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025 - Ch 25 - Frederick · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five, Frederick Revenge may have her own roused
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Speaker 1: discipline aloud proclaims their cause, and injured navies urge their
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Speaker 1: broken laws Byron. Margaret began to wonder whether all offers
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Speaker 1: were as unexpected beforehand as distressing at the time of
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Speaker 1: their occurrence as the two she had had. An involuntary
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Speaker 1: comparison between mister Lennox and mister Thornton arose in her mind.
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Speaker 1: She had been sorry that an expression of any other
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Speaker 1: feeling than friendship had been lured out by circumstances from
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Speaker 1: Henry Lennox, that regret was the predominant feeling. On the
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Speaker 1: first occasion of her receiving a proposal, she had not
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Speaker 1: felt so stunned, so impressed as she did now, and
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Speaker 1: echoes of mister Thornton's voice yet lingered about the room.
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Speaker 1: In Lennox's case, he seemed for a moment to have
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Speaker 1: slid over the boundary between friendship and love, and the
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Speaker 1: instant afterwards to regret it nearly as much as she did,
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Speaker 1: although for different reasons. In mister Thornton's case, as far
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Speaker 1: as Margaret knew, there was no intervening stage of friendship.
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Speaker 1: Their intercourse had been one continued series of opposition. Their
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Speaker 1: opinions clashed, and indeed she had never perceived that he
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Speaker 1: had cared for her opinions as belonging to her the individual.
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Speaker 1: As far as they defied his rock like power of character,
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Speaker 1: his passion strength, he seemed to throw them off from
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Speaker 1: him with contempt, until she felt the weariness of the exertion,
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Speaker 1: of making useless protests. And now he had come, in
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Speaker 1: this strange, wild, passionate way, to make known his love
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Speaker 1: for Although at first it had struck her that his
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Speaker 1: offer was forced and goaded out of him by sharp
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Speaker 1: compassion for the exposure she had made of herself, which he,
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Speaker 1: like others, might misunderstand. Yet even before he left the room,
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Speaker 1: and certainly not five minutes after, the clear conviction dawned
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Speaker 1: upon her shined bright upon her that he did love her,
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Speaker 1: that he had loved her, that he would love her.
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Speaker 1: Then she shrank and shuddered, as under the fascination of
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Speaker 1: some great power repugnant to her whole previous life. She
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Speaker 1: crept away and hid from his idea. But it was
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Speaker 1: of no use to parody a line out of Fairfax's tasso.
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Speaker 1: His strong idea wandered through her thought. She disliked him
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Speaker 1: the more for having mastered her inner will. How dared
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Speaker 1: he say that that he would love her still? Even
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Speaker 1: though she shook him off with contempt. She wished she
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Speaker 1: had spoken more stronger, Sharp, decisive speeches came thronging into
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Speaker 1: her mind now that it was too late to utter them.
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Speaker 1: The deep impression made by the interview was like that
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Speaker 1: of a horror in a dream that will not leave
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Speaker 1: the room, although we waken up and rub our eyes
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Speaker 1: and force a stiff, rigid smile upon our lips. It
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Speaker 1: is there there, cowering and gibbering with fixed, ghastly eyes,
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Speaker 1: in some corner of the chamber, listening to hear whether
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Speaker 1: we dare to breathe of its presence to anyone, And
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Speaker 1: we dare not, poor cowards that we are. And so
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Speaker 1: she shuddered away from the threat of his enduring love.
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Speaker 1: What did he mean? Had she not the power to
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Speaker 1: daunt him, she would see it was more daring than
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Speaker 1: became a man to threaten her. So did he ground
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Speaker 1: it upon the miserable yesterday. If need were, she would
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Speaker 1: do the same tomorrow by a crippled beggar, willingly and gladly.
