travel books: THE old woman lay still another year, then she suddenly sank out of life. George ceased to write to me, but I teamed his news elsewhere. He became more and more intimate with the Mayhews. After old lYlayhew's bankruptcy, the two sons had remained on in the large dark house that stood off the Nottingham Road in Eberwich. This house had been bequeathed to the oldest daughter by the mother. Maud Mayhew, who was married and separated from her husband, kept house for her brothers. She was a tall, large woman with high cheek-bones and oily black hair looped over her ears. Tom Mayhew was also a handsome man, very dark and ruddy, with insolent bright eyes. The Mayhews' house was called the ` Hollies.' It was a solid building, of old red brick, standing fifty yards back from the Eberwich high road. Between it and the road was an unkempt lawn, surrounded by very high black holly trees. The house seemed to be imprisoned among the bristling hollies. Passing through the large gate, one came immediately upon the bare side of the house and upon the great range of stables. Old Mayhew had in his day stabled thirty or more horses there. Now grass vaas between the red bricks, and all the bleaching doors were shut, save perhaps two or three which were open for George's horses. The Hollies became a kind of club for the disconsolate 'better-off' men of the district. The large dining-room was gloomily and sparsely furnished, the drawing-room was a desert, but the smaller morning-room was comfortable enough, with wicker arm-chairs, heavy curtains, and a large sideboard. In this room George and the Mayhew5 met with several men two or three times a week. There they discussed horses and made mock of the authority of women. George provided the whisky, and they all gambled books

Books > Old Books > The White Peacock (1906)

Page 311

PART III - CHAPTER V
THE DOMINANT MOTIF OF SUFFERING

THE old woman lay still another year, then she suddenly sank out of life. George ceased to write to me, but I teamed his news elsewhere. He became more and more intimate with the Mayhews. After old lYlayhew's bankruptcy, the two sons had remained on in the large dark house that stood off the Nottingham Road in Eberwich. This house had been bequeathed to the oldest daughter by the mother. Maud Mayhew, who was married and separated from her husband, kept house for her brothers. She was a tall, large woman with high cheek-bones and oily black hair looped over her ears. Tom Mayhew was also a handsome man, very dark and ruddy, with insolent bright eyes.
The Mayhews' house was called the ` Hollies.' It was a solid building, of old red brick, standing fifty yards back from the Eberwich high road. Between it and the road was an unkempt lawn, surrounded by very high black holly trees. The house seemed to be imprisoned among the bristling hollies. Passing through the large gate, one came immediately upon the bare side of the house and upon the great range of stables. Old Mayhew had in his day stabled thirty or more horses there. Now grass vaas between the red bricks, and all the bleaching doors were shut, save perhaps two or three which were open for George's horses.
The Hollies became a kind of club for the disconsolate 'better-off' men of the district. The large dining-room was gloomily and sparsely furnished, the drawing-room was a desert, but the smaller morning-room was comfortable enough, with wicker arm-chairs, heavy curtains, and a large sideboard. In this room George and the Mayhew5 met with several men two or three times a week. There they discussed horses and made mock of the authority of women. George provided the whisky, and they all gambled