THE HAMPDENS.
AN HISTORTETTE. BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.
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CHAPTER X. POLITICAL IDEAS IN MERRY ENGLAND.
For some weeks after their return to Buckinghamshire, Harry and his wife lived in a retirement so complete that they might have appeared insensible to the hurry and discomposure of the country. Harry thought it a small price to pay for the satisfaction of his heart, and for a happy home to withdraw himself from public affairs. He could do as much good by staying at home as others by moving about, because he could administer the affairs of the family which others were too busy to attend to. Mr. Hampden had desired the young people to settle themselves, if they so pleased, in his house of Crestwood, within three miles of his own dwelling: and there Harry carried on the farming of both estates, and acted in Mr. Hampden’s place towards the tenants.
It was a calm season for the young people, and for Lady Carewe. Every morning Harry went forth, in his yeoman’s trim, to look after the crops, or the stock in the pastures, or to meet the tenants on business, leaving Henrietta with the little Dick Knightley for her companion, and with enough of domestic business to occupy her. He returned to dinner full of country news of a small kind; but of the large news of the kingdom not a word ever passed his lips. Henrietta never inquired: and he never spoke to her on the old sore subject without inquiry. In the summer evenings, they often rode over to Hampden; or the Hampden coach brought lady Carewe and the young people. They could not be very merry, seeing Mr. Hampden so little, and knowing that they should never see Margaret more: but they loved their home, and enjoyed the delights of its hills.