"
The italicised "I" was an allusion to a fiction that once Mrs. Furze
might have married a doctor if she had liked, and thereby have
secured the pre-eminence which the wife of a drug-dispenser assumes
in a country town. The grades in Eastthorpe were very marked, and
no caste distinctions could have been more rigid. The county folk
near were by themselves. They associated with none of the
townsfolk, save with the rector, and even in that relationship there
was a slight tinge of ex-officiosity. Next to the rector were the
lawyer and the banker and the two maiden banker ladies in the Abbey
Close. Looked at from a distance these might be supposed to stand
level, but, on nearer approach, a difference was discernible. The
banker and the ladies, although they visited the lawyer, were a
shade beyond him. Then came the brewer. The days had not arrived
when brewing--at least, on the large scale--is considered to be more
respectable than a learned profession, and Mrs. Colston,
notwithstanding her wealth, was incessantly forced by the lawyer's
wife to confess subordination. The brewer kept three or four horses
for pleasure, and the lawyer kept only one; but "Colston's Entire"
was on a dozen boards in the town, and he supplied private families
and sent in bills. The position of Mrs. Butcher was perhaps the
most curious. She visited the rector, banker, lawyer, and brewer,
and was always well received, for she was clever, smart, young, and
well behaved.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72