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022 - Ch 22 - A Blow and Its Consequences · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Mirianne,
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Speaker 1: chapter twenty two, A blow and its consequences. But work
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Speaker 1: grew scarce, while bread grew dear, and wages lessened too.
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Speaker 1: For Irish hordes were bidders here our half paid work
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Speaker 1: to do corn law rhymes. Margaret was shown into the
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Speaker 1: drawing room. It had returned to its normal state of
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Speaker 1: bag and coverings. The windows were half open because of
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Speaker 1: the heat, and the Venetian blinds covered the glass so
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Speaker 1: that a gray grim light reflected from the pavement below,
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Speaker 1: threw all the shadows wrong, and combined with the green
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Speaker 1: tinged upper light to make even Margaret's own face as
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Speaker 1: she caught it in the mirrors, look ghastly and wan
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Speaker 1: She sat and waited. No one came. Every now and
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Speaker 1: then the wind seemed to bear the distant, multitudinous sound nearer,
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Speaker 1: and yet there was no wind. It died away into
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Speaker 1: profound stillness between the wiles. Fanny came in at last,
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Speaker 1: Mamma will come directly, Miss Hale. She desired me to
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Speaker 1: apologize to you as it is. Perhaps you know my
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Speaker 1: brother has imported hands from Ireland, and it has irritated
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Speaker 1: the Milton people excessively, as if he hadn't a right
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Speaker 1: to get labor where he could, and the stupid wretches
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Speaker 1: here wouldn't work for him. And now they've frightened these
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Speaker 1: poor Irish starvelings so with their threats that we daren't
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Speaker 1: let them out. You may see them huddled in that
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Speaker 1: top room in the mill, and they're to sleep there
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Speaker 1: to keep them safe from those brutes who will neither
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Speaker 1: work nor let them work. And Mamma is seeing about
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Speaker 1: their food, and John is speaking to them, for some
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Speaker 1: of the women are crying to go back. Ah, here's mamma.
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Speaker 1: Missus Thornton came in with a look of black sternness
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Speaker 1: on her face, which made Margaret feel she had arrived
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Speaker 1: at a bad time to trouble her with her request. However,
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Speaker 1: it was only in compliance with Missus Thornton's expressed desire
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Speaker 1: that she would ask for whatever they might want in
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Speaker 1: the progress of her mother's illness. Missus Thornton's brow contracted
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Speaker 1: and her mouth grew set when Margaret spoke with gentle
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Speaker 1: modesty of her mother's restlessness and doctor Donaldson's wish that
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Speaker 1: she should have the relief of a water bed, she ceased.
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Speaker 1: Missus Thornton did not reply immediately. Then she started up
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Speaker 1: and exclaimed, they're at the gates. Call John, Fanny, call
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Speaker 1: him in from the mill. They're at the gates. They'll
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Speaker 1: batter them in. Call John, I say, And simultaneously, the
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Speaker 1: gathering tramp to which she had been listening instead of
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Speaker 1: heeding Margaret's words, was heard just right outside the wall,
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Speaker 1: and an increasing din of angry voices raged behind the
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Speaker 1: wooden barrier, which shook as if the unseen, maddened crowd
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Speaker 1: made battering rams of their bodies and retreated a short space,
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Speaker 1: only to come with more, united, steady impetus against it,
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Speaker 1: till their great beats made the strong gates quiver like
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Speaker 1: reeds before the wind. The women gathered round the windows,
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Speaker 1: fascinated to look on the scene, which terrified them. Missus Thornton,
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Speaker 1: the women, servants, Margaret all were there. Fanny had returned
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Speaker 1: screaming upstairs as if pursued at every step, and had
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Speaker 1: thrown herself in hysterical sobbing on the sofa. Missus Thornton
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Speaker 1: watched for her son, who was still in the mill.
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Speaker 1: He came out, looked up at them, the pale cluster
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Speaker 1: of faces, and smiled good courage to them, before he
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Speaker 1: locked the factory door. Then he called to one of
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Speaker 1: the women to come down and undo his own door,
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Speaker 1: which Fanny had fastened behind him in her mad flight.
