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039 - Mr Kirkpatrick Q C · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty eight of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter thirty eight.
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Speaker 1: Mister Kirkpatrick, q c. Cynthia was always the same with Molly, kind,
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Speaker 1: sweet tempered, ready to help, professing a great deal of
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Speaker 1: love for her, and probably feeling as much as she
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Speaker 1: did for any one in the world. But Molly had
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Speaker 1: reached to this superficial depth of affection and intimacy in
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Speaker 1: the first few weeks of Cynthia's residence in her father's house,
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Speaker 1: And if she had been of a nature prone to
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Speaker 1: analyze the character of one whom she loved dearly, she
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Speaker 1: might have perceived that, with all Cynthia's apparent frankness, there
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Speaker 1: were certain limits beyond which her confidence did not go,
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Speaker 1: where her reserve began, and her real self was shrouded
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Speaker 1: in mystery. For instance, her relations with mister Preston were
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Speaker 1: often very puzzling to Molly. She was sure that there
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Speaker 1: had been a much greater intimacy between them formerly at Ashcombe,
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Speaker 1: and that the remembrance of this was often very galling
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Speaker 1: and irritating to Cynthia, who was as evidently desirous of
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Speaker 1: forgetting it, as he was anxious to make her remember it.
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Speaker 1: But why this intimacy had ceased, why Cynthia disliked him
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Speaker 1: so extremely now? And many other unexplained circumstances connected with
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Speaker 1: these two facts were Cynthia's secrets, and she effectually baffled
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Speaker 1: all Molly's innocent attempts during the first glow of her
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Speaker 1: friendship for Cynthia to learn the girlish antecedents of her
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Speaker 1: companion's life. Every now and then Molly came to a
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Speaker 1: dead wall beyond which she could not pass, at least
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Speaker 1: with the delicate instruments which were all she chose to use.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps Cynthia might have told all there was to tell
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Speaker 1: to a more forcible curiosity, who knew how to improve
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Speaker 1: every slip of the tongue and every fit of temper
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Speaker 1: to its own gratification. But Molly's was the interest of affection,
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Speaker 1: not to the coarser desire of knowing everything for a
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Speaker 1: little excitement. And as soon as she saw that Cynthia
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Speaker 1: did not wish to tell her anything about that period
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Speaker 1: of her life, Molly left off referring to it. But
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Speaker 1: if Cynthia had preserved a sweet tranquility of manner, and
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Speaker 1: an unvarying kindness for Molly during the winter, of which
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Speaker 1: there is question. At present she was the only person
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Speaker 1: to whom the Beauty's ways were unchanged. Mister Gibson's influence
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Speaker 1: had been good for her, as long as she saw
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Speaker 1: that he liked her. She had tried to keep as
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Speaker 1: high a place in his good opinion as she could,
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Speaker 1: and had curbed many a little sarcasm against her mother,
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Speaker 1: and many a twisting of the absolute truth when he
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Speaker 1: was by Now there was a constant uneasiness about her,
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Speaker 1: which made her more cowardly than before, and even her
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Speaker 1: partisan Molly could not help being aware of the distinct
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Speaker 1: equivocations she occasionally used when anything in mister Gibson's words
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Speaker 1: or behavior pressed her too hard. Her repartees to her
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Speaker 1: mother were less frequent than there had been, but there
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Speaker 1: was often the unusual phenomenon of pettishness in her behavior
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Speaker 1: to her. These changes in humor and disposition he had
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Speaker 1: described all at once were in themselves a series of
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Speaker 1: delicate alterations of relative conduct spread over many months, many
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Speaker 1: winter months of long evenings and bad weather, which bring
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Speaker 1: out discords of character as a dash of cold water
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Speaker 1: brings out the fading colors of an old fresco. During
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Speaker 1: much of this time, mister Preston had been at Ashcombe,
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Speaker 1: for Lord Cumnor had not been able to find an
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Speaker 1: agent whom he liked to replace mister Preston, and while
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Speaker 1: the inferior situation remained vacant, mister Preston had undertaken to
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Speaker 1: do the duties of both. Missus Goodenough had had a
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Speaker 1: serious illness, and the little society at Hollingford did not
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Speaker 1: care to meet while one of their habitual set was
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Speaker 1: scarcely out of danger. So there had been very little visiting.
