It might be that the evils would
vanish away, and the good things alone remain to them. It was now
the month of April, and the fields were beginning to look green, and
the wind had got itself out of the east and was soft and genial, and
the early spring flowers were showing their bright colours in the
parsonage garden, and all things were sweet and pleasant. This was a
period of the year that was usually dear to Mrs. Robarts. Her husband
was always a better parson when the warm months came than he had been
during the winter. The distant county friends whom she did not know
and of whom she did not approve, went away when the spring came,
leaving their houses innocent and empty. The parish duty was better
attended to, and perhaps domestic duties also. At such period he was
a pattern parson and a pattern husband, atoning to his own conscience
for past shortcomings by present zeal. And then, though she had never
acknowledged it to herself, the absence of her dear friend Lady
Lufton was perhaps in itself not disagreeable. Mrs. Robarts did love
Lady Lufton heartily; but it must be acknowledged of her ladyship,
that with all her good qualities, she was inclined to be masterful.
She liked to rule, and she made people feel that she liked it.
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