Latest / North and South / 031 - 'should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot'

Transcript

031 - 'should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot' · North and South

0:01
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one of North and South. This is a
0:05
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
0:10
Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
0:17
Speaker 1: This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. North and South by Elizabeth
0:22
Speaker 1: Cleghorn Gaskell, chapter thirty one. Should old acquaintance be forgot?
0:30
Speaker 1: Show not that manner, and these features all the serpent's
0:35
Speaker 1: cunning and the sinner's fail crabe. The chill, shivery October
0:41
Speaker 1: morning came. Not the October morning of the country, with
0:46
Speaker 1: salt silvery mists clearing off before the sunbeams that bring
0:51
Speaker 1: out all the gorgeous beauty of coloring, but the October
0:55
Speaker 1: morning of Milton, whose silver mists were heavy fold and
1:00
Speaker 1: where the sun could only show long, dusky streets when
1:05
Speaker 1: he did break through and shine. Margaret went languidly about
1:10
Speaker 1: assisting Dixon in her task of arranging the house. Her
1:14
Speaker 1: eyes were continually blinded by tears, but she had no
1:18
Speaker 1: time to give way to regular crying. The father and
1:23
Speaker 1: brother depended upon her. While they were giving way to grief,
1:28
Speaker 1: she must be working, planning, considering even the necessary arrangements
1:33
Speaker 1: for the funeral, seemed to devolve upon her. When the
1:38
Speaker 1: fire was bright and crackling, when everything was ready for
1:42
Speaker 1: breakfast and the tea kettle was singing away, Margaret gave
1:47
Speaker 1: a last look round the room before going to summon
1:50
Speaker 1: mister Hale and Frederick. She wanted everything to look as
1:55
Speaker 1: cheerful as possible, and yet when it did so, the
2:00
Speaker 1: contrast between it and her own thoughts forced her into
2:04
Speaker 1: sudden weeping. She was kneeling by the sofa, hiding her
2:09
Speaker 1: face in the cushions that no one might hear her
2:12
Speaker 1: cry when she was touched on the shoulder by Dixon. Come,
2:18
Speaker 1: miss Hale, Come, my dear, you must not give way,
2:22
Speaker 1: or where shall we all be? There is not another
2:25
Speaker 1: person in the house fit to give a direction of
2:29
Speaker 1: any kind, And there is so much to be done.
2:32
Speaker 1: There's who's to manage the funeral, and who's to come
2:36
Speaker 1: to it, and where it's to be, and all to
2:40
Speaker 1: be settled, And Master Frederick's like one praised with crying,
2:45
Speaker 1: and Master never was a good one for settling. And
2:49
Speaker 1: poor gentleman he goes about now as if he was lost.
2:54
Speaker 1: It's bad enough, my dear, I know, but death comes
2:57
Speaker 1: to us all and knew a well never to have
3:01
Speaker 1: lost any friend till now. Perhaps so, but this seemed
3:06
Speaker 1: a loss by itself, not to bear comparison with any
3:10
Speaker 1: other event in the world. Margaret did not take any
3:14
Speaker 1: comfort from what Dixon said, but the unusual tenderness of
3:19
Speaker 1: the prim old servant's manner touched her to the heart,
3:23
Speaker 1: and more from a desire to show her gratitude for
3:26
Speaker 1: this than for any other reason, she roused herself up
3:31
Speaker 1: and smiled in answer to Dixon's anxious look at her,
3:35
Speaker 1: and went to tell her father and brother that breakfast
3:39
Speaker 1: was ready. Mister Hale came as if in a dream,
3:44
Speaker 1: or rather with the unconscious motion of a sleep walker
3:48
Speaker 1: whose eyes and mind perceive other things than what are present.
3:54
Speaker 1: Frederick came briskly in with a forced cheerfulness, grasped her hand,
4:00
Speaker 1: looked into her eyes, and burst into tears. She had
4:04
Speaker 1: to try and think of little nothings to say or
4:07
Speaker 1: breakfast time, in order to prevent the recurrence of her
4:12
Speaker 1: companion's thoughts too strongly to the last meal they had
4:16
Speaker 1: taken together, when there had been a continual, strained listening
4:20
Speaker 1: for some sound or signal from the sick room. After breakfast,
4:26
Speaker 1: she resolved to speak to her father about the funeral.
