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022 - A Blow And Its Consequences · North and South

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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Megan Olson in Waxa
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Speaker 1: on North Carolina, September two thousand seven, North and South
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Speaker 1: by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Chapter twenty two. A blow and
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Speaker 1: its consequences. But work grew scarce, while bread grew dear,
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Speaker 1: and wages lessened too. For Irish hordes were bidders here
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Speaker 1: our half paid work to do corn law rhymes. Margaret
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Speaker 1: was shown into the drawing room. It had returned into
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Speaker 1: its normal state of bag and covering. The windows were
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Speaker 1: half open because of the heat, and the Venetian blinds
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Speaker 1: covered the glass so that a gray grien light reflected
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Speaker 1: from the pavement below, threw all the shadows wrong, and
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Speaker 1: combined with a green tinged upper light, to make even
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Speaker 1: Margaret's own face as she caught it in the mirrors,
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Speaker 1: look ghastly and wan She sat and waited. No one came.
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Speaker 1: Every now and then the wind seemed to bear the distant,
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Speaker 1: multitudinous sound nearer, and yet there was no wind. It
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Speaker 1: died away into profound stillness. Between whiles, Fanny came in
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Speaker 1: at last, Mamma will come directly, Miss Hale. She desired
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Speaker 1: me to apologize to you as it is. Perhaps you
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Speaker 1: know my brother has imported hands from Ireland and it
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Speaker 1: has irritated the Milton people excessively, as if he hadn't
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Speaker 1: a right to get labor where he could, and the
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Speaker 1: stupid wretches here wouldn't work for him. And now they've
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Speaker 1: frightened these poor Irish starveling so with their threats, and
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Speaker 1: we daren't let them out. You may see them huddled
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Speaker 1: in up top room in the mill, and they are
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Speaker 1: to sleep there to keep them safe from those brutes
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Speaker 1: who will neither work nor let them work. And Mamma
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Speaker 1: is seeing about their food, and John is speaking to them,
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Speaker 1: for some of the women are crying to go back. Ah,
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Speaker 1: here's mamma. Missus Thornton came in with a look of
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Speaker 1: black sternness on her face, which made Margaret feel she
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Speaker 1: had arrived at a bad time to trouble her with
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Speaker 1: her request. However, it was only in compliance with Missus
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Speaker 1: Thornton's express desire that she would ask for whatever they
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Speaker 1: might want in the progress of her mother's illness. Missus
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Speaker 1: Thornton's brow contracted and her mouth grew set. While Margaret
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Speaker 1: spoke with gentle modesty of her mother's restlessness and doctor
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Speaker 1: Donaldson's wish that she should have the relief of a
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Speaker 1: water bed, she ceased. Missus Thornton did not reply immediately.
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Speaker 1: Then she started up and exclaimed, they're at the gates.
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Speaker 1: Call John, Fanny, call him in from the mill. They're
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Speaker 1: at the gates. They'll batter them in. Call John, I say,
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Speaker 1: And simultaneously, the gathering tramp to which she had been
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Speaker 1: listening instead of heeding Margaret's words, was heard just right
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Speaker 1: outside the wall, and an increasing din of angry voices
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Speaker 1: raged behind the wooden barrier, which shook as if the unseen,
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Speaker 1: maddened crowd made battering rams of their bodies and retreated
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Speaker 1: a short space, only to come with more, united, steady
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Speaker 1: impetus against it, till their great beats made the strong
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Speaker 1: gates quiver like reeds before the wind. The women gathered
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Speaker 1: round the windows, fascinated to look on the scene, which
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Speaker 1: terrified them. Missus Thornton, the women, servants, Margaret all were there.
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Speaker 1: Fanny had returned screaming upstairs, as if pursued at every step,
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Speaker 1: and had thrown herself in his drecle. Sobbing on the sofa,
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Speaker 1: Missus Thornton watched for her son, who was still in
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Speaker 1: the mill. He came out, looked up at them, the
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Speaker 1: pale cluster of faces, and smiled good courage to them,
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Speaker 1: before he locked the factory door. Then he called to
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Speaker 1: one of the women to come down and undo his
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Speaker 1: own door, which Fanny had fastened behind her in her
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Speaker 1: mad flight. Missus Thornton herself went, and the sound of
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Speaker 1: his well known and commanding voice seemed to have been
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Speaker 1: like the taste of blood to the infuriated multitude outside.
