Chapter I: Front Matter

MARY JANE MARRIED

UNIFORM WITH THE PRESENT VOLUME.

_Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s.; cloth, 2s. 6d._

MARY JANE’S MEMOIRS.

By GEORGE R. SIMS.

_WITH A PHOTOGRAPHED PORTRAIT OF MARY JANE._

“A quite Defoe-like revelation. It is, in effect, a series of social sketches drawn by a keen and humorous observer. Can be heartily recommended to all and sundry.”--_Globe._

“A very entertaining autobiography.... Mary Jane has a faculty for observing character, and a power of delineating its movements and development, not distantly related to those of Mr. Sims himself. Mary Jane has so full a fund of exciting incident to draw upon, and so pleasant a manner of philosophizing, in her homely way, upon the ups and downs of a servant’s life, that should she ever take the field as a novelist independently of her present sponsor, he will have a formidable rival to contend with.”--_Scotsman._

“Mr. Sims has portrayed in an amusing manner the trials, woes, and triumphs of domestic servants. There is such an amount of truthfulness in the narrative that we can almost accept the portrait of Mary Jane as that of the authoress of the memoirs Mr. Sims is supposed to edit, and to believe that it is really genuine.”--_Metropolitan._

“There are some pages in these memoirs which it is impossible to read without laughing heartily, while the chapters devoted to the account of the Chelsea mystery are almost tragic in their intense realism.... Dickens never did anything better than ‘Mrs. Three-doors-up,’ or ‘Mr. Saxon, the author, and his mother-in-law.’. The book is full of unvarnished naturalism of a healthy, sensible, wholesome kind. It is quite the best thing Mr. Sims has yet written.”--_Whitehall Review._

“Those who have not yet made Miss Buffham’s acquaintance will here find in her a very entertaining narrator of vast experiences in the way of domestic service.”--_Daily News._

“Much of the book is broad comedy, and most laughter-provoking, and reminds one of the best of the famous ‘Mrs. Brown.’. Generally, the book is remarkable for its Defoe-like verisimilitude, and added to this is an inexhaustible fund of humour and broad though harmless fun.”--_Public Opinion._

“Genuine amusement awaits the public in the perusal of Mary Jane’s experiences, edited by the popular writer who has put them into book form. This view of the world from the housemaid’s pantry is full of shrewd observation and apparently unconscious humour, and is throughout diverting.”--_Morning Post._

“Mary Jane’s experience of domestic service makes a very entertaining book. She sees some strange things, and describes them in a lively, good-tempered way.”--_St. James’s Gazette._

“Mr. Sims is a clever story-teller, but he is to be admired for his philanthropic spirit even more than for his artistic skill. Mary Jane’s observations are shrewd and suggestive. There is a realistic tone about the whole which makes these records interesting.”--_Congregational Review._

ALSO BY GEORGE R. SIMS.

_Each the same size and prices._

=ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.=
=THE RING O’ BELLS.=

_LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY._

MARY JANE MARRIED

TALES OF A VILLAGE INN

BY

GEORGE R. SIMS

AUTHOR OF “MARY JANE’S MEMOIRS,” “THE DAGONET BALLADS,”
“ROGUES AND VAGABONDS,” “THE RING O’ BELLS,” ETC.

London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1888

[_The right of translation is reserved_]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. MARY JANE EXPLAINS 1

II. THE SQUIRE’S ROOM 15

III. MISS WARD’S YOUNG MAN 28

IV. THE REVEREND TOMMY 43

V. THE LONDON PHYSICIAN 57

VI. MR. AND MRS. SMITH 71

VII. MR. SAXON’S GHOST 84

VIII. MRS. CROKER’S “NO. 2” 99

IX. OLD GAFFER GABBITAS 112

X. DASHING DICK 127

XI. OUR ODD MAN 141

XII. TOM DEXTER’S WIFE 155

XIII. A LOVE STORY 168

XIV. THE YOUNG PLAY-ACTOR 183

XV. THE BILLIARD MARKER 196

XVI. THE SILENT POOL 210

XVII. THE OWEN WALESES 223

XVIII. MR. WILKINS 236

XIX. ONE OF OUR BARMAIDS 250

XX. MR. SAXON AGAIN 263

XXI. THE VILLAGE WITCH 277

XXII. CONCLUSION 291

MARY JANE MARRIED.