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Speaker 1: Missus Thornton herself went, and the sound of his well
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Speaker 1: known and commanding voice seemed to have been like the
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Speaker 1: taste of blood to the infuriated multitude outside. Hitherto they
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Speaker 1: had been voiceless, wordless, needing all their breath for their hard,
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Speaker 1: laboring efforts to break down the gates. But now hearing
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Speaker 1: him speak inside, they set up such a fierce, unearthly
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Speaker 1: groan that even missus Thornton was white with fear as
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Speaker 1: she preceded him into the room. He came in a
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Speaker 1: little flushed, but his eyes gleaming as if in answer
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Speaker 1: to the trumpet call of danger, and with a proud
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Speaker 1: look of defiance on his face that made him a noble,
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Speaker 1: if not a handsome man. Margaret had always dreaded lest
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Speaker 1: her courage should fail her in any emergency, and she
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Speaker 1: should be proved to be what she dreaded lest she
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Speaker 1: was a coward. But now, in this real great time
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Speaker 1: of reasonable fear and nearness of terror, she forgot herself
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Speaker 1: and only felt an intense sympathy, intense to painfulness in
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Speaker 1: the interests of the moment. Mister Thornton came frankly forwards.
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Speaker 1: I am sorry, miss Hale, you have visited us at
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Speaker 1: this unfortunate moment when I fear you may be involved
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Speaker 1: in whatever risk we have to bear. Mother, hadn't you
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Speaker 1: better go into the back rooms. I'm not sure whether
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Speaker 1: they may not have made their way from Pinner's Lane
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Speaker 1: into the stable yards, but if not, you will be
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Speaker 1: safer there than here. Go, Jane, continued he addressing the
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Speaker 1: upper servant, and she went, followed by the others. I
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Speaker 1: stop here, said his mother, where you are there, I stay,
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Speaker 1: And indeed, retreat into the back rooms was of no avail.
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Speaker 1: The crowd had surrounded the outbuildings at the rear and
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Speaker 1: were sending forth their awful, threatening roar behind. The servants
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Speaker 1: retreated into the garrets with many a cry and shriek.
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Speaker 1: Mister Thornton smiled scornfully as he heard them. He glanced
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Speaker 1: at Margaret, standing all by herself at the window nearest
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Speaker 1: the factory. Her eyes glittered, her color was deepened on
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Speaker 1: cheek and lip, as if she felt his look. She
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Speaker 1: turned to him and asked a question that had been
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Speaker 1: for some time in her mind. Where are the poor
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Speaker 1: imported work people in the factory there? Yes, I left
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Speaker 1: them cowered up in a small room at the head
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Speaker 1: of a back flight of stairs, bidding them run all
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Speaker 1: risks and escape down there if they heard any attack
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Speaker 1: made on the mill doors. But it is not them,
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Speaker 1: it is me they want. When can the soldiers be here?
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Speaker 1: Asked his mother in a low but not unsteady voice.
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Speaker 1: He took out his watch with the same measured composure
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Speaker 1: with which he did everything. He made some little calculation
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Speaker 1: supposing Williams got straight off when I told him and
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Speaker 1: hadn't to dodge about amongst them. It must be twenty minutes.
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Speaker 1: Yet twenty minutes, said his mother for the first time,
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Speaker 1: showing her terror in the tones of her voice. Shut
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Speaker 1: down the windows instantly, Mother exclaimed, he the gates won't
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Speaker 1: bear such another shock. Shut down that window. Miss Hale.
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Speaker 1: Margaret shut down her window, and then went to assist
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Speaker 1: missus Thornton's trembling fingers. For some cause or other. There
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Speaker 1: was a pause of several minutes in the unseen street.
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Speaker 1: Missus Thornton looked with wild anxiety at her son's countenance,
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Speaker 1: as if to gain the interpretation of the sudden stillness
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Speaker 1: from him. His face was set into rigid lines of
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Speaker 1: contemptuous defiance. Neither hope nor fear could be read there.
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Speaker 1: Fanny raised herself up. Are they gone? Asked she in
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Speaker 1: a whisper, Gone, replied he. Listen. She did listen. They
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Speaker 1: all could hear the one great straining breath, the creak
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Speaker 1: of wood slowly yielding, the wrench of iron, the mighty
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Speaker 1: fall of the ponderous gates. Fanny stood up, tottering, made
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Speaker 1: a step or two towards her mother, and fell forwards
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Speaker 1: into her arms in a fainting fit. Missus Thornton lifted
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Speaker 1: her up with a strength that was as much that
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Speaker 1: of the will as of the body, and carried her away.
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Speaker 1: Thank God, said mister Thornton, as he watched her out.