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Speaker 1: Hitherto they had been voiceless, wordless, needing all their breath
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Speaker 1: for their hard laboring efforts to break down the gates.
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Speaker 1: But now hearing him speak inside, they set up such
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Speaker 1: a fierce, unearthly groan that even Missus Thornton was white
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Speaker 1: with fear as she preceded him into the room. He
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Speaker 1: came in a little flushed, but his eyes gleaming as
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Speaker 1: in un answer to the trumpet call of danger, and
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Speaker 1: with a proud look of defiance on his face that
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Speaker 1: made him a noble, if not a handsome man. Margaret
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Speaker 1: had always dreaded lest her courage should fail her in
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Speaker 1: any emergency, and she should be proved to be what
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Speaker 1: she dreaded, lest she was a coward. But now, in
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Speaker 1: this real great time of reasonable fear and nearness of terror,
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Speaker 1: she forgot herself and felt only an intense sympathy, intense
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Speaker 1: to painfulness in the interests of the moment. Mister Thornton
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Speaker 1: came frankly forwards. I am sorry, miss Hale, you are
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Speaker 1: visit to us at this unfortunate moment when I fear
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Speaker 1: you may be involved in whatever risk we have to bear. Mother,
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Speaker 1: hadn't you better go into the back rooms. I'm not
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Speaker 1: sure whether they may not have made their way from
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Speaker 1: Pinner's Lane into the stable yard, but if not, you
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Speaker 1: will be safer there than here, go, Jane continued he
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Speaker 1: addressing the upper servant, and she went, followed by the others.
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Speaker 1: Ah stop here, said his mother, Where you are there?
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Speaker 1: I stay? And indeed retreat into the back rooms was
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Speaker 1: of no avail. The crowd had surrounded the outbuildings at
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Speaker 1: the rear and were sending forth their awful, threatening roar behind.
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Speaker 1: The servants retreated into the garrets with many a cry
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Speaker 1: and a shriek. Mister Thornton smiled scornfully as he heard them.
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Speaker 1: He glanced at Margaret, standing all by herself at the
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Speaker 1: window nearest the factory. Her eyes glittered, her color was
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Speaker 1: deepened on cheek and lip, as if she had felt
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Speaker 1: his look. She turned to him and asked a question
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Speaker 1: that had been for some time in her mind. Where
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Speaker 1: are the poor imported work people in the factory there? Yes,
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Speaker 1: I left them cowering up in a small room at
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Speaker 1: the head of a back flight of stairs, bidding them
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Speaker 1: run all risks and escaped down there if they heard
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Speaker 1: any attack made on the mill doors. But it is
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Speaker 1: not them, It is me they want. When can the
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Speaker 1: soldiers be here? Asked his mother in a low but
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Speaker 1: not unsteady voice. He took out his watch with the
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Speaker 1: same measured composure with which he did everything. He made
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Speaker 1: some little calculation supposing Williams got straight off when I
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Speaker 1: told him and hadn't a dodge about amongst them, it
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Speaker 1: must be twenty minutes. Yet twenty minutes, said his mother
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Speaker 1: for the first time, showing her terror in the tone
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Speaker 1: of her voice. Shut down the windows instantly, Mother exclaimed,
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Speaker 1: he the gates won't bear such another shock. Shut down
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Speaker 1: that window. Miss Ale Margaret shut down her window, and
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Speaker 1: then went to assist Missus Thornton's trembling fingers. From some
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Speaker 1: cause or other. There was a pause of several minutes
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Speaker 1: in the unseen street. Missus Thornton looked with wild anxiety
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Speaker 1: at her son's countenance, as if to gain the interpretation
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Speaker 1: of the sudden stillness from him. His face was set
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Speaker 1: into rigid lines of contemptuous defiance. Neither hope nor fear
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Speaker 1: could be read there. Fanny raised herself up aligne asked
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Speaker 1: she in a whisper gone, replied he listen. She did listen.
