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045 - Ch 44 - Ease Not Peace · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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Speaker 1: chapter forty four. Ease not peace, a dull rotation, never
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Speaker 1: at a stay Yesterday's face twin image of to day cowper,
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Speaker 1: of what each one should be, he sees the form
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Speaker 1: and rule, And till he reached to that, his joy
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Speaker 1: can ne'er be full Ruckert. It was very well for
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Speaker 1: Margaret that the extreme quiet of the Harley Street house
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Speaker 1: during Edith's recovery from her confinement, gave her the natural
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Speaker 1: rest which she needed. It gave her time to comprehend
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Speaker 1: the sudden change which had taken place in her circumstances
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Speaker 1: within the last two months. She found herself at once
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Speaker 1: an inmate of a luxurious house, where the bare knowledge
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Speaker 1: of the existence of every trouble or care seemed scarcely
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Speaker 1: to have penetrated. The wheels of the machinery of daily
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Speaker 1: life were well oiled and went along with delicious smoothness.
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Speaker 1: Missus Shaw and Edith could hardly make enough of Margaret
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Speaker 1: on her return to what they persisted in calling her home,
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Speaker 1: and she felt that it was almost ungrateful in her
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Speaker 1: to have a secret feeling that the Helstone Vicarage, nay,
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Speaker 1: even the poor little house at Milton, with her anxious
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Speaker 1: father and her invalid mother, and all the small household
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Speaker 1: cares of comparative poverty, composed her idea of home. Edith
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Speaker 1: was impatient to get well in order to fill Margaret's
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Speaker 1: bedroom with all the soft comforts and pretty nick knacks
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Speaker 1: with which her own abounded. Missus Shaw and her maid
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Speaker 1: found plenty of occupation in restoring Margaret's wardrobe to a
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Speaker 1: state of elegant variety. Captain Lennox was easy, kind and gentlemanly,
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Speaker 1: sat with his wife in her dressing room an hour
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Speaker 1: or two every day, played with his little boy for
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Speaker 1: another hour, and lounged away the rest of his time
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Speaker 1: at his club when he was not engaged out to dinner.
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Speaker 1: Just before Margaret had recovered from her necessity for quiet
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Speaker 1: and repose, before she had begun to feel her life
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Speaker 1: wanting and dull, Edith came downstairs and resumed her usual
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Speaker 1: part in the household, and Margaret fell into the old
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Speaker 1: habit of watching and admiring and ministering to her cousin.
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Speaker 1: She gladly took all charge of the semblances of duties
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Speaker 1: off Edith's hands. Answered notes reminded her of engagements tended
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Speaker 1: her when no gaiety was in prospect, and she was
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Speaker 1: consequently rather inclined to fancy herself ill. But all the
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Speaker 1: rest of the family were in the full business of
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Speaker 1: the London season, and Margaret was often left alone. Then
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Speaker 1: her thoughts went back to Milton, with a strange sense
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Speaker 1: of the contrast between the life there and here. She
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Speaker 1: was getting surfeited of the eventless ease in which no
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Speaker 1: struggle or endeavor was required. She was afraid lest she
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Speaker 1: should even become sleepily deadened into forgetfulness of anything beyond
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Speaker 1: the life which was lapping her round with luxury. There
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Speaker 1: might be toilers and moilers there in London, but she
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Speaker 1: never saw them. The very servants lived in an underground
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Speaker 1: world of their own, of which she knew neither the
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Speaker 1: hopes nor the fears. They only seemed to start into
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Speaker 1: existence when some want or whim of their master and
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Speaker 1: mistress needed them. There was a strange, unsatisfied vacuum in
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Speaker 1: Margaret's heart and mode of life, And once, when she
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Speaker 1: had dimly hinted this to Edith, the latter, wearied with
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Speaker 1: dancing the night before, languidly stroked Margaret's cheek as she
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Speaker 1: sat by her in the old attitude. She had a
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Speaker 1: footstool by the sofa where Edith lay. Poor child, said Edith,
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Speaker 1: it is a little sad for you to be left
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Speaker 1: night after night, just at this time when all the
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Speaker 1: world is so gay. But we shall be having our
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Speaker 1: dinner parties soon as soon as Henry comes back from circuit,
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Speaker 1: and then there will be a little pleasant variety for you.
