Good stories; by Charles Reade - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: ..."The woman Barnes. She has told him--to make mischief." "No, no! the old fox has got eyes of his own." "Not for sables. It is the woman." "Well, dear, I don't think so; but if it is, then I wouldn't give her the chance again." "Me take off my sables because a woman is envious of them? What do you think I bought Hum for? I'll wear them all the more--ten times more." "Hush! hush!" implored the weak husband, for the peacock voice, raised in defiance, was audible through doors at a considerable distance. All this mortified Mrs. Joe's vanity, and that was her stronger passion. She came no more to " Merino Lodge." But she sent her husband once a year, with orders to bring home some money and get rid of the woman Barnes. He was to tell Mr. Sutton Barnes was a mercenary woman, and kept his wife away. But Joe's subservience relaxed when he got to " Merino Lodge," and his pea-hen could not watch him. He made himself agreeable to everybody. One fine day he discovered that Rebecca was consulted in matters of domestic account, and that he owed the check he always took home in some degree to her good word as well as to his uncle's affection. Upon that he forgot he was to undermine her, and began to spoon a little on her; but this was received with a sort of shudder that brought him to his senses. So the years rolled on, confirming the virtues and the faults of all these characters, for nothing stands still. Joe Newton was forty-one, and looked forty-five; Rebecca Barnes thirty-eight, and looked twenty-five. Mrs. Newton was forty, and looked fifty; and Uncle Sutton, though fiftyseven, looked five-and-forty, thanks to sober living, good humor, and a fine constitution. Joe's inheritance seemed d...