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Speaker 1: They all could hear the one great straining breath, the
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Speaker 1: creak of wood slowly yielding, the wrench of iron, the
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Speaker 1: mighty fall of the ponderous gates. Fanny stood up, tottering,
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Speaker 1: made a step or two towards her mother, and fell
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Speaker 1: forwards into her arms in a fainting fit. Missus Thornton
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Speaker 1: lifted her up with a strength that was as much
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Speaker 1: that of the will as of the body, and carried
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Speaker 1: her away. Thank God, said mister Thornton, as he watched
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Speaker 1: her out. Had you not better go upstairs, Miss Hale.
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Speaker 1: Margaret's lips formed a no, but he could not hear
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Speaker 1: her speak for the tramp of innumerable steps right under
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Speaker 1: the very wall of the house, and the fierce growl
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Speaker 1: of low, deep angry voices that had a ferocious murmur
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Speaker 1: of satisfaction in them, more dreadful than their baffled cries
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Speaker 1: not many moments before. Never mind, said he, thinking to
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Speaker 1: encourage her. I am very sorry you should have been
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Speaker 1: entrapped into all this alarm. But it cannot last long.
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Speaker 1: Now 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 moniac 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, said he
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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 from 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 makes 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 or not a coward,
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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
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Speaker 1: is 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, Oh, we'll 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 through 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 off her bonnet
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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 trying to intimidate him,
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Speaker 1: to make him flinch. Each was urging the other on
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Speaker 1: to some immediate act of personal violence. Margaret felt intuitively
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Speaker 1: that in an instant all would be uproar. The first
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Speaker 1: touch would cause an explosion, in which, among such hundreds
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Speaker 1: of infuriated men and reckless boys, even mister Thornton's life
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Speaker 1: would be unsafe. That in another instant, the stormy passions
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Speaker 1: would have passed their bounds and swept away all barriers
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Speaker 1: of reason or apprehension of consequence. Even while she looked,
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Speaker 1: she saw lads in the background stooping to take off
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Speaker 1: their heavy wooden clogs. The readiest missile they could find.
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Speaker 1: She saw it was the spark to the gunpowder, and
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Speaker 1: with a cry which no one heard, she rushed out
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Speaker 1: of the room downstairs. She had lifted the great iron
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Speaker 1: bar of the door with an imperious force, had thrown
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Speaker 1: the door open wide, and was there in the 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 and as if asking
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Speaker 1: what 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 towards
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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, said she 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 black
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Speaker 1: heads be packed back again, asked one from out of
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Speaker 1: the crowd, with fierce threatening in his voice. Never for
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Speaker 1: your bidding, exclaimed mister Thornton. And instantly the storm broke.
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Speaker 1: The hootings rose and filled the air, but Margaret did
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Speaker 1: not hear them. Her eye was on the group of
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Speaker 1: lads who had armed themselves with their clogs some time before.
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Speaker 1: She saw their gesture, she knew its meaning. She read
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Speaker 1: their aim. Another moment and mister Thornton might be smitten down,
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Speaker 1: he whom she had urged and goaded to come to
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Speaker 1: this 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 head
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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 in circle than one for an instant. You do well,
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Speaker 1: said he You come to oust the innocent stranger, you fall,
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Speaker 1: you hundreds on one man, and when a woman comes
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Speaker 1: before you to ask you, for your own sakes to
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Speaker 1: be reasonable creatures, your cowardly wrath falls upon her. You
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Speaker 1: do well. They were silent while he spoke. They were watching,
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Speaker 1: open eyed and open mouthed the thread of dark red
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Speaker 1: blood which wakened them up from their trance of passion.
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Speaker 1: Those nearest the gate stole out, ashamed. There was a
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Speaker 1: movement through all the crowd, a retreating movement. Only one
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Speaker 1: voice cried out, The storm were meant for thee, but
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Speaker 1: thou wert sheltered behind a woman. Mister Thornton quivered with rage.
