And yet the day came, as we see, when she had been brought to know
that she loved him, and to look forward to being his wife as her
greatest good. But then, in his growing affection for her, and his
absorbing anxiety as to its being returned, he had left off quoting
'my mother' and Limeton quite so often; and Mary flattered herself it
was because he was beginning to see the superiority of Mapleton, and
thus tacitly acknowledged it.
A few days after her betrothal she received a letter from Mrs.
Cowell, inviting her to go and stay with her for a few weeks, in
order that they might become better acquainted.
The letter was kind and motherly, and Mary felt that it was so: but
although there were no actual faults of spelling, it was evidently
not the production of a cultured woman, and she thought with some
dread of her future mother-in-law. It would all be very tolerable if
Tom did not think so over much of his own kin, but he evidently
looked on his women-folk as the most superior of their kind.
However, she had to meet them sooner or later, and as Tom was so
anxious, it was best to go.
Tom was delighted when she told him she would accept his mother's
invitation.
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