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Speaker 1: No wonder it is moped, poor darling. Margaret did not
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Speaker 1: feel as if the dinner parties would be a panacea,
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Speaker 1: but Edith piqued herself on her dinner parties, so different,
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Speaker 1: as she said, from the old dowager dinners under Mamma's regime,
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Speaker 1: and Missus Shaw herself seemed to take exactly the same
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Speaker 1: kind of pleasure in the very different arrangements and circle
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Speaker 1: of acquaintances which were to Captain and Missus Lennox's taste,
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Speaker 1: as she did from the more formal and ponderous entertainments
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Speaker 1: which she herself used to give. Captain Lennox was always
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Speaker 1: extremely kind and brotherly to Margaret. She was really fond
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Speaker 1: of him, excepting when he was anxiously attentive to Edith's
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Speaker 1: dress and appearance, with a view to her beauty, making
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Speaker 1: a sufficient impression upon the world. Then all the latent
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Speaker 1: vashti in Margaret was roused, and she could hardly keep
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Speaker 1: herself from expressing her feelings. The course of Margaret's day
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Speaker 1: was this a quiet hour or two before a late breakfast,
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Speaker 1: an unpunctual meal, lazily eaten by weary and half away people,
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Speaker 1: but yet at which in all its dragged out length,
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Speaker 1: she was expected to be present, because directly afterwards came
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Speaker 1: a discussion of plans, at which, although none of them
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Speaker 1: concerned her, she was expected to give her sympathy if
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Speaker 1: she could not assist with her advice, an endless number
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Speaker 1: of notes to write, which Edith invariably left to her,
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Speaker 1: with many caressing compliments as to her eloquence du billet,
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Speaker 1: a little play with Sholto as he returned from his
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Speaker 1: morning's walk, besides the care of the children during the
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Speaker 1: servants dinner, a drive or callers, and some dinner or
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Speaker 1: morning engagements for her aunt and cousins, which left Margaret free,
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Speaker 1: it is true, but rather wearied with the inactivity of
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Speaker 1: the day coming upon depressed spirits and delicate health. She
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Speaker 1: looked forward with longing though unspoken interest, to the homely
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Speaker 1: object of Dixon's return from Milton, where until now the
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Speaker 1: old servant had been busily engaged in winding up all
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Speaker 1: the affairs of the Hale family. It had appeared a
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Speaker 1: sudden famine to her heart, this entire cessation of any
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Speaker 1: news respecting the people amongst whom she had lived so long.
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Speaker 1: It was true that Dixon, in her business letters, quoted
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Speaker 1: every now and then an opinion of mister Thornton's as
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Speaker 1: to what she had better do about the furniture, or
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Speaker 1: how to act in regard to the landlord of the
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Speaker 1: Crampton Terrace house. But it was only here and there
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Speaker 1: that the name came in, or any Milton name. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: and Margaret was sitting one evening, all alone in Lennox's
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Speaker 1: drawing room, not reading Dixon's letters, which she yet held
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Speaker 1: in her hand, but thinking over them and recalling the
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Speaker 1: days which had been, and picturing the busy life out
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Speaker 1: of which her own had been taken, and never missed,
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Speaker 1: wondering if all went on in that whirl just as
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Speaker 1: if she and her father had never been questioning within herself,
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Speaker 1: if no one in all the crowd missed her, not Higgins,
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Speaker 1: She was not thinking of him. When suddenly mister Bell
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Speaker 1: was announced, and Margaret hurried the letters into her work
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Speaker 1: basket and started up blushing, as if she had been
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Speaker 1: doing some guilty thing. Oh, mister Bell, I never thought
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Speaker 1: of seeing you, but you give me a welcome, I hope,
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Speaker 1: as well as that very pretty start of surprise. Have
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Speaker 1: you dined? How did you come? Let me order you
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Speaker 1: some dinner if you are going to have any otherwise
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Speaker 1: you know there is no one who cares less for
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Speaker 1: eating than I do. But where are the others gone
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Speaker 1: out to dinner? Left you alone? Oh? Yes, and it
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Speaker 1: is such a rest I was just thinking, But will
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Speaker 1: you run the risk of dinner? I don't know if
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Speaker 1: there is anything in the house. Why to tell you
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Speaker 1: the truth? I dined at my club, only they don't
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Speaker 1: cook as well as they did, so I thought if
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Speaker 1: you were going to dine, I might try and make
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Speaker 1: out my dinner. But never mind, never mind. There aren't
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Speaker 1: ten cooks in England to be trusted at impromptu dinners.
