CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Social Behaviours

March 20th, 1824—The time has come, and Arthur is gone, as I expected. He announced that he would go to London for a short time, then travel to Paris for a short time. I know now that he will not return for months. We were to travel to London together, but shortly before we were to leave, I was informed that my father was quite ill. My husband insisted that I go visit the poor man. When I returned to Grassdale, however, I found out that Arthur had already departed for London, explaining that he must take care of his business affairs immediately.

July 30th—He returned about three weeks ago, in better health than before, but much more anxious and upset.

My poor father died last week. Arthur seemed quite shocked that I mourned my father's death, as I did not know the man well. He was annoyed when I cried over my father's death, telling me that when I cried, he felt uncomfortable. He refused to allow me to attend my father's funeral, telling me that he could not bear to be at Grassdale without me.

"Why should you cry over an old gentleman, a stranger to us both? There now, you're crying again!"

August 20th—We will soon have our guests again, with the addition of Mr and Mrs Hattersley.

September 30th—Our guests have been here a week or two. I still greatly dislike Lady Lowborough. I always avoid her, except to politely greet her. For the first few days, she often tried to gain Arthur's attention, but he seemed to ignore her flirtation, which quite pleased me.

Grimsby and Hattersley encourage Arthur to take great amounts of wine, which I greatly disapprove of. Every evening after dinner, they drank several bottles of wine, and seemed to forget a gentleman's manners. Mr Hargrave tried to persuade them to drink less, but they only encouraged him to drink with them. Lord Lowborough refused to sit with the men, and usually sat in another room with the ladies, which bothered Annabella a great deal.

Lately, however, I have noticed that Arthur's behaviour has improved; he takes less liquor, and has shown better manners with our guests. This change occurred when Annabella no longer attempted to gain my husband's attention.

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