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Speaker 1: And though Miss Browning said.
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Speaker 2: That the absence of the temptations of society was very
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Speaker 2: agreeable to cultivated minds after the dissipations of the previous autumn,
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Speaker 2: when there were parties every week to welcome mister Preston.
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Speaker 1: Yet Miss phoebe let out in confidence that.
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Speaker 3: She and her sister had fallen into the habit of
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Speaker 3: going to bed at nine o'clock, for they found cribbage
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Speaker 3: night after night from five o'clock till ten rather too
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Speaker 3: much of a good thing.
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Speaker 1: To tell the truth, that winter, if peaceful, was monotonous
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Speaker 1: in Hollingford, and the whole circle of gentility there was
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Speaker 1: delighted to be stirred up in March by the intelligence
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Speaker 1: that mister Kirkpatrick, the newly made q C, was coming
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Speaker 1: on a visit for a couple of days to his
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Speaker 1: sister in law, Missus Gibson. Missus Goodenough's room was the
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Speaker 1: very center of gossip. Gossip had been her daily bread
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Speaker 1: throughout her life. Gossip was meat and wine to her. Now,
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Speaker 1: dear em they said, the old lady rousing herself so
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Speaker 1: as to sit upright in her easy chair and propping
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Speaker 1: herself with her hands on the arms. Who would have
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Speaker 1: thought she'd such grand relations? Why, mister Ashton told me
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Speaker 1: once that a queen's counsel was as like to be
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Speaker 1: a judge as a kit, and is like to.
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Speaker 2: Be a cat.
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Speaker 4: And to think of her being as good as a
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Speaker 4: sister to a judge. I saw one oncet, and I
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Speaker 4: know I thought, as I shouldn't wish for a better
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Speaker 4: winter cloak than his old robes would make me, if
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Speaker 4: only I could find out where I could get em
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Speaker 4: second hand. And I know she'd her silk gowns turned
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Speaker 4: and died, and cleaned and for aught, I know turned
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Speaker 4: again while she lived at Ashcombe, keeping a school too,
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Speaker 4: and so near akin to this Queen's counsel all the time. Well,
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Speaker 4: to be sure, it wasn't much of a school, only
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Speaker 4: ten young ladies at the best o times, so perhaps
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Speaker 4: he'd never heard of it.
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Speaker 2: I've been wondering what they'll give him to dinner, said
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Speaker 2: miss Browning. It is an unlucky time for visitors. No
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Speaker 2: game to be had, and lamb so late this year,
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Speaker 2: and chicken hardly to be had.
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Speaker 4: For love all money, he'll have to put up with
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Speaker 4: Calve's head, that he will.
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Speaker 1: Said missus goodenough, solemnly.
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Speaker 4: If i'd a got my usual health, I'd copy out
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Speaker 4: a receipt of my grandmother's for a rolled Calve's head
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Speaker 4: and send it to missus Gibson. The doctor has been
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Speaker 4: very kind to me all through this illness. I wish
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Speaker 4: my daughter in comber May would send me some autumn chickens.
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Speaker 4: I'd pass em on to the doctor, that I would,
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Speaker 4: But she's been a killing of em all and as
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Speaker 4: sending of them to me, and the last she sent
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Speaker 4: she wrote me word was the last.
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Speaker 3: I wonder if they'll give a.
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Speaker 1: Pardy for him, suggested Miss Phoebe, I should.
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Speaker 3: Like to see a queen's counsel for once in my life.
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Speaker 3: I have seen javelin men. But that's the greatest thing
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Speaker 3: in the legal line I ever came across.
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Speaker 2: They'll ask mister Ashton, of course, said miss browning the
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Speaker 2: three black graces, law, physic and divinity, as the song
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Speaker 2: calls them. Whenever there's a second course, there's always the
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Speaker 2: clergyman of the parish invited. In any family of gentility.
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Speaker 1: I wonder if he's married, said Missus Goodenough. Miss Phoebe
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Speaker 1: had been feeling the same wonder, but had not thought
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Speaker 1: it maidenly to express it, even to her sister, who
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Speaker 1: was the source of knowledge, having met Missus Gibson in
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Speaker 1: the street on her way to Missus Goodenough's.