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Speaker 1: But by him, she would do it just as bravely,
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Speaker 1: in spite of his deductions and the cold slime of
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Speaker 1: women's impertinence. She did it because it was right and
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Speaker 1: simple and true to save where she could save, even
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Speaker 1: try to save face a coutoit advienn caporra. Hitherto she
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Speaker 1: had not stirred from where he had left her. No
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Speaker 1: outward circumstances had roused her out of the trance of
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Speaker 1: thought in which she had been plunged by his last
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Speaker 1: words and by the look of his deep intent, passionate eyes,
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Speaker 1: as their flames had made her own fall before them.
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Speaker 1: She went to the window and threw it open to
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Speaker 1: dispel the oppression which hung around her. Then she went
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Speaker 1: and opened the door with a sort of impetuous wish
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Speaker 1: to shake off the recollection of the past hour in
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Speaker 1: the company of others or an active exertion. But all
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Speaker 1: was profoundly hushed in the noonday stillness of a house
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Speaker 1: where an invalid catches the unrefreshing sleep, that is denied
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Speaker 1: to the night hours, Margaret would not be alone. What
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Speaker 1: should she do? Go and see Bessy Higgins, of course,
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Speaker 1: thought she, as the recollection of the message sent the
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Speaker 1: night before flash into her mind, and away she went.
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Speaker 1: When she got there, she found Bessy lying on the settle,
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Speaker 1: moved close to the fire. Though the day was sultry
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Speaker 1: and oppressive, she was laid down quite flat, as if
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Speaker 1: resting languidly after some paroxysm of pain. Margaret felt sure
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Speaker 1: she ought to have the greater freedom of breathing which
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Speaker 1: a more sitting posture would procure, and without a word,
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Speaker 1: she raised her up and so arranged the pillows that
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Speaker 1: Bessy was more at ease. The very languid I thought
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Speaker 1: I should na ha seen, yo, again, said she at last,
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Speaker 1: looking wistfully into Margaret's face. I'm afraid you're much worse.
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Speaker 1: But I could not have come yesterday. My mother was
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Speaker 1: so ill for many reasons, said Margaret, coloring, YO. It
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Speaker 1: may happen to think I went beyond my place and
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Speaker 1: sending Mary for you, But the wranglin and the loud
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Speaker 1: voices had just torn me to pieces. And I thought,
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Speaker 1: when father left, Oh, if I could just hear her
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Speaker 1: voice reading me some words a peace and promise. I
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Speaker 1: could die away into the silence and rest o God,
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Speaker 1: just as a babby is hushed up to sleep by
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Speaker 1: its mother's lullaby. Shall I read you a chapter? Now? Ay?
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Speaker 1: Do may happen? I shan'n't listen to the sense. At
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Speaker 1: first it will seem far away. But when ye come
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Speaker 1: to the words I like, to the comforting texts, it'll
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Speaker 1: seem close in me, my ear, and going through me
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Speaker 1: as it were. Margaret began bessy, tossed to and fro
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Speaker 1: if by an effort she attended. For one moment it
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Speaker 1: seemed as though she were convulsed into double restlessness the next.
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Speaker 1: At last, she burst out, don't go on readin It's
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Speaker 1: no use. I'm blaspheming all the time. In my mind
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Speaker 1: we thinkin angrily on what canna be helped? Ye'd hear
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Speaker 1: the riot may happen yesterday at Marlborough Mills Thornton's factory.
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Speaker 1: Ye know your father was there? Was, he said Margaret,
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Speaker 1: coloring deep. Not he he'd ha given his right hand
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Speaker 1: if it had never come to pass. It's that that's
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Speaker 1: frettin me. He's fairly knocked down in his mind by it.
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Speaker 1: It's no use tellin him. Fools will always break out
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Speaker 1: o bounds. Ye never saw a man so downhearted as
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Speaker 1: he is. But why, asked Margaret. I don't understand why.
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Speaker 1: Ye see, he's a committee man on this special strike.