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Speaker 1: Had you not better go upstairs, miss Hale. Margaret's lips
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Speaker 1: formed a no, but he could not hear her speak,
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Speaker 1: for the tramp of innumerable steps right under the very
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Speaker 1: wall of the house, and the fierce growl of low,
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Speaker 1: deep angry voices that had a ferocious murmur of satisfaction
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Speaker 1: in them, more dreadful than their baffled cries not many
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Speaker 1: minutes before, never mind, said he, thinking to encourage her.
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Speaker 1: I am very sorry that you should have been entrapped
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Speaker 1: into all this alarm. But it cannot last long. Now
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Speaker 1: a few minutes more and the soldiers will be here.
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Speaker 1: Oh God, cried Margaret. Suddenly there is Boucher. I know
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Speaker 1: his face. Though he is livid with rage. He is
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Speaker 1: fighting to get to the front. Look, look who is Boucher,
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Speaker 1: asked mister Thornton, coolly, and coming close to the window
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Speaker 1: to discover the man in whom Margaret took such an interest.
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Speaker 1: As soon as they saw mister Thornton, they set up
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Speaker 1: a yell to call it not human is nothing. It
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Speaker 1: was as the demoniac desire of some terrible wild beast
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Speaker 1: for the food that is withheld from his ravening. Even
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Speaker 1: he drew back for a moment, dismayed at the intensity
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Speaker 1: of hatred he had provoked. Let them yell, he said,
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Speaker 1: in five minutes more. I only hope my poor irishmen
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Speaker 1: are not terrified out of their wits by such a
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Speaker 1: fiendlike noise. Keep up your courage for five minutes, miss Hale.
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Speaker 1: Don't be afraid for me, she said hastily. But what
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Speaker 1: in five minutes can you do nothing to soothe these
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Speaker 1: poor creatures? It is awful to see them. The soldiers
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Speaker 1: will be here directly, and that will bring them to reason.
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Speaker 1: To reason, said Margaret quickly. What kind of reason? The
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Speaker 1: only reason that does with men that make themselves into
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Speaker 1: wild beasts? By heaven, they've turned to the mill door,
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Speaker 1: mister Thornton, said Margaret, shaking all over with her passion.
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Speaker 1: Go down this instant. If you are not a ca Howard,
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Speaker 1: go down and face them like a man. Save these
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Speaker 1: poor strangers whom you have decoyed here. Speak to your
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Speaker 1: workmen as if they were human beings. Speak to them kindly.
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Speaker 1: Don't let the soldiers come in and cut down poor
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Speaker 1: creatures who are driven mad. I see one there who is.
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Speaker 1: If you have any courage or noble quality in you,
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Speaker 1: go out and speak to them man to man. He
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Speaker 1: turned and looked at her while she spoke, A dark
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Speaker 1: cloud came over his face. While he listened. He set
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Speaker 1: his teeth as he heard her words. I will go.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps I may ask you to accompany me downstairs and
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Speaker 1: bar the door behind me. My mother and sister will
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Speaker 1: need that protection. Oh, mister Thornton, I do not know.
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Speaker 1: I may be wrong only but he was gone. He
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Speaker 1: was downstairs in the hall. He had unbarred the front door.
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Speaker 1: All she could do was to follow him quickly and
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Speaker 1: fasten it behind him, and clamber up the stairs again
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Speaker 1: with a sick heart and a dizzy head. Again, she
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Speaker 1: took her place by the farthest window. He was on
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Speaker 1: the steps below. She saw that by the direction of
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Speaker 1: a thousand angry eyes. But she could neither see nor
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Speaker 1: hear anything save the savage satisfaction of the rolling, angry murmur.
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Speaker 1: She threw the window wide open. Many in the crowd
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Speaker 1: were mere boys, cruel and thoughtless, cruel because they were thoughtless.
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Speaker 1: Some were men, gaunt as wolves and mad for prey.
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Speaker 1: She knew how it was. They were like Boucher, with
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Speaker 1: starving children at home, relying on ultimate success in their
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Speaker 1: efforts to get higher wages, and enraged beyond measure at
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Speaker 1: discovering that irishmen were to be brought in to rob
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Speaker 1: their little ones of bread. Margaret knew it all. She
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Speaker 1: read it in Boucher's face, forlornly, desperate and livid with rage.
