CHAPTER II

LONG, LONG AGO

As Dr Thorne is our hero--or I should rather say my hero, a privilege
of selecting for themselves in this respect being left to all my
readers--and as Miss Mary Thorne is to be our heroine, a point on which
no choice whatsoever is left to any one, it is necessary that they
shall be introduced and explained and described in a proper, formal
manner. I feel quite an apology is due for beginning a novel with two
long dull chapters full of description. I am perfectly aware of the
danger of such a course. In so doing I sin against the golden rule
which requires us all to put our best foot foremost, the wisdom of
which is fully recognized by novelists, myself among the number. It
can hardly be expected that any one will consent to go through with a
fiction that offers so little allurement in its first pages; but twist
it as I will I cannot do otherwise. I find that I cannot make poor Mr
Gresham hem and haw and turn himself uneasily in his arm-chair in a
natural manner till I have said why he is uneasy. I cannot bring my
doctor speaking his mind freely among the bigwigs till I have explained
that it is in accordance with his usual character to do so. This is
unartistic on my part, and shows want of imagination as well as want of
skill. Whether or not I can atone for these faults by straightforward,
simple, plain story-telling--that, indeed, is very doubtful.

Dr Thorne belonged to a family in one sense as good, and at any rate as
old, as that of Mr Gresham; and much older, he was apt to boast, than
that of the De Courcys. This trait in his character is mentioned
first, as it was the weakness for which he was most conspicuous. He