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Speaker 1: The union appointed him because though I say it as
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Speaker 1: I shouldn't say it, he's reckoned, a deep chap and
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Speaker 1: true to the backbone. And he and t'other committee men
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Speaker 1: laid down their plans. They were to hold together through
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Speaker 1: thick and thin. What the major part thought to others
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Speaker 1: were to think whether they would or no. And above
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Speaker 1: all there was to be no going again. The law
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Speaker 1: of the land folk would go with them if they
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Speaker 1: saw them striving and starving with dumb patience. But if
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Speaker 1: there was once any noise of fighting and struggling, even
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Speaker 1: with knobsticks, hall was up. As they knew by the
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Speaker 1: experience of many and many a time before, they would
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Speaker 1: try and get speed to the knobsticks and coax'em han
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Speaker 1: reason with em and appen warn em off. But whatever came,
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Speaker 1: the committee charged all members of the union to lie
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Speaker 1: down and die if need were, without striking a blow,
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Speaker 1: and then they reckoned, they were sure a carryin' the
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Speaker 1: public with em. And besides all that, the committee knew
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Speaker 1: they were right in their demand, and they didn't want
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Speaker 1: to have right all mixed up with wrong till folks
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Speaker 1: can't separate it no more, nor I can the physic
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Speaker 1: powder from the jelly Yo gave me to mix it in.
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Speaker 1: Jelly is the biggest, but powder tastes it all through. Well,
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Speaker 1: I've told you at length about this un but I'm
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Speaker 1: tired out. You just think for yourself what it mun
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Speaker 1: be for Father to have a his work undone, and
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Speaker 1: by such a fool as Boucher, who must needs go
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Speaker 1: right again the orders of the committee and ruin the
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Speaker 1: strike just as bad as if he meant to be
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Speaker 1: a judas hey. But Father gived it him last night.
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Speaker 1: He went so far as to say he'd go and
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Speaker 1: tell police where they might find the ringleader o the riot.
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Speaker 1: He'd give him up to the mill owners to do
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Speaker 1: what they would wi him. He'd show the world that
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Speaker 1: the real leaders of the strike were not such as Boucher,
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Speaker 1: but steady thoughtful men, good hands and good citizens who
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Speaker 1: were friendly to law and judgment and would uphold order,
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Speaker 1: who only wanted their right wage, and wouldn't work even
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Speaker 1: though they starved till they got em. But who would
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Speaker 1: ne'er injure property or life for dropping her voice? They
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Speaker 1: do say that Boucher threw a stone at Thornton's sister,
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Speaker 1: that Willie killed her. That's not true, said Margaret. It
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Speaker 1: was not Boucher that threw the stone. She went first red,
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Speaker 1: then white. Yo'd be there? Then were yo? Asked Bessy languidly.
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Speaker 1: For indeed she had spoken with many pauses, as if
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Speaker 1: speech was unusually difficult to her. Yes, never mind, go
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Speaker 1: on only it was not Boucher that threw the stone.
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Speaker 1: But what did he answer your father? He didna speak words.
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Speaker 1: He were all in such a tremble WI spent passion.
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Speaker 1: I could na bear to look at him. I heard
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Speaker 1: his breath coming quick, and at one time I thought
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Speaker 1: he were sobbing. But when father said he'd give him
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Speaker 1: up to the police, he gave a great cry and
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Speaker 1: struck Father on the face with his closed fist, and
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Speaker 1: be off like lightnin Father were stunned with a blow
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Speaker 1: at first. For all Boucher were weak with passion and
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Speaker 1: with clemmin'. He sat down a bit and put his
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Speaker 1: hand afore his eyes, and then made for the door.
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Speaker 1: I dunno where I got strength, but I threw myself
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Speaker 1: off the settle and clung to him. Father. Father said,
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Speaker 1: I Thou'll never go peach on that poor clemmed Man.
