After all, Harry was of superior importance to Molly, though those
chimneys at Buntingford could probably give a better income than the
acres belonging to the park. But Harry was to be the future Prosper of
the county; to assume at some future time the family name; and there was
undoubtedly present to them all at the parsonage a feeling that Harry
Annesley Prosper would loom in future years a bigger squire than the
parish had ever known before. He had got a fellowship, which no Prosper
had ever done; and he had the look and tone of a man who had lived in
London, which had never belonged to the Prospers generally. And he was
to bring a wife, with a good fortune, and one of whom a reputation for
many charms had preceded her. And Harry, having been somewhat under a
cloud for the last six months, was now emerging from it brighter than
ever. Even Uncle Prosper could not do without him. That terrible Miss
Thoroughbung had thrown a gloom over Buston Hall which could only be
removed, as the squire himself had felt, by the coming of the natural
heir. Harry was indispensable, and was no longer felt by any one to be a
burden.
It was now the end of March. Old Mr. Scarborough was dead and buried,
and Mountjoy was living at Tretton.
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