Quotes Hauksbee

After  marriage arrives a reaction, sometimes a big, sometimes a little one ; but it comes sooner or later, and must be tided over by both parties if they desire the rest of their lives to go with the current.

This is from “Three and an Extra”(1886) collected in Plain Tales from the Hills.

Mrs Cusack-Bremmil loses her baby, and her grief estranges her husband’s affections. Mrs Hauksbee sees the situation and flirts outrageously with him.

Gossip reaches Mrs Cusack-Bremmil, and she  buys a magnificent new frock, and goes a ball at which she is not expected. She makes a superb entrance, and carries her husband off again.

This particular engagement lasted seven weeks—we called it the Seven Weeks’ War—and was fought out inch by inch on both sides. ..   Any one who knows about these things can fit in the details for himself. It was a superb fight—there will never be another like it as long as Jakko Hill stands

This is from “The Recue of Pluffles “(1886) collected in Plain Tales from the Hills.

Pluffles, a callow young subaltern, has fallen for the charms of a fascinating and predatory Older Woman, Mrs Reiver, of whom there is ‘nothing good except it was her dress’.

Mrs Hauksbee, who loathes Mrs Reiver, and knows that Pluffles is engaged to a girl in England, decides to rescue him. She wins his heart, talks to him like a mother, and sees him safely off Home to be married.

Mrs. Hauksbee began calculating the prices of all the Heads of Departments and Members of Council she knew, and the more she thought the more she laughed, because her heart was in the game and it amused her. Then she took a Civil List and ran over a few of the appointments.

This is from “Consequences” (1886) collected in Plain Tales from the Hills.

Tarrion is an able, charming young officer, who wants an appointment in Simla. He makes friends with Mrs Hauksbee, who promises to do what she can for him. When, by chance, some confidential papers fall into her hands, she shows them to him, and Tarrion uses the information to talk his way into an official post.

He points out to the senior official that, unlike some, he has no influential relation to speak for him. He is appointed, and prospers.