Emily says she has come to have a superstition that extensions of
original plans never turn out well, and certainly some of the charm
of our journey departed with the merry, genial Parson Frank. Our
mother was more anxious about Ellen, and put more restrictions on
the lovers than when the father was present to sanction their
doings. Griffith absolutely broke out against her in a way he had
never ventured before, when she forbade Ellen's riding with him when
he wanted to hire a horse at Lydford and take an excursion on the
moor before joining us at Okehampton.
My father looked up, and said, 'Griffith, I am surprised at you.'
He was constrained to mutter some apology, and I believe Ellen
privately begged my mother's pardon, owning her to have been quite
right; but, by the dear girl, the wonderful cascade and narrow gorge
were seen through swollen eyes. And poor Clarence must have had a
fine time of it when Griffith had to ride off with him faute de
mieux.
All was cleared off, however, when we met again, for Griff's storms
were very fleeting, and Ellen treated him as if she had to make her
own peace with him. She sacrificed her own enjoyment of Exeter
Cathedral to go about with him when he had had enough of it, but on
Sunday afternoon she altogether declined to walk with him till after
the second service. He laughed at her supposed passion for sacred
music, and offered to wait with her to hear the anthem from the
nave.
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