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Speaker 1: If their skill and their fires will stand it their tempers,
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Speaker 1: won't you shall make me some tea? Margaret? And now
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Speaker 1: what were you thinking of? You were going to tell
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Speaker 1: me whose letters were those? God daughter that you hid
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Speaker 1: away so speedily only Dixon's, replied Margaret, growing very red.
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Speaker 1: Whew is that all? Who do you think came up
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Speaker 1: in the train with me? I don't know, said Margaret,
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Speaker 1: resolved against making a guess, y're what do you call him?
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Speaker 1: What's the right name for a cousin in law's brother,
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Speaker 1: mister Henry Lennox, asked Margaret. Yes, replied mister Bell. You
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Speaker 1: knew him formerly, didn't you. What sort of a person
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Speaker 1: is he? Margaret? I liked him long ago, said Margaret,
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Speaker 1: glad down for a moment, and then she looked straight
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Speaker 1: up and went on in her natural manner. You know,
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Speaker 1: we have been corresponding about Frederick since, but I have
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Speaker 1: not seen him for nearly three years, and he may
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Speaker 1: be changed. What did you think of him? I don't know.
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Speaker 1: He was so busy trying to find out who I
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Speaker 1: was in the first instance and what I was in
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Speaker 1: the second that he never let out who he was,
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Speaker 1: unless indeed that veiled curiosity of his as to what
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Speaker 1: manner of man he had to talk to was not
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Speaker 1: a good piece and a fair indication of his character.
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Speaker 1: Do you call him good looking, Margaret? No, certainly not,
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Speaker 1: do you not? I? But I thought perhaps you might.
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Speaker 1: Is he a great deal here? I fancy he is
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Speaker 1: when he is in town. He has been on circuit
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Speaker 1: now since I came. But mister Bell, have you come
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Speaker 1: from Oxford or from Milton? From Milton? Don't you see?
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Speaker 1: I'm smoke dried? Certainly, but I thought that it might
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Speaker 1: be the effect of the antiquities of Oxford. Come now,
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Speaker 1: be a sensible woman in Oxford. I could have managed
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Speaker 1: all the landlords in the place and had my own
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Speaker 1: way with half the trouble your Milton landlord has given
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Speaker 1: me and defeated me. After all, he won't take the
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Speaker 1: house off our hands till next June twelvemonth. Luckily mister
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Speaker 1: Thornton found a tenant for it. Why don't you ask
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Speaker 1: after mister Thornton, Margaret. He has proved himself a very
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Speaker 1: active friend of yours. I can tell you taken more
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Speaker 1: than half the trouble off my hands. And how is he?
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Speaker 1: How is missus? Thornton asked Margaret hurriedly, and below her breath,
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Speaker 1: though she tried to speak out. I suppose they're well.