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Speaker 1: If mister Thornton would but say something to them, let
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Speaker 1: them hear his voice only, it seemed as if it
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Speaker 1: would be better than this wild beating and raging against
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Speaker 1: the stony silence that vouchsafed them no word even of
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Speaker 1: anger or reproach. But perhaps he was speaking now. There
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Speaker 1: was a momentary hush of their noise, inarticulate as that
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Speaker 1: of a troop of animals. She tore her bonnet off
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Speaker 1: and bent forwards to hear. She could only see, for
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Speaker 1: if mister Thornton had indeed made the attempt to speak,
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Speaker 1: the momentary instinct to listen to him was past and gone,
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Speaker 1: and the people were raging worse than ever. He stood
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Speaker 1: with his arms folded still as a statue, his face
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Speaker 1: pale with repressed excitement. They were going to try to
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Speaker 1: intimate him, to make him flinch. Each was urging the
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Speaker 1: other on to some immediate act of personal violence. Margaret
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Speaker 1: felt intuitively that in an instant, all would be uproar.
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Speaker 1: The first touch would cause an explosion, in which among
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Speaker 1: such hundreds of infuriated men and reckless boys. Even mister
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Speaker 1: Thornton's life would be unsafe that in another instant, the
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Speaker 1: stormy passions would have passed their bounds and swept away
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Speaker 1: all barriers of reason or apprehension of consequence. Even while
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Speaker 1: she looked, she saw lads in the background stooping to
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Speaker 1: take off their heavy wooden clogs. The readiest missile they
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Speaker 1: could find. She saw it was the spark to the gunpowder,
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Speaker 1: and with a cry which no one heard, she rushed
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Speaker 1: out of the room downstairs. She had lifted the great
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Speaker 1: iron bar of the door with an imperious force, had
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Speaker 1: thrown the door wide open, and was there in face
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Speaker 1: of that angry sea of men, her eyes smiting them
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Speaker 1: with flaming arrows of reproach. The clogs were arrested in
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Speaker 1: the hands that held them. The countenances so fell not
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Speaker 1: a moment before, now looked irresolute, as if asking what
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Speaker 1: this meant. For she stood between them and their enemy.
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Speaker 1: She could not speak, but held out her arms toward
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Speaker 1: them till she could recover breath. Oh, do not use violence.
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Speaker 1: He is one man and you are many. But her
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Speaker 1: words died away, for there was no tone in her voice.
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Speaker 1: It was but a hoarse whisper. Mister Thornton stood a
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Speaker 1: little on one side. He had moved away from behind her,
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Speaker 1: as if jealous of anything that should come between him
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Speaker 1: and danger. Go, she said once more, and now her
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Speaker 1: voice was like a cry. The soldiers are sent for
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Speaker 1: are coming. Go peaceably, go away, you shall have relief
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Speaker 1: from your complaints, whatever they are. Shall them irish blackguards
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Speaker 1: be packed back again, asked one from the crowd, with
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Speaker 1: fierce threatening in his voice. Never for your bidding, exclaimed
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Speaker 1: mister Thornton. And instantly the storm broke. The hootings rose
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Speaker 1: and filled the air, but Margaret did not hear them.
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Speaker 1: Her eye was on the group of lads who had
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Speaker 1: armed themselves with their clogs some time before. She saw
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Speaker 1: their gesture, she knew its meaning. She read their aim.
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Speaker 1: Another moment and mister Thornton might be smitten down, he
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Speaker 1: whom she had urged and goaded to come to this
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Speaker 1: perilous place. She only thought how she could save him.
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Speaker 1: She threw her arms around him, She made her body
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Speaker 1: into a shield from the fierce people beyond. Still, with
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Speaker 1: his arms folded, he shook her off. Go away, said
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Speaker 1: he in his deep voice. This is no place for you,
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Speaker 1: it is said she, you did not see what I saw.
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Speaker 1: If she thought her sex would be a protection, If
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Speaker 1: with shrinking eyes she had turned away from the terrible
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Speaker 1: anger of these men in any hope that ere she
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Speaker 1: looked again, they would have paused and reflected, and slunk
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Speaker 1: away and vanished. She was wrong. Their reckless passion had
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Speaker 1: carried them too far to stop. At least had carried
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Speaker 1: some of them too far. For it is always the
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Speaker 1: savage lads, with their love of cruel excitement, who had
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Speaker 1: the riot, reckless to what bloodshed it may lead. A
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Speaker 1: clog whizzed through the air. Margaret's fascinated eyes watched its progress.
