The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Bountiful, by George A. Birmingham

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Title: Lady Bountiful
1922

Author: George A. Birmingham

Release Date: January 23, 2008 [EBook #24155]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY BOUNTIFUL ***

Produced by David Widger

LADY BOUNTIFUL

By George A. Birmingham

George H. Doran Company, Copyright 1922

PART ONE

I. LADY BOUNTIFUL

Society in the west of Ireland is beautifully tolerant. A man may do
many things there, things frowned on elsewhere, without losing caste.
He may, for instance, drink heavily, appearing in public when plainly
intoxicated, and no one thinks much the worse of him. He may be in debt
up to the verge of bankruptcy and yet retain his position in society.
But he may not marry his cook. When old Sir Tony Corless did that, he
lost caste. He was a baronet of long descent, being, in fact, the fifth
Corless who held the title.

Castle Affey was a fine old place, one of the best houses in the county,
but people stopped going there and stopped asking Sir Tony to dinner.
They could not stand the cook.

Bridie Malone was her name before she became Lady Corless. She was the
daughter of the blacksmith in the village at the gates of Castle Affey,
and she was at least forty years younger than Sir Tony. People shook
their heads when they heard of the marriage and said that the old
gentleman must be doting.

"It isn't even as if she was a reasonably good-looking girl," said
Captain Corless, pathetically. "If she had been a beauty I could have
understood it, but--the poor old dad!"

Captain Corless was the son of another, a very different Lady Corless,
and some day he in his turn would become Sir Tony. Meanwhile, having
suffered a disabling wound early in the war, he had secured a pleasant
and fairly well-paid post as inspector under the Irish Government. No
one, not even Captain Corless himself, knew exactly what he inspected,
but there was no uncertainty about the salary. It was paid quarterly.

Bridie Malone was not good-looking. Captain Corless was perfectly right
about that. She was very imperfectly educated. She c