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Speaker 1: I've been staying at their house till I was driven
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Speaker 1: out of it by the perpetual clack about the Thornton
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Speaker 1: girl's marriage. It was too much for Thornton himself, though
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Speaker 1: she was his sister. He used to go and sit
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Speaker 1: in his own room perpetually. He's getting past the age
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Speaker 1: of caring for such things, either as principal or accessory.
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Speaker 1: I was surprised to find the old lady falling into
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Speaker 1: the current and carried away by her daughter's enthusiasm for
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Speaker 1: orange blossoms and lace. I thought missus Thornton had been
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Speaker 1: made of sterner stuff. She would put on any assumption
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Speaker 1: of feeling to veil her daughter's weakness, said Margaret in
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Speaker 1: a low voice. Perhaps so you've studied her, have you.
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Speaker 1: She doesn't seem over fond of you, Margaret, I know it,
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Speaker 1: said Margaret. Oh, here's tea at last, exclaimed she as
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Speaker 1: if relieved, And with tea came mister Henry Lennox, who
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Speaker 1: had walked up to Harley Street after a late dinner
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Speaker 1: and had evidently expected to find his brother and sister
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Speaker 1: in law at home, Margaret suspected him of being as
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Speaker 1: thankful as she was at the presence of a third
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Speaker 1: party on this their first meeting since the memorable day
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Speaker 1: of his offer and her refusal at Helstone. She could
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Speaker 1: hardly tell what to say at first, and was thankful
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Speaker 1: for all the tea table occupations which gave her an
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Speaker 1: excuse for keeping silence, and him an opportunity of recovering
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Speaker 1: himself for to tell the truth. He had rather forced
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Speaker 1: himself up to Harley Street this evening with a view
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Speaker 1: of getting over an awkward meeting, awkward even in the
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Speaker 1: presence of Captain Lennox and Edith, and doubly awkward now
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Speaker 1: that he found her the only lady there and the
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Speaker 1: person to whom he must naturally and perforce address a
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Speaker 1: great part of his conversation. She was the first to
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Speaker 1: recover her self possession. She began to talk on the
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Speaker 1: subject which came uppermost in her mind after the first
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Speaker 1: flush of awkward shyness. Mister Lennox, I've been so much
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Speaker 1: obliged to you for all you have done about Frederick.
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Speaker 1: I'm only sorry it has been so unsuccessful, he replied,
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Speaker 1: with a quick glance towards mister Bell, as if reconnoitering
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Speaker 1: how much he might say before him, Margaret, as if
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Speaker 1: she read his thought, addressed herself to mister Bell, both
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Speaker 1: including him in the conversation and implying that he was
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Speaker 1: perfectly aware of the endeavors that had been made to
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Speaker 1: clear Frederick. That Horrax, the very last witness of all,
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Speaker 1: has proved as unavailing as all the others. Mister Lennox
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Speaker 1: has discovered that he sailed for Australia only last August,
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Speaker 1: only two months before Frederick was in England, and gave
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Speaker 1: us the names of Frederick in England. You never told
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Speaker 1: me that, exclaimed mister Bell, in surprise. I thought you knew.
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Speaker 1: I never doubted you had been told. Of course, it
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Speaker 1: was a great secret, and perhaps I should not have
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Speaker 1: named it now, said Margaret, a little dismayed. I have
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Speaker 1: never named it to either my brother or your cousin,
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Speaker 1: said mister Lennox, with a little professional dryness of implied reproach.
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Speaker 1: Never mind, Margaret, I'm not living in a talking, babbling world,
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Speaker 1: nor yet among people who are trying to worm a
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Speaker 1: facts out of me. You needn't look so frightened because
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Speaker 1: you have let the case out of the bag to
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Speaker 1: a faithful old hermit like me. I shall never name
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Speaker 1: his having been in England. I shall be out of temptation,
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Speaker 1: for no one will ask me. Stay, interrupting himself rather abruptly.