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Speaker 1: The blood flowing had made Margaret conscious, dimly vaguely conscious.
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Speaker 1: He placed her gently on the doorstep, her head leaning
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Speaker 1: against the frame. Can you rest far? He asked, but
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Speaker 1: without waiting for her answer, he walked slowly down the steps,
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Speaker 1: right into the middle of the crowd. Now kill me
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Speaker 1: if it is your brutal will. There is no woman
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Speaker 1: to shield me here. You may beat me to death.
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Speaker 1: You will never move me from what I have determined upon,
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Speaker 1: not you. He stood amongst them with his arms folded,
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Speaker 1: in precisely the same attitude as he had been in
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Speaker 1: on the steps. But the retrograde movement towards the gate
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Speaker 1: had begun as unreasoningly, perhaps as blindly as the simultaneous anger,
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Speaker 1: or perhaps the idea of the approach of the soldiers,
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Speaker 1: and the sight of that pale, upturned face with closed
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Speaker 1: eyes still and sad as marble. Though the tears welled
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Speaker 1: out of the long entanglement of eyelashes and dropped down,
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Speaker 1: and heavier, slower plash than even tears, came the drip
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Speaker 1: of blood from her wound. Even the most desperate boucher
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Speaker 1: himself drew back, faltered away, scowled, and finally went off,
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Speaker 1: muttering curses on the master, who stood in his unchanging attitude,
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Speaker 1: looking after their retreat with defiant eyes. The moment that
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Speaker 1: retreat had changed into a flight, as it was sure
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Speaker 1: from its very character to do He darted up the
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Speaker 1: steps to Margaret. She tried to rise without his help.
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Speaker 1: It is nothing, she said, with a sickly smile. The
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Speaker 1: skinnies grazed, and I was stunned at the moment. Oh,
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Speaker 1: I am so thankful they are gone, and she cried
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Speaker 1: without restraint. He could not sympathize with her. His anger
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Speaker 1: had not abated. It was rather rising the more as
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Speaker 1: his sense of immediate danger was passing away. The distant
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Speaker 1: clank of the soldiers was heard, just five minutes too
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Speaker 1: late to make this vanished mob feel the power of
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Speaker 1: authority and order. He hoped they would see the troops
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Speaker 1: and be quelled by the thought of their narrow escape.
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Speaker 1: While these thoughts crossed his mind, Margaret clung to the
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Speaker 1: doorpost to steady herself, but a film came over her eyes.
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Speaker 1: He was only just in time to catch her. Mother.
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Speaker 1: Mother cried, He come down, They are gone, and miss
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Speaker 1: Hale is hurt. He bore her into the dining room
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Speaker 1: and laid her on the sofa. There, laid her down softly,
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Speaker 1: and looking on her pure white face, the sense of
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Speaker 1: what she was to him came upon him so keenly
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Speaker 1: that he spoke it out in his pain. Oh my Margaret,
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Speaker 1: My Margaret, No one can tell what you are to me,
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Speaker 1: dead cold as you lie there, you are the only
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Speaker 1: woman I ever loved, Oh Margaret, Margaret, inarticulately as he spoke,
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Speaker 1: kneeling by her, and rather moaning than saying the words,
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Speaker 1: he started up, ashamed of himself. As his mother came in,
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Speaker 1: she saw nothing but her son. A little paler, a
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Speaker 1: little sterner than usual. Miss Hale is hurt. Mother. A
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Speaker 1: stone has grazed her temple. She has lost a good
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Speaker 1: deal of blood. I'm afraid. She looks very seriously hurt.
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Speaker 1: I could almost fancy her dead, said missus Thornton, A
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Speaker 1: good deal alarmed. It is only a fainting fit. She
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Speaker 1: has spoken to me since. But all the blood in
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Speaker 1: his body seemed to rush inwards to his heart as
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Speaker 1: he spoke, and he absolutely trembled. Go and call Jane.
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Speaker 1: She can find me the things I want. And do
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Speaker 1: you go to your Irish people who are crying and
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Speaker 1: shouting as if they were mad with fright? He went.
