I Forbid the Banns! — page 234: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

224 ‘*l FORBID THE BANNS!” among the very frank members of her household between herself and the bird which appeared on the screen. He had talked to the third on the subject of English literature, and she had forthwith subscribed to the Famzly Flerald. The remaining daughter heard that he was musical. She took lessons on the banjo. The four daughters remained unmarried. But it is scarcely necessary to say that, however straitened and uncertain the income of a country gentleman may be, he still keeps his riding horses and his coach horses, his butler, footmen, grooms, under grooms, coachmen, cooks, laundresses, housemaids, scullery maids, kitchenmaids, dairymaids, lady’s maids, and all the other consumers of cold beef and pickles—cheese and beer—who find indoor relief beneath the roof of the family mansion. The Rushton family had all of these; and though they could not afford to maintain a house in town during the season, they invariably entertained a number of visitors in the summer and autumn. | In the winter they gave dinner parties—county family dinner parties—monuments of dullness. It appeared that Miss Travers and Cyril Southcote were among the visitors at Queen’s Elms—the first of the summer set. Sir Edwin and the commissioner had been in the same regiment in their youth, and Lady Rushton had known Marian’s mother. As for Cyril Southcote, he was understood to be so clever as to be thoroughly good for nothing; and thus Sir Edwin thought he had sufficient grounds for entertaining the hope that he would propose to one of the plain daugh- ters. He had not done so; but he had proposed to Miss Travers, whom he found to be everything that a nice girl should be—including an appreciative listener. Appreciative listeners were getting rarer every day, he felt. Girls were getting to be able to talk for themselves, and to hold EONNIELIOOKS (¢(0)