4:30
Speaker 1: He shook his head and assented to all she proposed,
4:35
Speaker 1: though many of her propositions absolutely contradicted one another. Margaret
4:41
Speaker 1: gained no real decision from him, and was leaving the
4:45
Speaker 1: room languidly to have a consultation with Dixon when mister
4:50
Speaker 1: Hale motioned her back to his side. Ask mister Bell,
4:55
Speaker 1: said he in a hollow voice. Mister Bell said she
5:00
Speaker 1: a little surprised, mister Bell of Oxford. Mister Bell, he repeated, yes,
5:07
Speaker 1: he was my groom's man. Margaret understood the association. I
5:13
Speaker 1: will write to day, said she. He sunk again into listlessness.
5:19
Speaker 1: All morning, she toiled on, longing for rest, but in
5:24
Speaker 1: a continual whirl of melancholy business. Towards evening, Dixon said
5:30
Speaker 1: to her, I've done it. Miss I was really afraid
5:34
Speaker 1: for Master that he'd have a stroke with grief. He's
5:38
Speaker 1: been all this day with poor missus, and when I've
5:42
Speaker 1: listened at the door, I've heard him talking to her
5:46
Speaker 1: and talking to her as if she was alive. When
5:49
Speaker 1: I went in, he would be quite quiet, but all
5:53
Speaker 1: in a maze like so, I thought to myself he
5:57
Speaker 1: ought to be roused, and if it gives him a
6:00
Speaker 1: shock at first, it will maybe be the better afterwards.
6:05
Speaker 1: So I've been and told him that I don't think
6:08
Speaker 1: it's safe for Master Frederick to be here, and I don't.
6:13
Speaker 1: It was only on Tuesday, when I was out that
6:16
Speaker 1: I met a Southampton man, the first I've seen since
6:21
Speaker 1: I came to Milton. They don't make their way much
6:24
Speaker 1: up here, I think. Well, it was young Leonard's Old Leonards,
6:30
Speaker 1: the draper's son, as great a scamp as ever lived,
6:33
Speaker 1: who plagued his father almost to debt, and then ran
6:37
Speaker 1: off to see I never could abide him. He was
6:41
Speaker 1: in the Orion at the same time as Master Frederick,
6:45
Speaker 1: I know, though I don't recollect if he was there
6:48
Speaker 1: at the mutiny? Did he know you, said Margaret eagerly.
6:54
Speaker 1: Why that's the worst of it. I don't believe he
6:57
Speaker 1: would have known me but for my being such a
7:00
Speaker 1: fool as to call out his name he were a
7:04
Speaker 1: Southampton man in a strange place, or else I should
7:09
Speaker 1: never have been so ready to call cousins with him.
7:12
Speaker 1: A nasty, good for nothing fellow says he, Miss Dixon,
7:17
Speaker 1: who would have thought of seeing you here, but perhaps
7:21
Speaker 1: I mistake, and your miss Dixon no longer. So I
7:25
Speaker 1: told him he might still address me as an unmarried lady,
7:30
Speaker 1: though if I hadn't been so particular, I'd had good
7:34
Speaker 1: chances of matrimony. He was polite enough, he couldn't look
7:38
Speaker 1: at me and doubt me. But I were not to
7:42
Speaker 1: be caught with such chafe from such a fellow as him,
7:46
Speaker 1: And so I told him. And by way of being even,
7:50
Speaker 1: I asked him after his father, who I knew had
7:54
Speaker 1: turned him out of doors, as if they was the
7:57
Speaker 1: best friends as ever was so then to spite me,
8:02
Speaker 1: for you see, we were getting savage, for all we
8:05
Speaker 1: were so civil to each other. He began to inquire
8:09
Speaker 1: after Master Frederick, and said what a scrape he'd got into,
8:14
Speaker 1: as if Master Frederick's scrapes would ever wash George Lennard's
8:19
Speaker 1: white all make him look otherwise the nasty, dirty black,
8:24
Speaker 1: And how he'd be hung for mutiny if ever he
8:28
Speaker 1: were caught, and how a hundred pound reward had been
8:31
Speaker 1: offered for catching him, and what a disgrace he had
8:35
Speaker 1: been to his family. All to spite me, you see,
8:39
Speaker 1: my dear, because before now I've helped old mister Lennards
8:44
Speaker 1: to give George a good rating down in Southampton. So
8:49
Speaker 1: I said, there will other families be thankful if they
8:53
Speaker 1: could think they were earning an honest living, as I
8:56
Speaker 1: knew who had far more cause to blush for theirs,
9:00
Speaker 1: and too far away from home, to which he made answer,
9:05
Speaker 1: like the impudent chappy ears, that he were in a
9:08
Speaker 1: confidential situation. And if I knew of any young man
9:13
Speaker 1: who had been so unfortunate as to lead vicious courses
9:18
Speaker 1: and wanted to turn steady, he'd have no objection to
9:21
Speaker 1: lend him his patronage. He indeed, why he'd corrupt a saint.