22:46
Speaker 1: He went away as if weights were tied to every
22:49
Speaker 1: limb that bore him from her. He called Jane, He
22:53
Speaker 1: called his sister. She should have all womanly care, all
22:57
Speaker 1: gentle attendants. But ever repulse beat in him as he
23:01
Speaker 1: remembered how she had come down and placed herself in
23:05
Speaker 1: the foremost danger. Could it be to save him? At
23:10
Speaker 1: the time he had pushed her aside and spoken gruffly,
23:13
Speaker 1: he had seen nothing but the unnecessary danger she had
23:16
Speaker 1: placed herself in. He went to his Irish people with
23:20
Speaker 1: every nerve in his body thrilling at the thought of her,
23:24
Speaker 1: and found it difficult to understand enough of what they
23:26
Speaker 1: were saying to soothe and comfort away their fears. There
23:30
Speaker 1: they declared they would not stop, and claimed to be
23:34
Speaker 1: sent back, And so he had to think and talk
23:38
Speaker 1: and reason. Missus Thornton bathed Margaret's temples with e de cologne.
23:45
Speaker 1: As the spirit touched the wound, which till then neither
23:48
Speaker 1: Missus Thornton nor Jane had perceived. Margaret opened her eyes,
23:53
Speaker 1: but it was evident she did not know where she
23:55
Speaker 1: was nor who they were. The dark circles deepened, the
24:00
Speaker 1: lips quivered and contracted, and she became insensible once more.
24:05
Speaker 1: She has had a terrible blow, said Missus Thornton. Is
24:09
Speaker 1: there any one who will go for a doctor? Not me? Ma'am,
24:13
Speaker 1: if you please, said Jane, shrinking back them. Rabble may
24:17
Speaker 1: be all about. I don't think the cut is so deep,
24:20
Speaker 1: ma'am as it looks. I will not run the chance
24:24
Speaker 1: she was hurt in our house. If you are a coward, Jane,
24:28
Speaker 1: I am not. I will go pray, ma'am. Let me
24:33
Speaker 1: send one of the police. There's ever so many come up,
24:36
Speaker 1: and soldiers too, and yet you're afraid to go. I
24:41
Speaker 1: will not have their time taking up with our errands.
24:43
Speaker 1: They'll have enough to do to catch some of the mob.
24:47
Speaker 1: You will not be afraid to stop in this house,
24:49
Speaker 1: she asked, contemptuously, And go on bathing miss Hale's forehead,
24:54
Speaker 1: shall you? I shall not be ten minutes away. Couldn't
24:58
Speaker 1: Anna go, ma'am? Why Hannah? Why any but you? No? Jane?
25:04
Speaker 1: If you don't go, I do, missus. Thornton went first
25:08
Speaker 1: to the room in which she had left Fanny stretched
25:11
Speaker 1: on the bed. She started up as her mother entered. Oh, mamma,
25:16
Speaker 1: how you terrified me? I thought you were a man
25:19
Speaker 1: that had got into the house. Nonsense, The men are
25:22
Speaker 1: all gone away. There are soldiers all round this place
25:26
Speaker 1: seeking for their work. Now it is too late Miss
25:29
Speaker 1: Hale is lying on the dining room sofa, badly hurt.
25:32
Speaker 1: I'm going for the doctor. Oh don't, mamma, they'll murder you.
25:37
Speaker 1: She clung to her mother's gown. Missus Thornton wrenched it
25:41
Speaker 1: away with no gentle hand. Find me someone else to go.
25:45
Speaker 1: But that girl must not bleed to death. Bleed? How horrid?
25:49
Speaker 1: How has she got hurt? I don't know. I have
25:53
Speaker 1: no time to ask. Go down to her, Fanny, and
25:56
Speaker 1: do try to make yourself of use. Jane is with
25:59
Speaker 1: her trust. It looks worse than it is. Jane has
26:02
Speaker 1: refused to leave the house, cowardly woman. And I won't
26:06
Speaker 1: put myself in the way of any more refusals from
26:09
Speaker 1: my servants. So I am going myself. Oh, dear, dear,
26:14
Speaker 1: said Fanny, crying and preparing to go down, rather than
26:17
Speaker 1: be left alone with a thought of wounds and bloodshed
26:20
Speaker 1: in the very house. Oh, Jane said, she creeping into
26:24
Speaker 1: the dining room. What's the matter? How white she looks?
