THE IMAGINARY MARRIAGE

by Henry St. John Cooper




CHAPTER I

A MASTERFUL WOMAN


"Don't talk to me, miss," said her ladyship. "I don't want to hear any
nonsense from you!"

The pretty, frightened girl who shared the drawing-room at this moment
with Lady Linden of Cornbridge Manor House had not dared to open her
lips. But that was her ladyship's way, and "Don't talk to me!" was a
stock expression of hers. Few people were permitted to talk in her
ladyship's presence. In Cornbridge they spoke of her with bated breath
as a "rare masterful woman," and they had good cause.

Masterful and domineering was Lady Linden of Cornbridge, yet she was
kind-hearted, though she tried to disguise the fact.

In Cornbridge she reigned supreme, men and women trembled at her
approach. She penetrated the homes of the cottagers, she tasted of their
foods, she rated them on uncleanliness, drunkenness, and thriftlessness;
she lectured them on cooking.