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Speaker 1: It missed its aim, and she turned sick with affright,
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Speaker 1: but changed not her position, only hid her face on
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Speaker 1: mister Thornton's arm. Then she turned and spoke again. For
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Speaker 1: God's sake, do not damage your cause by this violence.
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Speaker 1: You do not know what you are doing. She strove
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Speaker 1: to make her words distinct. A sharp pebble flew by her,
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Speaker 1: grazing forehead and cheek, and drawing a blinding sheet of
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Speaker 1: light before her eyes. She lay like one dead on
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Speaker 1: mister Thornton's shoulder. Then he unfolded his arms and held
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Speaker 1: her encircled in one for an instant. You do well,
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Speaker 1: said he You come to oust the innocent stranger, you
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Speaker 1: fall you hundreds on one man, and when a woman
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Speaker 1: comes before you to ask you for your own sakes
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Speaker 1: to be reasonable creatures, your cowardly wrath falls on her.
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Speaker 1: You do well. They were silent while he spoke. They
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Speaker 1: were watching, open eyed and open mouthed the thread of
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Speaker 1: dark red blood which wakened them up from their trance
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Speaker 1: of passion. Those nearest the gate stole out, ashamed. There
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Speaker 1: was a movement through all the crowd, a retreating movement.
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Speaker 1: Only one voice cried out, The stone were meant for thee,
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Speaker 1: but thou wert sheltered behind a woman. Mister Thornton quivered
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Speaker 1: with rage. The blood flowing had made Margaret conscious, dimly,
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Speaker 1: vaguely conscious. He placed her gently on the doorstep, her
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Speaker 1: head leaning against the frame. Can you rest there, he asked,
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Speaker 1: But without waiting for her answer, he went slowly down
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Speaker 1: the steps, right into the middle of the crowd. Now
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Speaker 1: kill me, if it is your brutal will. There is
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Speaker 1: no woman to shield me here. You may beat me
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Speaker 1: to death. You will never move me from what I
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Speaker 1: have determined upon, not you. He stood amongst them with
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Speaker 1: his arms folded, in precise the same attitude as he
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Speaker 1: had been in on the steps. But the retrograde movement
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Speaker 1: toward the gate had begun as unreasoningly, perhaps as blindly
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Speaker 1: as the simultaneous anger, or perhaps the idea of the
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Speaker 1: approach of the soldiers, and the sight of that pale,
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Speaker 1: upturned face with closed eyes still and sad as marble.
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Speaker 1: Though the tears welled out of the long entanglement of
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Speaker 1: eyelashes and dropped down, and heavier, slower plash than even
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Speaker 1: tears came the drip of blood from her wound. Even
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Speaker 1: the most desperate Boucher himself drew back, faltered away, scowled,
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Speaker 1: and finally went off, muttering curses on the master, who
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Speaker 1: stood in his unchanging attitude, looking after their retreat with
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Speaker 1: defiant eyes. The moment the retreat had changed into a flight,
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Speaker 1: as it was sure from its very character to do,
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Speaker 1: he darted up the steps to Margaret. She tried to
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Speaker 1: rise without his help. It is nothing, she said, with
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Speaker 1: a sickly smile. The skin is grazed. And I was
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Speaker 1: stunned at the moment, Oh I am so thankful they
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Speaker 1: are gone, and she cried without restraint. He could not
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Speaker 1: sympathize with her. His anger had not abated, It was
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Speaker 1: rather rising the more as his sense of immediate danger
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Speaker 1: was passing away. The distant clank of the soldiers was heard,
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Speaker 1: just five minutes too late to make this vanished mob
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Speaker 1: feel the power of authority and order. He hoped they
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Speaker 1: would see the troops and be quelled by the thought
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Speaker 1: of their narrow escape. While these thoughts crossed his mind,
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Speaker 1: Margaret clung to the door post to steady herself, but
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Speaker 1: a film came over her eyes. He was only just
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Speaker 1: in time to catch her mother. Mother cried, He come down,
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Speaker 1: they are gone, and miss Hale is hurt. He bore
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Speaker 1: her into the dining room and laid her on the sofa. There,
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Speaker 1: laid her down softly, and looking on her pure white face,
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Speaker 1: the sense of what she was to him came upon
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Speaker 1: him so keenly that he spoke it out in his pain.
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Speaker 1: Oh my Margaret, My Margaret, No one can tell what
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Speaker 1: you are to me, Dead cold as you lie there,
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Speaker 1: you are the only woman I ever loved, Oh Margaret, Margaret.