26:30
Speaker 1: How did she get hurt? Did they throw stones into
26:33
Speaker 1: the drawing room? Margaret did indeed look white and wan,
26:38
Speaker 1: although her senses were beginning to return to her. But
26:41
Speaker 1: the sickly daze of the swoon made her still miserably faint.
26:46
Speaker 1: She was conscious of movement around her, and of refreshment
26:49
Speaker 1: from the e deu colonne, and a craving for the
26:52
Speaker 1: bathing to go on without intermission. But when they stopped
26:56
Speaker 1: to talk, she could no more have opened her eyes
27:00
Speaker 1: were spoken to ask for more bathing than the people
27:02
Speaker 1: who lie in deathlike trance can move or utter sound
27:06
Speaker 1: to arrest the awful preparations for their burial, where they
27:10
Speaker 1: are yet fully aware, not merely of the actions of
27:13
Speaker 1: those around them, but of the idea that is the
27:16
Speaker 1: motive for such actions. Jane paused in her bathing to
27:20
Speaker 1: reply to Miss Thornton's question. She'd have been safe enough, Miss,
27:25
Speaker 1: if she stayed in the drawing room or come up
27:28
Speaker 1: to us. We were in the front garret and could
27:30
Speaker 1: see it all out of arm's way. Where was? She
27:34
Speaker 1: then asked Fanny, drawing nearer by the slow degrees as
27:38
Speaker 1: she became accustomed to the sight of Margaret's pale face
27:42
Speaker 1: just before the front door with Master, said Jane significantly,
27:48
Speaker 1: with John, with my brother, how did she get there? Nay, Miss,
27:54
Speaker 1: that's not for me to say, answered Jane with a
27:57
Speaker 1: slight toss of her head. Sarah did Sarah what, said
28:02
Speaker 1: Fanny with impatient curiosity. Jane resumed her bathing, as if
28:07
Speaker 1: what Sarah did or said was not exactly the thing
28:10
Speaker 1: she liked to repeat. Sarah what, asked Fanny. Sharply, don't
28:15
Speaker 1: speak in these half sentences, or I can't understand you well, miss,
28:21
Speaker 1: since you will have it, Sara, you see, was in
28:23
Speaker 1: the best place for seeing, being at the right hand window.
28:27
Speaker 1: And she says, and said at the very time too,
28:30
Speaker 1: that she saw Miss Hale with her arms about Master's neck,
28:33
Speaker 1: hugging him before all the people. I don't believe it,
28:38
Speaker 1: said Fanny. I know she cares for my brother. Any
28:41
Speaker 1: one can see that. And I dare say she'd give
28:44
Speaker 1: her eyes if he'd marry her, which he never will.
28:48
Speaker 1: I can tell her, but I don't believe she'd be
28:51
Speaker 1: so bold and forward as to put her arms around
28:54
Speaker 1: his neck. Poor young lady. She's paid for it dearly
28:58
Speaker 1: if she did. It's my belief that the blow has
29:01
Speaker 1: given her such an ascendity of blood to the head
29:05
Speaker 1: as she'll never get the better from She looks like
29:08
Speaker 1: a corpse. Now. Oh, I wish Mamma would come, said Fanny,
29:13
Speaker 1: wringing her hands. I never was in the room with
29:16
Speaker 1: the dead person before. Stay amiss, She's not dead. Her
29:21
Speaker 1: eyelids are quivering, and here's wet tears are coming down
29:25
Speaker 1: her cheeks. Speak to her, Miss Fanny, Are you better now,
29:30
Speaker 1: asked Fanny in a quavering voice. No answer, no sign
29:35
Speaker 1: of recognition, but a faint pink color returned to her lips,
29:40
Speaker 1: although the rest of her face was ashen pale. Missus
29:44
Speaker 1: Thornton came hurriedly in with the nearest surgeon she could find.
