It was in this cottage that Frank Greystock was to be sheltered
with his friend, when he came down to shoot what Lady Eustace had called
her three annual grouse.
She ought to have been happy and comfortable. There will, of course, be
some to say that a young widow should not be happy and comfortable--that
she should be weeping her lost lord, and subject to the desolation of
bereavement. But as the world goes now, young widows are not miserable;
and there is, perhaps, a growing tendency in society to claim from them
year by year still less of any misery that may be avoidable. Suttee
propensities of all sorts, from burning alive down to bombazine and
hideous forms of clothing, are becoming less and less popular among the
nations, and women are beginning to learn that, let what misfortunes will
come upon them, it is well for them to be as happy as their nature will
allow them to be. A woman may thoroughly respect her husband, and mourn
him truly, honestly, with her whole heart, and yet enjoy thoroughly the
good things which he has left behind for her use. It was not, at any rate,
sorrow for the lost Sir Florian that made Lady Eustace uncomfortable.
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