THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA***
This eBook was produced from the 1907 Macmillan and Co. edition by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset.
THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA--A COMEDY IN CHAPTERS by Thomas Hardy.
"Vitae post-scenia celant."--Lucretius.
PREFACE
This somewhat frivolous narrative was produced as an interlude between stories of a more sober design, and it was given the sub-title of a comedy to indicate--though not quite accurately--the aim of the performance. A high degree of probability was not attempted in the arrangement of the incidents, and there was expected of the reader a certain lightness of mood, which should inform him with a good-natured willingness to accept the production in the spirit in which it was offered. The characters themselves, however, were meant to be consistent and human.
On its first appearance the novel suffered, perhaps deservedly, for what was involved in these intentions--for its quality of unexpectedness in particular--that unforgivable sin in the critic's sight--the immediate precursor of 'Ethelberta' having been a purely rural tale. Moreover, in its choice of medium, and line of perspective, it undertook a delicate task: to excite interest in a drama--if such a dignified word may be used in the connection--wherein servants were as important as, or more important than, their masters; wherein the drawing-room was sketched in many cases from the point of view of the servants' hall. Such a reversal of the social foreground has, perhaps, since grown more welcome, and readers even of the finer crusted kind may now be disposed to pardon a writer for presenting the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Chickerel as beings who come within the scope of a congenial regard.
T. H.
December 1895.
CONTENTS
1. A STREET IN ANGLEBURY--A HEATH NEAR IT--INSIDE THE 'RED LION' INN 2. CHRISTOPHER'S HOUSE--SANDBOURNE TOWN--SANDBOURNE MOOR 3. SANDBOURNE MOOR (continued) 4. SANDBOURNE PIER--ROAD TO WYNDWAY--BALLROOM IN WYNDWAY HOUSE 5. AT THE WINDOW--THE ROAD HOME 6. THE SHORE BY WYNDWAY 7. THE DINING-ROOM OF A TOWN HOUSE--THE BUTLER'S PANTRY 8. CHRISTOPHER'S LODGINGS--THE GROUNDS ABOUT ROOKINGTON 9. A LADY'S DRAWING-ROOMS--ETHELBERTA'S DRESSING-ROOM 10. LADY PETHERWIN'S HOUSE 11. SANDBOURNE AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD--SOME LONDON STREETS 12. ARROWTHORNE PARK AND LODGE 13. THE LODGE (continued)--THE COPSE BEHIND 14. A TURNPIKE ROAD 15. AN INNER ROOM AT THE LODGE 16. A LARGE PUBLIC HALL 17. ETHELBERTA'S HOUSE 18. NEAR SANDBOURNE--LONDON STREETS--ETHELBERTA'S 19. ETHELBERTA'S DRAWING-ROOM 20. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE HALL--THE ROAD HOME 21. A STREET--NEIGH'S ROOMS--CHRISTOPHER'S ROOMS 22. ETHELBERTA'S HOUSE 23. ETHELBERTA'S HOUSE (continued) 24. ETHELBERTA'S HOUSE (continued)--THE BRITISH MUSEUM 25. THE ROYAL ACADEMY--THE FARNFIELD ESTATE 26. ETHELBERTA'S DRAWING-ROOM 27. MRS. BELMAINE'S--CRIPPLEGATE CHURCH 28. ETHELBERTA'S--MR. CHICKEREL'S ROOM 29. ETHELBERTA'S DRESSING-ROOM--MR. DONCASTLE'S HOUSE 30. ON THE HOUSETOP 31. KNOLLSEA--A LOFTY DOWN--A RUINED CASTLE 32. A ROOM IN ENCKWORTH COURT 33. THE ENGLISH CHANNEL--NORMANDY 34. THE HOTEL BEAU SEJOUR, AND SPOTS NEAR IT 35. THE HOTEL (continued), AND THE QUAY IN FRONT 36. THE HOUSE IN TOWN 37. KNOLLSEA--AN ORNAMENTAL VILLA 38. ENCKWORTH COURT 39. KNOLLSEA--MELCHESTER 40. MELCHESTER (continued) 41. WORKSHOPS--AN INN--THE STREET 42. THE DONCASTLES' RESIDENCE, AND OUTSIDE THE SAME 43. THE RAILWAY--THE SEA--THE SHORE BEYOND 44. SANDBOURNE--A LONELY HEATH--THE 'RED LION'--THE HIGHWAY 45. KNOLLSEA--THE ROAD THENCE--ENCKWORTH 46. ENCKWORTH (continued)--THE ANGLEBURY HIGHWAY 47. ENCKWORTH AND ITS PRECINCTS--MELCHESTER SEQUEL. ANGLEBURY--ENCKWORTH--SANDBOURNE
1. A STREET IN ANGLEBURY--A HEATH NEAR IT--INSIDE THE 'RED LION' INN
Young Mrs. Petherwin stepped from the door of an old and well-appointed inn in a Wessex town to take a country walk. By her look and carriage she appeared to belong to that gentle order of society which has no worldly sorrow except when its jewellery gets stolen; but, as a fact not generally known, her claim to distinction was rather one of brains than of blood. She was the daughter of a gentleman who lived in a large house not his own, and began life as a baby christened Ethelberta after an infant of title who does not come into the story at all, having merely furnished Ethelberta's mother with a subject of contemplation. She became teacher in a school, was praised by examiners, admired by gentlemen, not admired by gentlewomen, was touched up with accomplishments by masters who were coaxed into painstaking by her many graces, and, entering a mansion as governess to the daughter thereof, was stealthily married by the son. He, a minor like herself, died from a chill caught during the wedding tour, and a few weeks later was followed into the grave by Sir Ralph Petherwin, his unforgiving father, who had bequeathed his wealth to his wife absolutely.