9:28
Speaker 1: I've not felt so bad myself for years as when
9:31
Speaker 1: I were standing talking to him the other day. I
9:35
Speaker 1: could have cried to think I couldn't spite him better,
9:38
Speaker 1: for he kept smiling in my face, as if he
9:42
Speaker 1: took all my compliments for earnest. And I couldn't see
9:46
Speaker 1: that he minded what I said in the least while
9:50
Speaker 1: I was mad with all his speeches. But you did
9:53
Speaker 1: not tell him anything about us, about Frederick, not, I
9:59
Speaker 1: said Dixon. He had never the grace to ask where
10:02
Speaker 1: I was staying, And I shouldn't have told him if
10:05
Speaker 1: he had asked, Nor did I ask him what his
10:09
Speaker 1: precious situation was. He was waiting for a bus, and
10:14
Speaker 1: just then it drove up, and he hailed it, but
10:17
Speaker 1: to plague me to the last. He turned back before
10:20
Speaker 1: he got in and said, if you can help me
10:24
Speaker 1: to trap Lieutenant Hale, Miss Dixon, we'll go partners in
10:28
Speaker 1: the reward. I know you'd like to be my partner, now,
10:33
Speaker 1: wouldn't you? Don't be shy but say yes. And he
10:38
Speaker 1: jumped on the bus, and I saw his ugly face
10:41
Speaker 1: leering at me with a wicked smile. To think how
10:45
Speaker 1: he had the last word of plaguing. Margaret was made
10:49
Speaker 1: very uncomfortable by this account of Dixon's. Have you told
10:53
Speaker 1: Frederick asked? She no, said Dixon. I were uneasy in
10:59
Speaker 1: my mind and at knowing that bad Leonards was in town.
11:03
Speaker 1: But there was so much else to think about that
11:06
Speaker 1: I did not dwell on it at all. But when
11:09
Speaker 1: I saw Master sitting so stiff and with his eyes
11:13
Speaker 1: so glazed and sad, I thought it might rouse him
11:17
Speaker 1: to have to think of Master Frederick's safety a bit,
11:21
Speaker 1: so I told him all though I blushed to say
11:24
Speaker 1: how a young man had been speaking to me, and
11:27
Speaker 1: it has done Master good. And if were to keep
11:31
Speaker 1: Master Frederick in hiding, he would have to go. Poor
11:35
Speaker 1: fellow before mister Bell came. Oh, I'm not afraid of
11:39
Speaker 1: mister Bell, but I am afraid of this Leonards. I
11:44
Speaker 1: must tell Frederick what did Leonards look like? A bad
11:48
Speaker 1: looking fellow. I can assure you, miss whiskers such as
11:53
Speaker 1: I should be ashamed to wear. They are so red.
11:57
Speaker 1: And for all he said he'd got a confidentidential situation,
12:02
Speaker 1: he was dressed in fusting just like a working man.
12:06
Speaker 1: It was evident that Frederick must go go too, when
12:10
Speaker 1: he had so completely vaulted into his place in the
12:14
Speaker 1: family and promised to be such a stay and staff
12:18
Speaker 1: to his father and sister, Go when his cares for
12:22
Speaker 1: the living mother and sorrow for the dead seemed to
12:26
Speaker 1: make him one of those peculiar people who are bound
12:30
Speaker 1: to us by a fellow love for them that are
12:33
Speaker 1: taken away. Just as Margaret was thinking all this sitting
12:38
Speaker 1: over the drawing room fire, her father, restless and uneasy
12:43
Speaker 1: under the pressure of this newly aroused fear of which
12:47
Speaker 1: he had not as yet spoken, Frederick came in his
12:51
Speaker 1: brightness dimmed, but the extreme violence of his grief passed away.