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Speaker 1: I'll never leave go on thee till thou sayest thou
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Speaker 1: won't dunnot be a fool, says he. Words come readier
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Speaker 1: than deeds to most men. I never thought O tellin
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Speaker 1: the police on him, though by God he deserved it,
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Speaker 1: and I shouldna ha minded if some one else had
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Speaker 1: done the dirty work and got him clapt up. But
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Speaker 1: now he has strucken me. I could do it less
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Speaker 1: nor ever, for it would be gettin other men to
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Speaker 1: take up my quarrel. But if he ever gets well er,
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Speaker 1: this clemmin And is in good condition, he and I'll
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Speaker 1: have an up and down fight. Pour an an ay,
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Speaker 1: and I'll see what I can do for him. And
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Speaker 1: so Father shook me off, for indeed I was low
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Speaker 1: and faint enough, and his face was all clay white
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Speaker 1: where it warn't bloody, and turned me sick to look at.
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Speaker 1: And I know not if I slept or waked, or
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Speaker 1: were in a dead swoon till Mary came in, and
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Speaker 1: I tell her to fetch yo to me. And now
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Speaker 1: dunna talk to me, but just read out the chapter.
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Speaker 1: I'm easier in my mind for having spit it out,
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Speaker 1: but I want some thoughts of the world that's far
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Speaker 1: away to take the weary taste of it out of
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Speaker 1: my mouth. Read me, not a sermon chapter, but a
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Speaker 1: story chapter. They've got pictures in them which I see
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Speaker 1: when my eyes are shut. Read about the new heavens
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Speaker 1: and the new Earth a map, and I'll forget this,
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Speaker 1: Margaret read in her soft, low voice. Though Bessy's eyes
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Speaker 1: were shut, she listened for some time, for the moisture
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Speaker 1: of tears gathered heavy on her eye lashes. At last
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Speaker 1: she slept, with many starts and muttered pleadings. Margaret covered
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Speaker 1: her up and left her, for she had an uneasy
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Speaker 1: consciousness that she might be wanted at home, and yet
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Speaker 1: until now it seemed cruel to leave the dying girl.
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Speaker 1: Missus Hale was in the drawing room on her daughter's return.
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Speaker 1: It was one of her better days, and she was
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Speaker 1: full of praises of the water bed. It had been
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Speaker 1: more like the beds at Saint John Beresford's than anything
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Speaker 1: she had slept on, since she did not know how
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Speaker 1: it was. But people seemed to have lost the art
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Speaker 1: of making the same kind of beds as they used
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Speaker 1: to do in her youth. One would think it was
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Speaker 1: easy enough, there was the same kind of feathers to
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Speaker 1: be had, Yet somehow, till this last night she did
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Speaker 1: not know when she had had a good, sound, resting sleep.
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Speaker 1: Mister Hale suggested that something of the merits of the
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Speaker 1: feather beds of former days might be attributed to the
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Speaker 1: activity of youth, which gave relish to rest, but this
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Speaker 1: idea was not kindly received by his wife. No, indeed,
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Speaker 1: mister Hale, it was those beds at Sir John's. Now, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: you're young enough and go about in the day. Are
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Speaker 1: the beds comfortable? I appeal to you. Do they give
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Speaker 1: you a feeling of perfect repose when you lie down
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Speaker 1: upon them? Or rather, don't you toss about and try
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Speaker 1: in vain to find it easy position and waken in
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Speaker 1: the morning as tired as when you went to bed.
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Speaker 1: Margaret laughed, to tell the truth, Mamma, I've never thought
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Speaker 1: about my bed at all. What kind it is? I'm
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Speaker 1: so sleepy at night that if I only lie down anywhere,
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Speaker 1: I nap off directly. So I don't think I am
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Speaker 1: a competent witness. But then you know I never have
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Speaker 1: had the opportunity of trying Sir John Beresford's beds. I
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Speaker 1: was never at Oxenham, were not you? Oh? No, to
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Speaker 1: be sure. It was poor darling Fred I took with me.
