His profession was to be son and heir to a large
fortune, and he took to the show part of the affair very kindly.
But was this being the man his father had expected him to be? The
thought would come across Caroline at times, but not very often, as
she floated along easily in the stream of life. Most of the business
troubles of her property were spared her by her trustees, and her
income was so large that even Allen's expenditure had not yet been
felt as an inconvenience. As to the responsibilities, she
contributed largely to county subscriptions, gave her clergyman
whatever he asked, provided Christmas treats and summer teas for
their school-children, and permitted Miss Ogilvie and Babie to do
whatever they pleased among the poor when they were at home. But she
was not very much at Belforest. She generally came there at
Midsummer and at Christmas, and filled the house with friends. All
kinds of amusements astonished the neighbourhood, and parties of the
newest kinds, private theatricals, tableaux, charades, all that taste
or ingenuity could devise were in vogue.
But before the spring east winds the party were generally gone to
some more genial climate, and the early autumn was often spent in
Switzerland. Pictures, art, and scenery were growing to be
necessaries of life, and to stay at home with no special diversion in
view seemed unthought of.
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