12:57
Speaker 1: He came up to Margaret and kissed her forehead. How
13:01
Speaker 1: waine you look, Margaret, said he in a low voice.
13:05
Speaker 1: You have been thinking of everybody, and no one has
13:09
Speaker 1: thought of you. Lie on this sofa. There is nothing
13:13
Speaker 1: for you to do. That is the worst, said Margaret
13:17
Speaker 1: in a sad whisper. But she went and lay down,
13:21
Speaker 1: and her brother covered her feet with a shawl, and
13:24
Speaker 1: then sat on the ground by her side. The two
13:27
Speaker 1: began to talk in a subdued tone. Margaret told him
13:32
Speaker 1: all that Dixon had related of her interview with young Leonards.
13:37
Speaker 1: Frederic's lips closed with a long few of dismay. I
13:42
Speaker 1: should say, like to have it out with that young fellow.
13:46
Speaker 1: A worse sailor was never on board ship, nor a
13:49
Speaker 1: much worse man either, I declare, Margaret, you know the
13:55
Speaker 1: circumstances of the whole affair. Yes, Mamma told me, well,
14:01
Speaker 1: when all the sailors who were good for anything were
14:04
Speaker 1: indignant with our captain, this fellow to curry favor pah,
14:10
Speaker 1: and to think of his being here. Oh, if he'd
14:14
Speaker 1: a notion I was within twenty miles of him. He'd
14:18
Speaker 1: ferret me out to pay off old grudges. I'd rather
14:22
Speaker 1: anybody had the hundred pounds they think I am worth
14:26
Speaker 1: than that rascal. What a pity poor old Dixon could
14:30
Speaker 1: not be persuaded to give me up and make a
14:33
Speaker 1: provision for her old age. Oh, Frederick, hush, don't talk.
14:38
Speaker 1: So mister Hale came towards them, eager and trembling. He
14:44
Speaker 1: had overheard what they were saying. He took Frederick's hand
14:48
Speaker 1: in both of his. My boy, you must go. It
14:53
Speaker 1: is very bad, but I see you must. You have
14:56
Speaker 1: done all you could. You have been a comfort to her. Oh, Papa,
15:01
Speaker 1: must he go, said Margaret, pleading against her own conviction
15:06
Speaker 1: of necessity. I declare I've a good mind to face it,
15:11
Speaker 1: out stand my trial. If I could only pick up
15:15
Speaker 1: my evidence. I cannot endure the thought of being in
15:19
Speaker 1: the power of such a blackguard as Leonard's I could
15:23
Speaker 1: almost have enjoyed in other circumstances. This stolen visit. It
15:28
Speaker 1: has all the charm which the frenchwoman attributed to forbidden pleasures.
15:34
Speaker 1: One of the earliest things I can remember, said Margaret.
15:38
Speaker 1: With your being in some great disgrace, fred for stealing apples.
15:43
Speaker 1: We had plenty of our own trees loaded with them.
15:47
Speaker 1: But some one had told you that stolen fruit tasted sweetest,
15:52
Speaker 1: which you took or pied de la letta, and off
15:56
Speaker 1: you went a robbing. You have not changed your feelings
15:59
Speaker 1: much since then. Yes, you must go, repeated mister Hale,
16:05
Speaker 1: answering Margaret's question, which she had asked some time ago.
16:11
Speaker 1: His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was
16:14
Speaker 1: an effort to him to follow the zig zag remarks
16:18
Speaker 1: of his children, an effort which he did not make.
16:22
Speaker 1: Margaret and Frederick looked at each other that quick momentary
16:26
Speaker 1: sympathy would be theirs no longer if he went away.
16:30
Speaker 1: So much was understood through eyes that could not be
16:34
Speaker 1: put into words, but caused the same thought till it
16:38
Speaker 1: was lost in sadness. Frederic shook it off first. Do
16:44
Speaker 1: you know, Margaret, I was very nearly giving both Dixon
16:48
Speaker 1: and myself a good fright this afternoon. I was in
16:52
Speaker 1: my bedroom. I had heard a ring at the door,
16:55
Speaker 1: but I thought the ringer must have done his business
16:58
Speaker 1: and gone away long ago. So I was on the
17:02
Speaker 1: point of making my appearance in the passage. When as
17:06
Speaker 1: I opened my room door, I saw Dixon coming downstairs,
17:10
Speaker 1: and she frowned and kicked me into hiding again. I
17:14
Speaker 1: kept the door open and heard a message given to
17:18
Speaker 1: some man that was in my father's study, and Matt
17:22
Speaker 1: then went away. Who could it have been some of
17:26
Speaker 1: the shopmen? Very likely, said Margaret indifferently. There was a
17:32
Speaker 1: little quiet man who came up for orders about two o'clock.