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Speaker 1: I remember I only went to Oxenham once after I
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Speaker 1: was married to your aunt Shaw's wedding, and poor little
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Speaker 1: Fred was the baby then, and I know Dixon did
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Speaker 1: not like changing from lady's maid to nurse, and I
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Speaker 1: was afraid that if I took her near her old
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Speaker 1: home and amongst her own people, she might want to
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Speaker 1: leave me. But poor baby was taken ill at oxen
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Speaker 1: him with his teething, and what with my being a
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Speaker 1: great deal with Anna just before her marriage and not
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Speaker 1: being very strong myself, Dixon had more of the charge
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Speaker 1: of him than she ever had before, and it made
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Speaker 1: her so fond of him, and she was so proud
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Speaker 1: when he would turn away from every one and cling
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Speaker 1: to her that I don't believe she ever thought of
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Speaker 1: leaving me again, though it was very different from what
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Speaker 1: she'd been accustomed to. Poor Fred. Everybody loved him. He
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Speaker 1: was born with the gift of winning hearts. It makes
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Speaker 1: me think very badly of Captain Reid when I know
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Speaker 1: that he disliked my own dear boy. I think it
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Speaker 1: a certain proof that he had a bad heart. Huh,
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Speaker 1: your poor father, Margaret, he has left the room. He
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Speaker 1: can't bear to hear Fred spoken of. I love to
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Speaker 1: hear about him. Mamma, tell me all you like. You
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Speaker 1: can never tell me too much. Tell me what he
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Speaker 1: was like as a baby. Why, Margaret, you must not
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Speaker 1: be hurt. But he was much prettier than you were.
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Speaker 1: I remember when I first saw you in Dixon's arms.
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Speaker 1: I said, Dear, what an ugly little thing, And she said,
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Speaker 1: it's not every child that's like Master Fred. Bless him, Dear,
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Speaker 1: how well I remember it. Then I could have had
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Speaker 1: Fred in my arms every minute of the day, and
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Speaker 1: his cot was close by my bed. And now now, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I don't know where my boy is, and sometimes I
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Speaker 1: think I shall never see him again. Margaret sat down
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Speaker 1: by her mother's sofa on a little stool and softly
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Speaker 1: took hold of her hand, caressing it and kissing it
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Speaker 1: as if to comfort missus. Hale cried without restraint. At last,
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Speaker 1: she sat straight, stiff up on the sofa and turned
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Speaker 1: round to her daughter. She said, with tearful, almost solemn earnestness, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: if I can get better, if God lets me have
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Speaker 1: a chance of recovery, it must be through seeing my
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Speaker 1: son Frederick once more. It will waken up all the
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Speaker 1: poor springs of health left in me. She paused and
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Speaker 1: seemed to try and gather strength for something more yet
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Speaker 1: to be said. Her voice was choked as she went on,
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Speaker 1: was quavering, as with the contemplation of some strange yet
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Speaker 1: closely present idea. And Margaret, if I am to die,
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Speaker 1: if I am one of those appointed to die before
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Speaker 1: many weeks are over, I must see my child first.
