{"product_id":"a-lady-of-quality-hodgson","title":"A Lady of Quality","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eBy Burnett, Frances  Hodgson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCONTENTS I. The twenty-fourth day of November 1690  Page 1 II. In which Sir Jeoffry encounters his offspring  Page 4 III. Wherein Sir Jeoffry's boon companions drink a toast  Page 9 ... XXIV. The doves sate upon the window-ledge and lowly cooed and cooed  Page 115 I. THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER 1690 On a wintry morning at the close of 1690  the sun shining faint and red through a light fog  there was a great noise of baying dogs  loud voices  and trampling of horses in the courtyard at Wildairs Hall; Sir Jeoffry being about to go forth a-hunting  and being a man with a choleric temper and big  loud voice  and given to oaths and noise even when in good-humour  his riding forth with his friends at any time was attended with boisterous commotion. This morning it was more so than usual  for he had guests with him who had come to his house the day before  and had supped late and drunk deeply  whereby the day found them  some with headaches  some with a nausea at their stomachs  and some only in an evil humour which made them curse at their horses when they were restless  and break into loud surly laughs when a coarse joke was made. There were many such jokes  Sir Jeoffry and his boon companions being renowned throughout the county for the freedom of their conversation as for the scandal of their pastimes  and this day 'twas well indeed  as their loud-voiced  oath-besprinkled jests rang out on the cold air  that there were no ladies about to ride forth with them. 'Twas Sir Jeoffry who was louder than any other  he having drunk even deeper than the rest  and though 'twas his boast that he could carry a bottle more than any man  and see all his guests under the table  his last night's bout had left him in ill-humour and boisterous. He strode about  casting oaths at the dogs and rating the servants  and when he mounted his big black horse 'twas amid such a clamour of voices and baying hounds that the place was like Pandemonium. He was a large man of florid good looks  black eyes  and full habit of body  and had been much renowned in his youth for his great strength  which was indeed almost that of a giant  and for his deeds of prowess in the saddle and at the table when the bottle went round. There were many evil stories of his roysterings  but it was not his way to think of them as evil  but rather to his credit as a man of the world  for  when he heard that they were gossiped about  he greeted the information with a loud triumphant laugh. He had married  when she was fifteen  the blooming toast of the county  for whom his passion had long died out  having indeed departed with the honeymoon  which had been of the briefest  and afterwards he having borne her a grudge for what he chose to consider her undutiful conduct. This grudge was founded on the fact that  though she had presented him each year since their marriage with a child  after nine years had passed none had yet been sons  and  as he was bitterly at odds with his next of kin  he considered each of his offspring an ill turn done him. He spent but little time in her society  for she was a poor  gentle creature of no spirit  who found little happiness in her lot  since her lord treated her with scant civility  and her children one after another sickened and died in their infancy until but two were left. He scarce remembered her existence when he did not see her face  and he was certainly not thinking of her this morning  having other things in view  and yet it so fell out that  while a groom was shortening a stirrup and being sworn at for his awkwardness  he by accident cast his eye upward to a chamber window peering out of the thick ivy on the stone.","brand":"Lushena Books","offers":[{"title":"PAPERBACK","offer_id":52437623308568,"sku":"9781639230600","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0787\/8203\/8296\/files\/61IyacOSVAL._SL1360.jpg?v=1784923698","url":"https:\/\/lushenabooksinc.com\/products\/a-lady-of-quality-hodgson","provider":"Lushena","version":"1.0","type":"link"}