17:37
Speaker 1: But this was not a little man, a great powerful fellow,
17:41
Speaker 1: and it was past four when he was here. It
17:45
Speaker 1: was mister Thornton, said mister Hale. They were glad to
17:48
Speaker 1: have drawn him into the conversation. Mister Thornton, said Margaret,
17:54
Speaker 1: a little surprised. I thought, well, little one, what did
17:59
Speaker 1: you think, asked Frederick, as she did not finish her sentence. Oh, only,
18:06
Speaker 1: said she, reddening and looking straight at him. I fancied
18:11
Speaker 1: you meant some one of a different class, not a gentleman,
18:15
Speaker 1: somebody come on an errand he looked like some one
18:20
Speaker 1: that kind, said Frederick carelessly. I took him for a shopman,
18:25
Speaker 1: and he turns out a manufacturer. Margaret was silent. She
18:30
Speaker 1: remembered how at first before she knew his character she
18:34
Speaker 1: had spoken and thought of him just as Frederick was doing.
18:38
Speaker 1: It was but a natural impression that was made upon him,
18:43
Speaker 1: and yet she was a little annoyed by it. She
18:46
Speaker 1: was unwilling to speak. She wanted to make Frederick understand
18:50
Speaker 1: what kind of person mister Thornton was, but she was
18:54
Speaker 1: tongue tied. Mister Hale went on. He came to offer
19:00
Speaker 1: assistance in his power, I believe, but I could not
19:04
Speaker 1: see him. I told Dixon to ask him if he
19:07
Speaker 1: would like to see you. I think I asked her
19:11
Speaker 1: to find you and you would go to him. I
19:14
Speaker 1: don't know what I said. He has been a very
19:18
Speaker 1: agreeable acquaintance, has he not, asked Frederick, throwing the question
19:23
Speaker 1: like a ball for anyone to catch. Who chose a
19:28
Speaker 1: very kind friend? Said Margaret. When her father did not answer,
19:33
Speaker 1: Frederick was silent for a time. At last, he spoke, Margaret,
19:39
Speaker 1: it is painful to think I can never thank those
19:42
Speaker 1: who have shown you kindness. Your acquaintances and mine must
19:47
Speaker 1: be separate, unless indeed, I run the chances of a
19:52
Speaker 1: court martial, or unless you and my father would come
19:56
Speaker 1: to Spain. He threw out this last suggestion as a
20:00
Speaker 1: kind of feeler, and then suddenly made the plunge. You
20:05
Speaker 1: don't know how I wish you would. I have a
20:09
Speaker 1: good position, the chance of a better continued he reddening
20:14
Speaker 1: like a girl. That Dolores Barbour that I was telling
20:18
Speaker 1: you of Margaret. I only wish you knew her. I
20:23
Speaker 1: am sure you would like. No. Love is the right word.
20:27
Speaker 1: Life is so poor. You would love her, father if
20:31
Speaker 1: you knew her. She is not eighteen, but if she
20:34
Speaker 1: is in the same mind another year, she is to
20:38
Speaker 1: be my wife. Mister Barbour. Won't let us call it
20:42
Speaker 1: an engagement, but if you would come, you would find
20:46
Speaker 1: friends everywhere. Besides Dolores, think of it. Father, Margaret, be
20:53
Speaker 1: on my side. No no more removals for me, said
20:58
Speaker 1: mister Hale. One remo rugil has cost me my wife.
21:02
Speaker 1: No more removals in this life. She will be here
21:06
Speaker 1: and here will I stay out my appointed time, Oh, Frederic,
21:11
Speaker 1: said Margaret. Tell us more about her. I never thought
21:15
Speaker 1: of this, but I am so glad you will have
21:19
Speaker 1: someone to love and care for you out there. Tell
21:22
Speaker 1: us all about it. In the first place, she is
21:26
Speaker 1: a Roman Catholic. That's the only objection I anticipated. But
21:32
Speaker 1: my father's change of opinion. Nay, Margaret, don't sigh. Margaret
21:38
Speaker 1: had reason to sigh a little more before the conversation ended.
