Green were there or
not, there was certain to be somebody present who would not be
insensible to her charms, besides the Rector, whose official
capacity generally obliged him to attend. Usually, also, if the
weather permitted, both she and her sister would walk home;
Matilda, because she hated the confinement of the carriage; she,
because she disliked the privacy of it, and enjoyed the company
that generally enlivened the first mile of the journey in walking
from the church to Mr. Green's park-gates: near which commenced
the private road to Horton Lodge, which lay in the opposite
direction, while the highway conducted in a straightforward course
to the still more distant mansion of Sir Hugh Meltham. Thus there
was always a chance of being accompanied, so far, either by Harry
Meltham, with or without Miss Meltham, or Mr. Green, with perhaps
one or both of his sisters, and any gentlemen visitors they might
have.
Whether I walked with the young ladies or rode with their parents,
depended upon their own capricious will: if they chose to 'take'
me, I went; if, for reasons best known to themselves, they chose to
go alone, I took my seat in the carriage. I liked walking better,
but a sense of reluctance to obtrude my presence on anyone who did
not desire it, always kept me passive on these and similar
occasions; and I never inquired into the causes of their varying
whims.
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