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Austin, infuriated, apologised to Mr Hardy for Lavinia’s change of mind. ‘This may all seem very queer to you, and it is. We are a queer lot.’ His revenge was to cast Lavinia not as staunch promoter of their sister’s greatness but as a rural dimwit thrilled to receive a publishing contract addressed to herself in a big envelope from Boston. Lavinia, he said, was ‘disturbed by the feeling that somehow her glory and magnificence are dimmed by any other than her supreme self being recognized’.
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