21:42
Speaker 1: Frederic himself was Roman Catholic in fact, though not in
21:47
Speaker 1: profession as yet. This was then the reason why his
21:52
Speaker 1: sympathy in her extreme distress at her father's leaving the
21:56
Speaker 1: church had been so faintly expressed in his letters. She
22:02
Speaker 1: had thought it was the carelessness of a sailor. But
22:05
Speaker 1: the truth was that even then he was himself inclined
22:10
Speaker 1: to give up the form of religion into which he
22:13
Speaker 1: had been baptized, only that his opinions were tending in
22:18
Speaker 1: exactly the opposite direction to those of his father. How
22:24
Speaker 1: much love had to do with this change, not even
22:27
Speaker 1: Frederick himself could have told. Margaret gave up talking about
22:33
Speaker 1: this branch of the subject at last, and returning to
22:37
Speaker 1: the fact of the engagement, she began to consider it
22:41
Speaker 1: in some fresh light. But for her sake, Fred you
22:45
Speaker 1: surely will try and clear yourself the exaggerated charges brought
22:50
Speaker 1: against you, even if the charge of mutiny itself be true.
22:55
Speaker 1: If there were to be a court martial and you
22:58
Speaker 1: could find your witness, you might at any rate show
23:03
Speaker 1: how your disobedience to authority was because that authority was
23:08
Speaker 1: unworthily exercised. Mister Hale roused himself up to listen to
23:14
Speaker 1: his son's answer. In the first place, Margaret, who is
23:19
Speaker 1: to hunt up my witnesses? All of them are sailors
23:23
Speaker 1: drafted off to other ships, except those whose evidence would
23:28
Speaker 1: go for very little, as they took part or sympathized
23:32
Speaker 1: in the affair. In the next place, allow me to
23:36
Speaker 1: tell you you don't know what a court martial is,
23:40
Speaker 1: and consider it as an assembly where justice is administered
23:46
Speaker 1: instead of what it really is, a court where authority
23:50
Speaker 1: weighs nine tenths in the balance and evidence forms only
23:55
Speaker 1: the other tenth. In such cases, evidence it's self can
24:00
Speaker 1: hardly escape being influenced by the prestige of authority. But
24:06
Speaker 1: it is not worth trying to see how much evidence
24:10
Speaker 1: might be discovered and arrayed on your behalf. At present,
24:14
Speaker 1: all those who knew you formerly believe you guilty without
24:19
Speaker 1: any shadow of excuse. You have never tried to justify yourself,
24:24
Speaker 1: and we have never known where to seek for proofs
24:27
Speaker 1: of your justification. Now, for Miss Barbour's sake, make your
24:33
Speaker 1: conduct as clear as you can In the eye of
24:36
Speaker 1: the world. She may not care for it she has.
24:40
Speaker 1: I am sure that trust in you that we all have.
24:44
Speaker 1: But you ought not to let her ally herself to
24:47
Speaker 1: one under such a serious charge without showing the world
24:52
Speaker 1: exactly how it is you stand. You disobeyed authority that
24:58
Speaker 1: was bad, but to have stood by without word or
25:02
Speaker 1: act while the authority was brutally used would have been
25:07
Speaker 1: infinitely worse. People know what you did, but not the
25:12
Speaker 1: motives that elevated out of a crime into an heroic
25:17
Speaker 1: protection of the week. For Dolores's sake, they ought to know.
25:23
Speaker 1: But how must I make them know? I am not
25:26
Speaker 1: sufficiently sure of the purity and justice of those who
25:30
Speaker 1: would be my judges to give myself up to a
25:34
Speaker 1: court martial. Even if I could bring a whole array
25:37
Speaker 1: of truth speaking witnesses, I can't send a bellman about
25:43
Speaker 1: to cry aloud and proclaim in the streets what you
25:46
Speaker 1: are pleased to call my heroism. No one would read
25:51
Speaker 1: a pamphlet of self justification so long after the deed,
25:57
Speaker 1: even if I put one out where you consult a
26:00
Speaker 1: lawyer as to your chances of excalpitation, asked Margaret, looking
26:06
Speaker 1: up and turning very red. I must first catch my
26:10
Speaker 1: lawyer and have a good look at him and see
26:13
Speaker 1: how I like him before I make him into my confidant.
