus Crosbie Spends an Evening at His Club XXVI: Lord De Courcy in the Bosom of His Family XXVII: “On My Honour, I Do Not Understand It.” XXVIII: The Board XXIX: John Eames Returns to Burton Crescent XXX: Is It from Him? XXXI: The Wounded Fawn XXXII: Pawkins’s in Jermyn Street XXXIII: “The Time Will Come.” XXXIV: The Combat XXXV: Vae Victis XXXVI: “See, the Conquering Hero Comes.” XXXVII: An Old Man’s Complaint XXXVIII: Doctor Crofts Is Called In XXXIX: Dr. Crofts Is Turned Out XL: Preparations for the Wedding XLI: Domestic Troubles XLII: Lily’s Bedside XLIII: Fie, Fie! XLIV: Valentine’s Day at Allington XLV: Valentine’s Day in London XLVI: John Eames at His Office XLVII: The New Private Secretary XLVIII: Nemesis XLIX: Preparations for Going L: Mrs. Dale Is Thankful for a Good Thing LI: John Eames Does Things Which He Ought Not to Have Done LII: The First Visit to the Guestwick Bridge LIII: Loquitur Hopkins LIV: The Second Visit to the Guestwick Bridge LV: Not Very Fie Fie After All LVI: Showing How Mr. Crosbie Became Again a Happy Man LVII: Lilian Dale Vanquishes Her Mother LVIII: The Fate of the Small House LIX: John Eames Becomes a Man LX: Conclusion Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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I The Squire of Allington

Of course there was a Great House at Allington. How otherwise should there have been a Small House? Our story will, as its name imports, have its closest relations with those who lived in the less dignified domicile of the two; but it will have close relations also with the more dignified, and it may be well that I should, in the first instance, say a few words as to the Great House and its owner.

The squires of Allington had been squires of Allington since squires, such as squires are now, were first known in England. From father to son, and from uncle to nephew, and, in one instance, from second cousin to second cousin, the sceptre had descended in the family of the Dales; and the acres had remained intact, growing in value and not decreasing in number, though guarded by no entail and protected by no wonderful amount of prudence or wisdom. The estate of Dale of Allington had been coterminous with the parish of Allington for some hundreds of years; and though, as I have said, the race of squires had possessed nothing of superhuman discretion, and had perhaps been guided in their walks through life by no very distinct principles, still there had been with them so much of adherence to a sacred law, that no acre of the property had ever been parted from the hands of the existing squire. Some futile attempts had been made to increase the territory, as indeed had been done by Kit Dale, the father of Christopher Dale, who will appear as our squire of Allington when the persons of our drama are introduced. Old Kit Dale, who had married money, had bought outlying farms⁠—a bit of ground here and a bit there⁠—talking, as he did so, much of political influence and of the good old Tory cause. But these farms and bits of ground had gone again before our time. To them had been attached no religion. When old Kit had found himself pressed in that matter of the majority of the Nineteenth Dragoons, in which crack regiment his second son made for himself quite a career, he found it easier to sell than to save⁠—seeing that that which he sold was his own and not the patrimony of the Dales. At his death the remainder of these purchases had gone. Family arrangements required completion, and Christopher Dale required ready money. The outlying farms flew away, as such new purchases