They settled themselves, and again began their struggles against
man's hardness and the devil's zeal. I have said that Mr. Crawley was
a stern, unpleasant man; and it certainly was so. The man must be
made of very sterling stuff, whom continued and undeserved misfortune
does not make unpleasant. This man had so far succumbed to grief,
that it had left upon him its marks, palpable and not to be effaced.
He cared little for society, judging men to be doing evil who did
care for it. He knew as a fact, and believed with all his heart, that
these sorrows had come to him from the hand of God, and that they
would work for his weal in the long run; but not the less did they
make him morose, silent, and dogged. He had always at his heart a
feeling that he and his had been ill-used, and too often solaced
himself, at the devil's bidding, with the conviction that eternity
would make equal that which life in this world had made so unequal;
the last bait that with which the devil angles after those who are
struggling to elude his rod and line.
The Framley property did not run into the parish of Hogglestock; but
nevertheless Lady Lufton did what she could in the way of kindness to
these new-comers. Providence had not supplied Hogglestock with a Lady
Lufton, or with any substitute in the shape of lord or lady, squire
or squiress.
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