THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL

By George Meredith

1905



BOOK 2.

XII. THE BLOSSOMING SEASON
XIII. THE MAGNETIC AGE
XIV. AN ATTRACTION
XV. FERDINAND AND MIRANDA
XVI. UNMASKING OF MASTER RIPTON THOMPSON
XVII. GOOD WINE AND GOOD BLOOD
XVIII. THE SYSTEM ENCOUNTERS THE WILD OATS SPECIAL PLEA
XIX. A DIVERSION PLAYED ON A PENNY WHISTLE
XX. CELEBRATES THE TIME-HONOURED TREATMENT OF A DRAGON BY THE HERO



CHAPTER XII

Laying of ghosts is a public duty, and, as the mystery of the apparition
that had frightened little Clare was never solved on the stage of events
at Raynham, where dread walked the Abbey, let us go behind the scenes a
moment. Morally superstitious as the baronet was, the character of his
mind was opposed to anything like spiritual agency in the affairs of men,
and, when the matter was made clear to him, it shook off a weight of