Furthermore she was useful, for her opinion, when anything had to be
done, was always the one to be followed, and without her the church
restoration would never have been such a success. Eastthorpe, like
Mrs. Colston, often marvelled that Butcher should have been so
fortunate. It mostly knew everything about the antecedents of
everybody in the town, but Mrs. Butcher's were not so well known.
She came from Cornwall, she always said, and Cornwall was a long way
off in those days. Her maiden name was Treherne, and Mrs. Colston
had been told that Treherne was good Cornish. Moreover, soon after
the marriage she found on the table, when she called on Mrs.
Butcher, a letter which she could not help partly reading, for it
lay wide open. All scruples were at once removed. It had a crest
at the top, was dated from Helston, addressed Mrs. Butcher by a
nickname, and was written in a most aristocratic hand--so Mrs.
Colston averred to her intimate friends. She could not finish the
perusal before Mrs. Butcher came into the room; but she had read
enough, and the doctor's elect was admitted at once without
reservation. Eastthorpe was slightly mistaken, but Mrs. Butcher's
history cannot be told here.
So much by way of digression on Eastthorpe society. Mrs. Furze
carried her point as usual. As for Catharine, she did not object,
for there was nothing in Eastthorpe attractive to her. The Limes,
Abchurch, was the "establishment" chosen.
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