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Speaker 1: Was it at your mother's funeral? He was with Mamma
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Speaker 1: when she died, said Margaret softly, to be sure, to
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Speaker 1: be sure why? Some one asked me if he had
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Speaker 1: not been over then, and I denied it stoutly, not
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Speaker 1: many weeks ago. Who could it have been? Oh, I recollect.
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Speaker 1: But he did not say the name. And although Margaret
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Speaker 1: would have given much to know if her suspicions were right,
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Speaker 1: and it had been mister Thornton who had made the inquiry,
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Speaker 1: she could not ask the question of mister Bell, much
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Speaker 1: as she longed to do. So. There was a pause
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Speaker 1: for a moment or two. Then mister Lennox said, addressing
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Speaker 1: himself to Margaret, I suppose, as mister Bell is now
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Speaker 1: acquainted with all the circumstances attending your brother's unfortunate dilemma,
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Speaker 1: I cannot do better than inform him exactly how the
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Speaker 1: research into the evidence we once hoped to produce in
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Speaker 1: his favor stands at present, So if he will do
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Speaker 1: me the honor to breakfast with me to morrow, we
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Speaker 1: will go over the names of these missing gentry. I
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Speaker 1: should like to hear all the particulars. If I may
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Speaker 1: cannot you come here, I dare not ask you both
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Speaker 1: to breakfast, though I am sure you would be welcome,
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Speaker 1: but let me know all I can about Frederick, even
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Speaker 1: though there may be no hope at present, I have
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Speaker 1: an engagement to have past eleven. But I will certainly
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Speaker 1: come if you wish it, replied mister Lennox, with a
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Speaker 1: little afterthought of extreme willingness, which made Margaret shrink into
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Speaker 1: herself and almost wish that she had not proposed her
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Speaker 1: natural request. Mister Bell got up and looked around him
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Speaker 1: for his hat, which had been removed to make room
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Speaker 1: for tea Well said he. I don't know what mister
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Speaker 1: Lennox is inclined to do, but I am disposed to
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Speaker 1: be moving off homewards. I've been a journey to day,
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Speaker 1: and journeys begin to tell upon my sixty and odd years.
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Speaker 1: I believe I shall stay to see my brother and sister,
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Speaker 1: said mister Lennox, making no movement of departure. Margaret was
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Speaker 1: seized with a shy, awkward dread of being left alone
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Speaker 1: with him. The scene on the little terrace in the
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Speaker 1: Helstone Garden was so present to her that she could
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Speaker 1: hardly help believing it was so with him. Don't go yet, please,
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Speaker 1: mister Bell, she said hastily. I want you to see Edith,
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Speaker 1: and I want Edith to know you. Please, said she,
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Speaker 1: laying a light but determined hand on his arm. He
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Speaker 1: looked at her and saw the confusion stirring in her countenance.
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Speaker 1: He sat down again, as if her little touch had
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Speaker 1: been possessed of resistless strength. You see how she overpowers me,
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Speaker 1: mister Lennox, said he, and I hope you notice the
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Speaker 1: happy choice of her expressions. She wants me to see
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Speaker 1: this cousin Edith, who I am told is a great beauty.
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Speaker 1: But she has the honesty to change her word when
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Speaker 1: she comes to me. Missus Lennox is to know me.
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Speaker 1: I suppose I am not much to see, eh, Margaret.
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Speaker 1: He joked to give her time to recover from the
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Speaker 1: slight flutter which he had detected in her manner on
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Speaker 1: his proposal to leave, and she caught the tone and
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Speaker 1: threw the ball back. Mister Lennox wondered how his brother,
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Speaker 1: the Captain could have reported her as having lost all
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Speaker 1: her good looks. To be sure, in her quiet black dress,
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Speaker 1: she was a contrast to Edith dancing in her white crape,
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Speaker 1: mourning and long floating golden hair, all softness and glitter.
