wunder · LibraryPart 4
Read in the Wunder reader — freeDR. FREEMANTLE. You mean to tell me—[He jumps up. With his hands in his jacket pockets, he walks to and fro.] I suppose it’s possible.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. You see, she isn’t the ordinary class of music-hall singer.
DR. FREEMANTLE. I should say not.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. She comes of quite a good family.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. Her uncle was a bishop.
DR. FREEMANTLE. Bishop? Of where?
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL [with the letter]. He says he can’t spell it. It’s somewhere in New Zealand.
DR. FREEMANTLE. Do they have bishops over there?
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. Well, evidently.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. Then her cousin is a judge.
DR. FREEMANTLE. In New Zealand?
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL [again referring to the letter]. No—in Ohio.
DR. FREEMANTLE. Seems to have been a somewhat scattered family.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. People go about so much nowadays.
Mrs. Bennet has entered. She is the housekeeper.
MRS. BENNET [she is about to speak to the Misses Wetherell; sees the Doctor]. Good afternoon, doctor.
DR. FREEMANTLE. Afternoon, Mrs. Bennet.
MRS. BENNET [she turns to the Misses Wetherell, her watch in her hand]. I was thinking of having the fire lighted in her ladyship’s bedroom. It is half past six.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. You are always so thoughtful. She may be tired.
MRS. BENNET. If so, everything will be quite ready. [She goes out, closing door.]
DR. FREEMANTLE. What do they think about it all—the Bennets? You have told them?
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. We thought it better. You see, one hardly regards them as servants. They have been in the family so long. Three generations of them.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. Really, since our poor dear brother’s death, Bennet has been more like the head of the house than the butler.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. Of course, he doesn’t say much.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. It is her having been on the stage that they feel so.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. You see, they have always been a religious family.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. Do you know, I really think they feel it more than we do. I found Peggy crying about it yesterday, in the scullery.
DR. FREEMANTLE [he has been listening with a touch of amusement.] Peggy Bennet?
Fanny and the Servant Problem · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.