MOTH AND RUST
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
| RED POTTAGE. DIANA TEMPEST. SIR CHARLES DANVERS. A DEVOTEE. THE DANVERS' JEWELS. |
MOTH AND RUST
TOGETHER WITH GEOFFREY'S
WIFE AND THE PITFALL
By MARY CHOLMONDELEY,
AUTHOR OF "RED POTTAGE."
"Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array."
—Christina Rossetti.
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1902
TO
ESSEX.
Not chance of birth or place has made us friends.
PREFACE
My best thanks are due to the Editor ofThe Graphic for his kind permission to republish"Geoffrey's Wife," which appearedoriginally in The Graphic.
MARY CHOLMONDELEY.
CONTENTS
| MOTH AND RUST | 1 |
| GEOFFREY'S WIFE | 241 |
| THE PITFALL | 267 |
MOTH AND RUST
MOTH AND RUST
CHAPTER I
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth andrust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal."
The Vicar gave out the text, and proceeded to expound it. The littlecongregation settled down peacefully to listen. Except four of theirnumber, the "quality" in the carved Easthope pew, none of them had muchtreasure on earth. Their treasure for the greater part consisted of apig, that was certainly being "laid up" to meet the rent at Christmas.But there would hardly be time for moth and rust to get into it beforeits secluded life should migrate into flitches and pork pies. Not thatthe poorest of Mr Long's parishioners had any fear of such an event, forthey never associated his sermons with anything[Pg 4] to do with themselves,except on one occasion when the good man had preached earnestly againstdrunkenness, and a respectable widow had ceased to attend divine servicein consequence, because, as she observed, she was not going to be spokenagainst like that by any one, be they who they may, after all the yearsshe had been "on the teetotal."
Perhaps the two farmers who had driven over resplendent wives indog-carts had treasure on earth. They certainly had money in the b