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Speaker 1: Inarticulately as he spoke, kneeling by her, and rather moaning
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Speaker 1: than saying the words. He started up, ashamed of himself.
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Speaker 1: As his mother came in, she saw nothing but her son.
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Speaker 1: A little paler, a little sterner than usual. Miss Hale
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Speaker 1: is hurt. Mother. A stone has grazed her temple. She
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Speaker 1: has lost a deal of blood. I'm afraid. She looks
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Speaker 1: very seriously hurt. I could almost fancy her dead, said
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Speaker 1: missus Thornton, A good deal alarmed. It is only a
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Speaker 1: fainting fit. She has spoken to me since. But all
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Speaker 1: the blood in his body seemed to rush inwards to
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Speaker 1: his heart as he spoke, and he absolutely trembled. Go
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Speaker 1: and call Jane. She can find me the things I want.
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Speaker 1: And do you go to your Irish people who are
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Speaker 1: crying and shouting as if they were mad with fright?
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Speaker 1: He went. He went away as if weights were tied
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Speaker 1: to every limb that bore him from her. He called Jane,
23:44
Speaker 1: He called his sister. She should have all the womanly care,
23:48
Speaker 1: all gentle tendrance. But every pulse beat in him as
23:51
Speaker 1: he remembered how she had come down and placed herself
23:54
Speaker 1: in foremost danger. Could it be to save him? At
24:00
Speaker 1: the time he had pushed her aside and spoken gruffly.
24:05
Speaker 1: He had seen nothing but the unnecessary danger she had
24:08
Speaker 1: placed herself in. He went to his Irish people with
24:13
Speaker 1: every nerve in his body, thrilling at the thought of her,
24:16
Speaker 1: and found it difficult to understand enough of what they
24:18
Speaker 1: were saying to soothe and comfort away their fears. There
24:23
Speaker 1: they declared they would not stop. They claimed to be
24:26
Speaker 1: sent back, and so he had to think and talk
24:30
Speaker 1: and reason. Missus Thornton bathed Margaret's temples with eau de cologne.
24:37
Speaker 1: As the spirit touched the wound, which till then neither
24:40
Speaker 1: Missus Thornton nor Jane had perceived. Margaret opened her eyes,
24:44
Speaker 1: but it was evident that she did not know where
24:46
Speaker 1: she was nor who they were. The dark circles deepened,
24:52
Speaker 1: the lips quivered and contracted, and she became insensible once more.
24:57
Speaker 1: She has had a terrible blow, said Missus Thornton. Is
25:01
Speaker 1: there any one who will go for a doctor, Not me, ma'am,
25:05
Speaker 1: if you please, said Jane, shrinking back them. Rabble may
25:08
Speaker 1: be all about. I don't think the cut is so deep,
25:11
Speaker 1: ma'am as it looks. I will not run the chance.
25:15
Speaker 1: She was hurt in our house. If you are a coward, Jane,
25:20
Speaker 1: I am not. I will go pray, ma'am. Let me
25:24
Speaker 1: send one of the police. There's ever so many come up,
25:27
Speaker 1: and soldiers too, and yet you're afraid to go. I
25:32
Speaker 1: will not have their time taken up with our errands.
25:36
Speaker 1: They'll have enough to do to catch some of the mob.
25:39
Speaker 1: You will not be afraid to stop in this house,
25:42
Speaker 1: she asked contemptuously, And go on bathing miss Hale's forehead,
25:45
Speaker 1: shall you? I shall not be ten minutes away. Couldn't
25:50
Speaker 1: Hannah go, ma'am? Why Hannah? Why any one but you? No, Jane.
25:56
Speaker 1: If you don't go, I do. Missus. Thornton went first
26:02
Speaker 1: to the room in which she had left. Fanny stretched
26:04
Speaker 1: on the bed. She started up as her mother entered. Oh, mamma,
26:09
Speaker 1: how you terrified me? I thought you were a man
26:12
Speaker 1: that had got into the house. Nonsense. The men are
26:16
Speaker 1: all gone away. There are soldiers all around the place
26:19
Speaker 1: seeking for their work. Now it is too late. Miss
26:23
Speaker 1: Hale is lying on the dining room sofa badly hurt.