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Speaker 1: I cannot think how it must be managed. But I
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Speaker 1: charge you, Margaret, as you yourself hope for comfort in
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Speaker 1: your last illness, to bring him to me, that I
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Speaker 1: may bless him only for five minutes. Margaret, there could
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Speaker 1: be no danger in five minutes, Oh Margaret, let me
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Speaker 1: see him before I die. Margaret did not think of
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Speaker 1: anything that might be utterly unreasonable in this speech. We
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Speaker 1: do not look for reason or logic in the passionate
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Speaker 1: entreaties of those who are sick unto death. We are
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Speaker 1: stung with the recollection of a thousand slighted opportunities of
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Speaker 1: fulfilling the wishes of those who will soon pass away
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Speaker 1: from among us. And do they ask us for the
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Speaker 1: future happiness of our lives. We lay it at their
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Speaker 1: feet and will it away from us. But this wish
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Speaker 1: of missus Hale's was so natural, so just so right
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Speaker 1: to both parties, that Margaret felt as if on Frederick's
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Speaker 1: account as well as on her mother's, she ought to
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Speaker 1: overlook all intermediate chances of danger and pledge herself to
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Speaker 1: do everything in her power for its realization. The large, pleading,
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Speaker 1: dilated eyes were fixed upon her, wistfully steady in their
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Speaker 1: gi though the poor white lips quivered like those of
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Speaker 1: a child. Margaret gently rose up and stood opposite to
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Speaker 1: her frail mother, so that she might gather the secure
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Speaker 1: fulfillment of her wish from the calm steadiness of her
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Speaker 1: daughter's face. Mamma, I will write tonight and tell Frederick
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Speaker 1: what you say. I am as sure that he will
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Speaker 1: come directly to us, as I am sure of my
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Speaker 1: life be easy, mamma. You shall see him as far
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Speaker 1: as anything earthly can be promised. You will write to night,
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Speaker 1: Oh Margaret. The post goes out at five, you will
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Speaker 1: write by it, won't you. I have so few hours left.
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Speaker 1: I feel, dear, as if I should not recover. Though
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Speaker 1: sometimes your father over persuades me into hoping you will
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Speaker 1: write directly, won't you don't lose a single post, for
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Speaker 1: just by that very post I may miss him. But Mamma,
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Speaker 1: Papa is out. Papa is out. And what then, do
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Speaker 1: you mean that he would deny me this last wish? Margaret?
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Speaker 1: Why I should not be ill, be dying if he
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Speaker 1: had not taken me away from Helstone to this unhealthy, smoky,
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Speaker 1: sunless place. Oh, Mamma, said Margaret. Yes, it is so.
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Speaker 1: Indeed he knows it himself. He has said so many
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Speaker 1: a time he would do anything for me. You don't
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Speaker 1: mean he would refuse me this last wish prayer? If
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Speaker 1: he will? And indeed, Margaret, the longing to see Frederick
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Speaker 1: stands between me and God. I cannot pray till I
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Speaker 1: have this one thing. Indeed, I cannot don't lose time.
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Speaker 1: Dear dear Margaret, write by this very next post. Then
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Speaker 1: he may be here in twenty two days. For he
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Speaker 1: is sure to come. No cords or chains can keep him.
22:06
Speaker 1: In twenty two days, I shall see my boy. She
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Speaker 1: fell back, and for a short time she took no
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Speaker 1: notice of the fact that Margaret sat motionless, her hand
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Speaker 1: shading her eyes. You are not writing, said her mother.
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Speaker 1: At last, bring me some pens and paper. I will
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Speaker 1: try and write myself. She sat up, trembling all over
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Speaker 1: with feverish eagerness. Margaret took her hand down and looked
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Speaker 1: at her mother sadly. Only wait till Papa comes in.
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Speaker 1: Let us ask him how best to do it? You promised, Margaret,
22:42
Speaker 1: not a quarter of an hour ago. You said he
22:45
Speaker 1: should come, and so he shall. Mamma, don't cry my own,
22:51
Speaker 1: dear mother. I'll write here now you shall see me write,
22:56
Speaker 1: and it shall go by this very post. And if
22:59
Speaker 1: Papa thinks fit, he can write again when he comes in.
23:03
Speaker 1: It's only a day's delay. Oh, mamma, don't cry so pitifully.
23:08
Speaker 1: It cuts me to the heart. Missus Hale could not
23:12
Speaker 1: stop her tears. They came hysterically, and in truth she
23:16
Speaker 1: made no effort to control them, but rather called up
23:19
Speaker 1: all the pictures of the happy past and the probable future,
23:23
Speaker 1: painting the scene when she should lie a corpse, with
23:26
Speaker 1: the son she had longed to see in life weeping
23:28
Speaker 1: over her, and she unconscious of his presence, till she
23:33
Speaker 1: was melted by self pity into a state of sobbing
23:35
Speaker 1: and exhaustion that made Margaret's heart ache. But at last
23:40
Speaker 1: she was calm and greedily watched her daughter as she
23:43
Speaker 1: began her letter. Wrote it with swift, urgent entreaty, sealed
23:47
Speaker 1: it up hurriedly for fear her mother should ask to
23:50
Speaker 1: see it, and then, to make security most sure, at
23:54
Speaker 1: missus Hale's own bidding, took it herself to the post office.
