Mary was in Melbourne at
the time, at John's nuptials; Mahony had opened the door himself to
Ned's knock; and there, in a spring-cart, sat the frowsy, red-haired
woman who was come to steal his wife's name from her. This invasion was
the direct result of his impulsive generosity. Had he only kept his
money in his pocket!
He had been forced to take the trio in and give them house-room. But he
bore the storming of his hard-won privacy with a bad grace, and Mary had
much to gloss over on her return.
She had been greatly distressed by her favourite brother's ill-considered
marriage. For, if they had not held Jinny to be John's equal,
what WAS to be said of Ned's choice? Mrs. Ned had lived among the mining
population of Castlemaine, where her father kept a public-house; and,
said Richard, her manners were accordingly: loud, slap-dash, familiar--
before she had been twenty-four hours under his roof she was bluntly
addressing him as "Mahony." There was also a peculiar streak of
touchiness in her nature ("Goes with hair of that colour, my dear!")
which rendered her extremely hard to deal with. She had, it seemed,
opposed the idea of moving to Ballarat--that was all in her favour,
said Mary--and came primed to detect a snub or a slight at every turn.
This morbid suspiciousness it was that led Mary to yield her rights in
the matter of the name: the confusion between them was never-ending;
and, at the first hint that the change would come gracefully from her,
Mrs.
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