29:49
Speaker 1: How is she? Are you better, my dear, As Margaret
29:53
Speaker 1: opened her filmy eyes and gazed dreamily at her, Here
29:57
Speaker 1: is mister Lowe come to see you. Missus Thornton spoke
30:01
Speaker 1: loudly and distinctly as to a deaf person. Margaret tried
30:06
Speaker 1: to rise and drew her ruffled, luxuriant hair instinctly over
30:10
Speaker 1: the cat. I am better now, said she in a
30:15
Speaker 1: very low, faint voice. I was a little sick. She
30:20
Speaker 1: let him take her hand and feel her pulse. The
30:23
Speaker 1: bright color came for a moment into her face when
30:27
Speaker 1: he asked to examine the wound in her forehead and
30:31
Speaker 1: She glanced up at Jane as if shrinking from her
30:33
Speaker 1: inspection more than from the doctor's. It is not much.
30:38
Speaker 1: I think I am better now I must go home,
30:42
Speaker 1: Not until I have replied some strips of plaster and
30:45
Speaker 1: you've rested a little. She sat down hastily without another word,
30:51
Speaker 1: and allowed it to be bound up. Now, if you please,
30:56
Speaker 1: said she, I must go. Mamma will not see it.
30:59
Speaker 1: I think it is under the hair. Is it not quite?
31:04
Speaker 1: No one could tell. But you must not go, said
31:08
Speaker 1: missus Thornton, impatiently. You are not fit to go, I must,
31:13
Speaker 1: said Margaret, decidedly. Think of mamma if they should hear. Besides,
31:19
Speaker 1: I must go, said she veheminently. I cannot stay here.
31:24
Speaker 1: May I ask for a cab? You are quite flushed
31:28
Speaker 1: and feverish, observed mister Low. It is only with being
31:32
Speaker 1: here when I do so want to go. The air
31:36
Speaker 1: getting away would do me more good than anything, pleaded she.
31:41
Speaker 1: I really believe it is as she says, mister Low replied.
31:46
Speaker 1: If her mother is so ill as you told me
31:48
Speaker 1: on the way here, it may be very serious if
31:51
Speaker 1: she hears of this riot and does not see her
31:54
Speaker 1: daughter back at the time she expects the injury is
31:57
Speaker 1: not deep. I will fetch a cab if your servants
32:00
Speaker 1: are still afraid to go out. Oh thank you, said Margaret.
32:06
Speaker 1: It will do me more good than anything. It is
32:09
Speaker 1: the air of this room that makes me feel so miserable.
32:13
Speaker 1: She leant back on the sofa and closed her eyes.
32:17
Speaker 1: Fanny beckoned her mother out of the room and told
32:20
Speaker 1: her something that made her equally anxious with Margaret for
32:23
Speaker 1: the departure of the latter. Not that she fully believed
32:26
Speaker 1: Fanny's statement, but she credited enough to make her manner
32:30
Speaker 1: to Margaret appear very much constrained at wishing her good bye.
32:35
Speaker 1: Mister Low returned in the cab. If you will allow me,
32:40
Speaker 1: I will see you home, Miss Hale. The streets are
32:42
Speaker 1: not very quiet. Yet Margaret's thoughts were quite alive enough
32:47
Speaker 1: to the present to make her desirous of getting rid
32:49
Speaker 1: of both mister Low and the cab. Before her she
32:53
Speaker 1: had reached Crampton Crescent for fear of alarming her father
32:57
Speaker 1: and mother. Beyond that one aim, she would not look
33:01
Speaker 1: that ugly dream of insolent words spoken about herself could
33:05
Speaker 1: never be forgotten, but could be put aside till she
33:09
Speaker 1: was stronger, For oh, she was very weak, and her
33:13
Speaker 1: mind sought for some present fact to steady itself upon
33:17
Speaker 1: and keep from utterly losing consciousness in another hideous, sickly swoon,
33:24
Speaker 1: end of Chapter twenty two,