26:18
Speaker 1: Many a briefless barrister might twist his conscience into thinking
26:23
Speaker 1: that he could earn one hundred pounds very easily by
26:27
Speaker 1: doing it a good action in giving me a criminal
26:31
Speaker 1: up to justice. Nonsense, Frederick, because I know a lawyer
26:36
Speaker 1: on whose honor I can rely of, whose cleverness in
26:40
Speaker 1: his profession people speak very highly. And who would I
26:45
Speaker 1: think take a good deal of trouble for any of
26:49
Speaker 1: of Arnt Shaw's relations, mister Henry Lennox. Papa, I think
26:54
Speaker 1: it is a good idea, said mister Hale. But don't
26:58
Speaker 1: propose anything which will detain Frederick in England. Don't for
27:03
Speaker 1: your mother's sake. You could go to London to morrow
27:07
Speaker 1: evening via night train, continued Margaret, warming up into her plan.
27:13
Speaker 1: He must go to morrow. I'm afraid, Papa, said she tenderly.
27:18
Speaker 1: We fix that because of mister Bell and Dixon's disagreeable acquaintance. Yes,
27:25
Speaker 1: I must go to morrow, said Frederick. Decidedly. Mister Hale groaned,
27:31
Speaker 1: I can't bear to part with you, and yet I
27:34
Speaker 1: am miserable with anxiety. As long as you stop here, well, then,
27:39
Speaker 1: said Margaret, listen to my plan. He gets to London
27:44
Speaker 1: on Friday morning, I will you might know it would
27:48
Speaker 1: be better for me to give him a note to
27:50
Speaker 1: mister Lennox. You will find him at his chambers in
27:54
Speaker 1: the Temple. I will write down a list of all
27:58
Speaker 1: the names I can remember on board the Orion. I
28:02
Speaker 1: could leave it with him to ferret them out. He
28:05
Speaker 1: is Edith's husband's brother, isn't he? I remember your naming
28:09
Speaker 1: him in your letters. I have money in barber's hand.
28:14
Speaker 1: I can pay a pretty long bill if there is
28:17
Speaker 1: any chance of success. Money, dear father that I had
28:21
Speaker 1: meant for a different purpose, so I shall only consider
28:25
Speaker 1: it as borrowed from you and Margaret. Don't do that,
28:29
Speaker 1: said Margaret. You won't risk it if you do, and
28:33
Speaker 1: it will be a risk only it is worth trying.
28:36
Speaker 1: You can sail from London as well as from Liverpool,
28:41
Speaker 1: to be sure, little Goose. Wherever I feel water heaving
28:45
Speaker 1: under a plank, there I feel at home. I'll pick
28:50
Speaker 1: up some craft or other to take me off. Never
28:53
Speaker 1: fear I won't stay twenty four hours in London, away
28:58
Speaker 1: from you on the one hand, and from somebody else
29:01
Speaker 1: on the other. It was rather a comfort to Margaret
29:05
Speaker 1: that Frederick took it into his head to look over
29:08
Speaker 1: her shoulder as she wrote to mister Lennox. If she
29:12
Speaker 1: had not been thus compelled to write steadily and concisely on,
29:17
Speaker 1: she might have hesitated over many a word and been
29:21
Speaker 1: puzzled to choose between many an expression in the awkwardness
29:26
Speaker 1: of being the first to resume the intercourse of which
29:30
Speaker 1: the concluding event had been so unpleasant to both sides. However,
29:36
Speaker 1: the note was taken from her before she had even
29:40
Speaker 1: had time to look it over, and treasured up in
29:43
Speaker 1: a pocket book, out of which fell a long lock
29:47
Speaker 1: of black hair, the sight of which caused Frederick's eyes
29:51
Speaker 1: to glow with pleasure. Now you would like to see that,
29:56
Speaker 1: wouldn't you, said he No, you must wait till you
30:00
Speaker 1: see her herself. She is too perfect to be known
30:03
Speaker 1: by fragments. No mean brick shall be a specimen of
30:07
Speaker 1: the building of my palace. End of Chapter thirty one