26:26
Speaker 1: I am going for the doctor. Oh don't, mamma, they'll
26:31
Speaker 1: murder you. She clung to her mother's gown. Missus Thornton
26:35
Speaker 1: wrenched it away with no gentle hand. Find me some
26:40
Speaker 1: one else to go. But that girl must not bleed
26:43
Speaker 1: to death. Bleed? Oh, how horrid? How has she got hurt?
26:50
Speaker 1: I don't know. I have no time to ask. Go
26:54
Speaker 1: down to her, Fanny, and do try to make yourself
26:56
Speaker 1: of use. Jane is with her, and I trust it
26:59
Speaker 1: worse than it is. Jane has refused to leave the house,
27:04
Speaker 1: cowardly woman. And I won't put myself in the way
27:07
Speaker 1: of any more refusals from my servants. So I am
27:09
Speaker 1: going myself. Oh, dear, dear, said Fanny, crying and preparing
27:16
Speaker 1: to go down, rather than be left alone with the
27:19
Speaker 1: thought of wounds and bloodshed in the very house. Oh
27:23
Speaker 1: Jane said, she creeping into the dining room. What is
27:27
Speaker 1: the matter? How white she looks? How did she get hurt?
27:32
Speaker 1: Did they throw stones into the drawing room? Margaret did
27:36
Speaker 1: indeed look white and wan, although her senses were beginning
27:39
Speaker 1: to return to her, but the sickly daze of the
27:42
Speaker 1: swoon made her still miserably faint. She was conscious of
27:47
Speaker 1: movement around her, and of refreshment from the Eau de Cologne,
27:51
Speaker 1: and a craving for the bathing to go on without intermission,
27:54
Speaker 1: But when they stopped to talk, she could no more
27:56
Speaker 1: have opened her eyes or spoken to ask for more bathe.
28:00
Speaker 1: Then the people who lie in death like trance can
28:03
Speaker 1: move or utter sound to arrest the awful preparations for
28:07
Speaker 1: their burial while they are yet fully aware, not merely
28:11
Speaker 1: of the actions of those around them, but of the
28:13
Speaker 1: idea that is the motive for such actions. Jane paused
28:18
Speaker 1: in her bathing to reply to Miss Thornton's question. She'd
28:22
Speaker 1: have been safe enough, Miss, if she'd stayed in the
28:25
Speaker 1: drawing room or come up to us. We were in
28:27
Speaker 1: the front garret and could see it all out of
28:30
Speaker 1: harm's way. Where was she, then, said Fanny, drawing nearer
28:35
Speaker 1: by slow degrees as she became accustomed to the sight
28:38
Speaker 1: of Margaret's pale face just before the front door with Master,
28:45
Speaker 1: said Jane significantly, with John, with my brother. How did
28:51
Speaker 1: she get there? Nay, Miss, that's not for me to say,
28:55
Speaker 1: answered Jane, with a slight toss of her head. Sarah
28:59
Speaker 1: did Sarah? What? Said Fanny with impatient curiosity. Jane resumed
29:06
Speaker 1: her bathing as if what Sarah did or said was
29:09
Speaker 1: not exactly the thing she liked to repeat. Sarah, what
29:14
Speaker 1: asked Fanny, Sharply, don't speak in these half sentences, or
29:17
Speaker 1: I can't understand you well, miss, since you will have it, Sara,
29:24
Speaker 1: you see was in the best place for seeing, being
29:27
Speaker 1: at the right hand window. And she says, and said
29:31
Speaker 1: at the very time too, that she saw Miss Hale
29:34
Speaker 1: with her arms round Master's neck, hugging him before all
29:37
Speaker 1: the people. I don't believe it, said Fanny. I know
29:43
Speaker 1: she cares for my brother. Any one can see that.
29:46
Speaker 1: And I dare say she'd give her eyes if he'd
29:49
Speaker 1: marry her, which he never will. I can tell her,
29:53
Speaker 1: but I don't believe she'd be so bold and forward
29:55
Speaker 1: as to put her arms round his neck. Poor young lady.
30:01
Speaker 1: She's paid for it dearly if she did. It's my
30:04
Speaker 1: belief that the blow has given her such an ascendency
30:07
Speaker 1: of blood to the head as she'll never get better from.
30:10
Speaker 1: She looks like a corpse. Now. Oh, I wish Mamma
30:15
Speaker 1: would come, said Fanny, wringing her hands. I never was
30:19
Speaker 1: in the room with a dead person before. Stay, Miss,
30:23
Speaker 1: she's not dead. Her eyelids are quivering, and here's wet tears,
30:27
Speaker 1: a comin down her cheeks. Speak to her, Miss Fanny,
30:32
Speaker 1: Are you better now, asked Fanny in a quavering voice.
