I have always hated the sight
of a villa ever since, Mr. Bingham. And shortly afterwards he died, as
near bankruptcy as a man's nose is to his mouth.
"After that I was offered this living, L150 a year it was at the best,
and like a fool I took it. The old parson who was here before me left
an only daughter behind him. The living had ruined him, as it ruins me,
and, as I say, he left his daughter, my wife that was, behind him, and
a pretty good bill for dilapidations I had against the estate. But there
wasn't any estate, so I made the best of a bad business and married
the daughter, and a sweet pretty woman she was, poor dear, very like
my Beatrice, only without the brains. I can't make out where Beatrice's
brains come from indeed, for I am sure I don't set up for having any.
She was well born, too, my wife was, of an old Cornish family, but she
had nowhere to go to, and I think she married me because she didn't know
what else to do, and was fond of the old place. She took me on with it,
as it were. Well, it turned out pretty well, till some eleven years ago,
when our boy was born, though I don't think we ever quite understood
each other.
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