Mary Jane Married: Tales of a Village Inn

If there is one thing that is unpleasant in a small hotel, it is to have anybody very ill in it. I dare say it is unpleasant in a big hotel; but there it isn’t noticed so much,...

What a lot there is in the world that you must die not knowing anything about because you don’t get mixed up with it! I don’t know if that’s quite the way to say what I mean, bu...

I told you that when we took over the ‘Stretford Arms’ we kept most of the people about the place, and among them the barmaid, Miss Ward--Clara we generally called her. She was...

It’s got about. I wouldn’t have had it happen for the world; but Mr. Wilkins has got to know that I write stories. He told me the other evening that he was going to buy my book,...

I think I have mentioned how, soon after we had got our house straight and ready to be an hotel, I sent a nice, respectful letter to those of my old masters and mistresses that...

If you look back at one of the chapters of these reminiscences of the ‘Stretford Arms,’ I forget which, you will find at the end that I was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Sax...

Looking over what I have written about Mr. Wilkins, who was for such a long time one of our most regular customers of an evening at the ‘Stretford Arms,’ I feel inclined now to...

I think I mentioned in a former “Memoir” that we had had a billiard-table put up. It was Harry’s idea. He is very fond of a game of billiards himself, and is not at all a bad pl...

It is no use my trying to stop myself. I’m sure I’ve tried hard enough. When I changed my name from Mary Jane Buffham to Mary Jane Beckett by marrying Harry, my sailor sweethear...

Mr. Wilkins wanted to recommend a man he knew, who had been ostler up in London, but Harry said, “No, thank you, Wilkins, I’ll look out for one myself.” It was Mr. Wilkins who r...

People who have lived all their lives in London, when they come to live in a country place generally find the inhabitants what is called “behind the world,” and the village that...

Our hotel being just a nice driving distance from London, and a very easy and convenient distance by train, and the village being really very quaint and pretty, and nice scenery...

It was pretty late when we went to bed the night that Mr. Saxon got telling stories, because after everybody had gone he sat on with Harry, and he and the Swedish gentleman didn...

The first year that we had the ‘Stretford Arms’ was one of great anxiety to us, as you may be sure. All our capital was invested in the business, and not only all our capital, b...

The worst of anybody who is not a regular author or authoress trying to write out incidents of their life, or things that they know about which they think will be interesting, i...

I was telling you about the young lady, who was so ill in our house, when I was interrupted through Harry insisting on my coming to supper. No matter whether I want any supper o...

I don’t know why it is, but when I sit down to write this “Memoir,” knowing that it may be the last that I shall ever write, it makes me feel a little sad.

One of the things that used to make me the most nervous when we first took to hotel-keeping was not knowing what sort of people you’d got sleeping under your roof. Anybody that’...

“Sixes and Sevens” we called them, and certainly that’s what they were always at. They stayed three weeks, while their house in London was being painted and done up inside and o...

After we got into our new house everything was very strange at first. Harry knew something about the business, having been with a relative, who was in the same line, for six mon...

Good barmaids are as difficult to get as good servants. It is, perhaps, even harder to get just what you want in a barmaid, because so many different qualities are required, and...

It was a long time before I got over the burglary at the Hall. It was a most daring thing, and the detective that came down from London, said it was the work of an old hand. A n...