30:36
Speaker 1: No answer, no sign of recognition, but a faint pink
30:41
Speaker 1: color returned to her lips, although the rest of her
30:43
Speaker 1: face was ashen pale. Missus Thornton came hurriedly in with
30:48
Speaker 1: the nearest surgeon she could find. How is she? Are
30:52
Speaker 1: you better, my dear, as Margaret opened her filmy eyes
30:56
Speaker 1: and gazed dreamily at her. Here is mister Lowe come
31:00
Speaker 1: to see you. Missus Thornton spoke loudly and distinctly, as
31:05
Speaker 1: if to a deaf person. Margaret tried to rise and
31:09
Speaker 1: drew her ruffled, luxuriant hair instinctively over the cut. I
31:13
Speaker 1: am better now, said she in a very low, faint voice.
31:19
Speaker 1: I was a little sick. She let him take her
31:22
Speaker 1: hand and feel her pulse. The bright color came for
31:26
Speaker 1: a moment into her face when he asked to examine
31:28
Speaker 1: the wound in her forehead, and she glanced up at
31:31
Speaker 1: Jane as if shrinking from her inspection more than from
31:34
Speaker 1: the doctor's. It is not much. I think I am
31:39
Speaker 1: better now. I must go home, not until I have
31:44
Speaker 1: applied some strips of plaster, and you have rested a little.
31:48
Speaker 1: She sat down hastily without another word, and allowed it
31:52
Speaker 1: to be bound up. Now, if you please, said she.
31:56
Speaker 1: I must go. Mamma will not see it. I think
32:00
Speaker 1: under the hair is it not quite? No one could tell.
32:06
Speaker 1: But you must not go, said missus Thornton, impatiently. You
32:10
Speaker 1: are not fit to go, I must, said Margaret, decidedly.
32:16
Speaker 1: Think of mamma if they should hear. Besides, I must go,
32:22
Speaker 1: said she vehemently. I cannot stay here. May I ask
32:27
Speaker 1: for a cab? You are quite flushed and feverish, observed
32:32
Speaker 1: mister Low. It is only with being here when I
32:36
Speaker 1: do so want to go. The air getting away would
32:42
Speaker 1: do me more good than anything, pleaded she. I really
32:46
Speaker 1: believe it is as she says. Mister Low replied. If
32:50
Speaker 1: her mother is so ill as you told me on
32:51
Speaker 1: the way here, it may be very serious if she
32:54
Speaker 1: hears of this riot and does not see her daughter
32:57
Speaker 1: back at the time she expects the injury not deep.
33:01
Speaker 1: I will fetch a cab if your servants are still
33:03
Speaker 1: afraid to go out. Oh, thank you, said Margaret. It
33:08
Speaker 1: will do me more good than anything. It is the
33:11
Speaker 1: air of this room that makes me feel so miserable.
33:15
Speaker 1: She leant back on the sofa and closed her eyes.
33:18
Speaker 1: Fanny beckoned her mother out of the room and told
33:21
Speaker 1: her something that made her equally anxious with Margaret for
33:24
Speaker 1: the departure of the latter. Not that she fully believed
33:28
Speaker 1: Fanny's statement, but she credited enough of it to make
33:31
Speaker 1: her manner to Margaret appear very much constrained at wishing
33:34
Speaker 1: her good bye. Mister Low returned in the cab. If
33:39
Speaker 1: you will allow me, I will see you home, Miss Hale.
33:42
Speaker 1: The streets are not very quiet. Yet Margaret's thoughts were
33:46
Speaker 1: quite alive enough to the present to make her desirous
33:49
Speaker 1: of getting rid of both mister Low and the cab
33:52
Speaker 1: before she reached Crampton Crescent, for fear of alarming her
33:55
Speaker 1: father and mother. Beyond that one aim, she would not
33:59
Speaker 1: look That ugly dream of insolent words spoken about herself
34:04
Speaker 1: could never be forgotten, but it could be put aside
34:07
Speaker 1: till she was stronger. For oh, she was very weak,
34:12
Speaker 1: and her mind sought for some present fact to steady
34:15
Speaker 1: itself upon and keep it from utterly losing consciousness In
34:19
Speaker 1: another hideous, sickly swoon end of chapter twenty two,