Two other children, considerably older, were also in
the room. The eldest was a girl, perhaps nine years of age, and the
other a boy three years her junior. These were standing at their
father's elbow, who was studiously endeavouring to initiate them in
the early mysteries of grammar. To tell the truth Mrs. Robarts would
much have preferred that Mr. Crawley had not been there, for she had
with her and about her certain contraband articles, presents for the
children, as they were to be called, but in truth relief for that
poor, much-tasked mother, which they knew it would be impossible to
introduce in Mr. Crawley's presence. She, as we have said, was not
quite so gaunt, not altogether so haggard as in the latter of those
dreadful Cornish days. Lady Lufton and Mrs. Arabin between them, and
the scanty comfort of their improved, though still wretched, income,
had done something towards bringing her back to the world in which
she had lived in the soft days of her childhood. But even the liberal
stipend of a hundred and thirty pounds a year--liberal according
to the scale by which the incomes of clergymen in some of our new
districts are now apportioned--would not admit of a gentleman with
his wife and four children living with the ordinary comforts of
an artisan's family.
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