23:59
Speaker 1: She was coming home when her father overtook her. And
24:03
Speaker 1: where have you been, my pretty maid? Asked he to
24:07
Speaker 1: the post office with a letter, A letter to Frederick. Oh, Papa,
24:14
Speaker 1: Perhaps I have done wrong, But Mamma was seized with
24:17
Speaker 1: such a passionate yearning to see him. She said it
24:20
Speaker 1: would make her well again, and then she said that
24:22
Speaker 1: she must see him before she died. I cannot tell
24:26
Speaker 1: you how urgent she was. Did I do wrong? Mister
24:31
Speaker 1: Hale did not reply at first, Then he said, you
24:35
Speaker 1: should have waited till I came in. Margaret. I tried
24:39
Speaker 1: to persuade her, and then she was silent. I don't know,
24:45
Speaker 1: said mister Hale, after a pause. She ought to see
24:49
Speaker 1: him if she wishes it so much, for I believe
24:52
Speaker 1: it would do her much more good than all the
24:54
Speaker 1: doctor's medicine, and perhaps set her up altogether. The danger
25:00
Speaker 1: to him, I'm afraid is very great all these years
25:05
Speaker 1: since the mutiny. Papa. Yes, it is necessary, of course
25:11
Speaker 1: for the government to take very stringent measures for the
25:14
Speaker 1: repression of offenses against authority, more particularly in the navy,
25:18
Speaker 1: where a commanding officer needs to be surrounded in his
25:21
Speaker 1: men's eyes with a vivid consciousness of all the power
25:24
Speaker 1: there is at home to back him and take up
25:26
Speaker 1: his cause and avenge any injuries offered to him if
25:30
Speaker 1: need be. Ah, it's no matter to them how far
25:35
Speaker 1: their authorities have tyrannized, galled, hasty tempers to madness, or
25:41
Speaker 1: if that can be any excuse afterwards, it is never allowed,
25:45
Speaker 1: for in the first instance, they spare no expense, They
25:49
Speaker 1: send out ships, they scour the seas to lay hold
25:52
Speaker 1: of the offenders. The lapse of years does not wash
25:56
Speaker 1: out the memory of the offense. It is a fresh
25:59
Speaker 1: and vivid crime on the Admiralty's books until it is
26:02
Speaker 1: blotted out by blood. Oh, Papa, what have I done?
26:09
Speaker 1: And yet it seems so right at the time. I'm
26:12
Speaker 1: sure Frederick himself would run the risk, so he would,
26:18
Speaker 1: so he should. Nay, Margaret, I'm glad it is done,
26:23
Speaker 1: though I durst not have done it myself. I'm thankful
26:26
Speaker 1: it is as it is. I should have hesitated till
26:30
Speaker 1: perhaps it might have been too late to do any good.
26:34
Speaker 1: Dear Margaret, you have done what is right about it,
26:37
Speaker 1: and the end is beyond our control. It was all
26:42
Speaker 1: very well, but her father's account of the relentless manner
26:45
Speaker 1: in which mutinies were punished made Margaret shiver and creep.
26:49
Speaker 1: If she had decoyed her brother home to blot out
26:52
Speaker 1: the memory of his air by his blood, she saw
26:55
Speaker 1: her father's anxiety lay deeper than the source of his
26:58
Speaker 1: later cheering words. She took his arm and walked home,
27:02
Speaker 1: pensively and wearily by his side. End of Chapter twenty
27:07
Speaker 1: five