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Speaker 1: She dimpled and blushed most becomingly when introduced to mister Bell,
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Speaker 1: conscious that she had her reputation as a beauty to
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Speaker 1: keep up, and that it would not do to have
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Speaker 1: a Mordecai, refusing to worship and admire, even in the
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Speaker 1: shape of an old fellow of a college which nobody
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Speaker 1: had ever heard of. Missus Shaw and Captain Lennox, each
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Speaker 1: in their separate way, gave mister Bell a kind and
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Speaker 1: sincere welcome, winning him over to them, almost in spite
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Speaker 1: of himself, especially when he saw how naturally Margaret took
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Speaker 1: her place as sister and daughter of the house. What
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Speaker 1: is shame that we were not at home to receive you,
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Speaker 1: said Edith, You too, Henry, though I don't know that
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Speaker 1: we should have stayed home for you and for mister Bell,
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Speaker 1: for Margaret's mister Bell. There is no knowing what sacrifices
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Speaker 1: you would not have made, said her brother in law,
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Speaker 1: even a dinner party, and the delight of wearing this
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Speaker 1: very becoming dress. Edith did not know whether to frown
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Speaker 1: or to smile. But it did not suit mister Lennox
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Speaker 1: to drive her to the first of these alternatives, so
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Speaker 1: he went on, will you show your readiness to make
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Speaker 1: sacrifices to morrow morning, first by asking me to breakfast
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Speaker 1: to meet mister Bell, and secondly by being so kind
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Speaker 1: as to order it at half past nine instead of
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Speaker 1: ten o'clock. I have some letters and papers that I
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Speaker 1: want to show to miss Hale and mister Bell. I
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Speaker 1: hope mister Bell will make our house his own during
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Speaker 1: his stay in London, said Captain Lennox. I'm only so
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Speaker 1: sorry that we cannot offer him a bed room. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: I'm very much obliged to you. You would only think
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Speaker 1: me a curl if you had, for I should cline it.
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Speaker 1: I believe in spite of all the temptations of such
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Speaker 1: agreeable company, said mister Bell, bowing all round and secretly
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Speaker 1: congratulating himself on the very neat turn he had given
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Speaker 1: to his sentence, which, if put into plain language, would
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Speaker 1: have been more to this effect. I couldn't stand the
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Speaker 1: restraints of such a proper behaved and civil spoken set
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Speaker 1: of people as these are. It would be like meat
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Speaker 1: without salt. I'm thankful they haven't a bed, And how
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Speaker 1: well I rounded my sentence. I'm absolutely catching the trick
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Speaker 1: of good manners. His self. Satisfaction lasted him till he
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Speaker 1: was fairly out in the streets, walking side by side
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Speaker 1: with Henry Lennox. Here he suddenly remembered Margaret's little look
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Speaker 1: of entreaty as she urged him to stay longer, And
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Speaker 1: he also recollected a few hints given him long ago
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Speaker 1: by an acquaintance of mister Lennox's, as to his admiration
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Speaker 1: of Margaret. It gave a new direction to his thoughts.
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Speaker 1: You have known miss Hale for a long time, I believe.
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Speaker 1: How do you think her looking? She strikes me as
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Speaker 1: pale and ill. I thought her looking remarkably well. Perhaps
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Speaker 1: not when I first came in now I think of it,
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Speaker 1: but certainly when she grew animated she looked as well
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Speaker 1: as ever I saw her do. She has had a
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Speaker 1: great deal to go through, said mister Bell. Yes, I
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Speaker 1: have been very sorry to hear of all she has
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Speaker 1: had to bear, not merely the common and universal sorrow
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Speaker 1: arising from death, but all the annoyance which her father's
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Speaker 1: conduct must have caused her. And then her father's conduct,
20:43
Speaker 1: said mister Bell, in an accent of surprise, you must
20:47
Speaker 1: have heard some wrong statement. He behaved in the most
20:50
Speaker 1: conscientious manner. He showed more resolute strength than I should
20:54
Speaker 1: ever have given him credit for formerly. Perhaps I have
20:59
Speaker 1: been wrongly inor, But I have been told by his
21:02
Speaker 1: successor in the living, a clever, sensible man and a
21:06
Speaker 1: thoroughly active clergyman, that there was no call upon mister
21:09
Speaker 1: Hale to do what he did, relinquish the living and
21:13
Speaker 1: throw himself and his family on the tender mercies of
21:15
Speaker 1: private teaching in a manufacturing town. The bishop had offered
21:19
Speaker 1: him another living, it is true, But if he had
21:22
Speaker 1: come to entertain certain doubts, he could have remained where
21:25
Speaker 1: he was, and so had no occasion to resign. But
21:29
Speaker 1: the truth is, these country clergymen live such isolated lives, isolated,
21:35
Speaker 1: I mean from all intercourse with men of equal cultivation,
21:38
Speaker 1: with themselves by whose minds they might regulate their own
21:42
Speaker 1: and discover when they were going either too fast or
21:44
Speaker 1: too slow, that they are very apt to disturb themselves
21:48
Speaker 1: with imaginary doubts as to the articles of faith, and
21:51
Speaker 1: throw up certain opportunities of doing good for very uncertain
21:54
Speaker 1: fancies of their own. I differ from you. I do
21:59
Speaker 1: not think they are very apt to do as my
22:01
Speaker 1: poor friend Hale did. Mister Bell was inwardly chafing. Perhaps
22:07
Speaker 1: I used too general an expression in saying very apt.
22:10
Speaker 1: But certainly their lives are such as very often to
22:14
Speaker 1: produce either inordinate self sufficiency or a morbid state of conscience,
22:18
Speaker 1: replied mister Lennox, with perfect coolness. You don't meet with
22:23
Speaker 1: any self sufficiency among the lawyers, for instance, asked mister Bell.
22:27
Speaker 1: And seldom I imagine any cases of morbid conscience. He
22:32
Speaker 1: was becoming more and more vexed and forgetting his lately
22:35
Speaker 1: caught trick of good manners. Mister Lennox saw now that
22:39
Speaker 1: he had annoyed his companion, and as he had talked
22:41
Speaker 1: pretty much for the sake of saying something, and so
22:44
Speaker 1: passing the time while their road lay together, he was
22:46
Speaker 1: very indifferent as to the exact side. He took upon
22:49
Speaker 1: the question and quietly came round by saying, to be
22:53
Speaker 1: sure there is something fine in a man of mister
22:55
Speaker 1: Hale's age, leaving his home of twenty years and giving
22:59
Speaker 1: up all settled habits for an idea which was probably erroneous,
23:03
Speaker 1: But that does not matter, an untangible thought. One cannot
23:08
Speaker 1: help admiring him with a mixture of pity in one's admiration,
23:12
Speaker 1: something like what one feels for Don Quixote, such a
23:15
Speaker 1: gentleman as he was too. I shall never forget the
23:18
Speaker 1: refined and simple hospitality he showed me that last day
23:22
Speaker 1: at Helstone, only half mollified and yet anxious in order
23:27
Speaker 1: to lull certain qualms of his own conscience. To believe
23:30
Speaker 1: that mister Hale's conduct had a tinge of Quixoteism in it.
23:34
Speaker 1: Mister Bell growled out, Aye, and you don't know, Milton,
23:39
Speaker 1: such a change from Helstone. It is years since I
23:42
Speaker 1: have been at Helstone, but I'll answer for it. It
23:45
Speaker 1: is standing there yet every stick and stone, as it
23:48
Speaker 1: has done for the last century, while Milton, I go
23:52
Speaker 1: there every four or five years, and I was born there.
23:55
Speaker 1: Yet I do assure you I often lose my way.
23:59
Speaker 1: I am the very piles of warehouses that are built
24:02
Speaker 1: upon my father's orchards, do we part here? Well, good night, sir.
24:08
Speaker 1: I suppose we shall meet in Harley Street tomorrow morning.
24:13
Speaker 1: End of Chapter forty four.