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Speaker 2: Yes, he's married and must have several children. For Missus
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Speaker 2: Gibson said that Cynthia Kirkpatrick had paid them a visit
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Speaker 2: in London to have lessons with her cousins, and she
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Speaker 2: said that his wife was a most accomplished woman and
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Speaker 2: of good family, though she brought him no fortune.
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Speaker 4: It's a very creditable connection. I'm sure it's only a
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Speaker 4: wonder to me as how we've heard so little talk
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Speaker 4: of it before, said missus Goodenough. But the first look
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Speaker 4: of the thing, I shouldn't have thought Missus Gibson was
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Speaker 4: one hard away her fine relations under a bushel. Indeed,
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Speaker 4: for that matter, we're all of us fonder turning the
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Speaker 4: best breadth of the gown to the front. I remember,
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Speaker 4: speaking of breaths, how I've undone my skirts many a time,
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Speaker 4: and off to put a stain or a grease spot
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Speaker 4: next to poor mister Goodenough. He'd a soft, kind heart
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Speaker 4: when first we was married, and he said, says he
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Speaker 4: patty link thy right arm into my left one, than
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Speaker 4: they'll be nearer to my heart. And so we kept
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Speaker 4: up the habit when poor man he'd a deal more
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Speaker 4: to think on than romancing on which side his heart lay. So,
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Speaker 4: as I said, I always put my damaged breadths on
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Speaker 4: the right hand, and when we walked arming arm, as
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Speaker 4: we always did, no one was ever the wiser.
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Speaker 2: I should not be surprised if he invited Cynthia to
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Speaker 2: pay m another visit in London.
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Browning.
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Speaker 2: If he did when he was poor, he's twenty times
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Speaker 2: more likely to do it now that he's a Queen's counsel.
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Speaker 4: I work it by the rule of three, and she
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Speaker 4: stands a good chance. I only hope it won't turn
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Speaker 4: her head. Going up visiting in London at her age, why,
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Speaker 4: I was fifty before ever I went.
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Speaker 3: But she has been in France. She's quite a traveled
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Speaker 3: young lady.
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Phoebe. Missus Goodenough shook her head for a
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Speaker 1: whole minute before she gave vent to her opinion. It's
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Speaker 1: a risk, said she.
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Speaker 4: A great risk. I don't like saying so to the doctor,
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Speaker 4: but I shouldn't like having my daughter if I was
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Speaker 4: in so cheek by jowl with the girl as was
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Speaker 4: brought up in the country where Robespierre and Bonypart was born.
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Speaker 2: That Bonaparte was a Corsican.
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Browning, who was much further advanced both in
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Speaker 1: knowledge and in liberality of opinions than missus Goodenough.
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Speaker 2: And there's a great opportunity for cultivation of the mind
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Speaker 2: afforded by intercourse with foreign countries. I always admire Cynthia's
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Speaker 2: grace of manner, never too shy to speak, yet never
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Speaker 2: putting herself forwards. She's quite a help to a party.
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Speaker 2: And if she has a few airs and graces. Why
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Speaker 2: they're natural at her age now. As for dear Molly,
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Speaker 2: there's a kind of awkwardness about her. She broke one
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Speaker 2: of our best China cups last time. She was at
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Speaker 2: a party at our house and spilt the coffee on
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Speaker 2: the new carpet. And then she got so confused that
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Speaker 2: she hardly did anything but sit in a corner and
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Speaker 2: hold her tongue all the rest of the evening.
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Speaker 3: She was so sorry for what she'd done, Sister.
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Phoebe in a gentle tone of reproach. She
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Speaker 1: was always faithful to Molly.
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Speaker 2: Well, and did I say she wasn't? But was there
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Speaker 2: any need for her to be stupid all the evening after?
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Speaker 3: But you were rather sharp, rather displeased.
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Speaker 2: And I think it my duty to be sharp. Ay,
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Speaker 2: I'm cross too when I see young folks careless, and
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Speaker 2: when I see my duty clear, I do it. I'm
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Speaker 2: not want to shrink from it. And they ought to
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Speaker 2: be grateful to me. It's not everyone that will take
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Speaker 2: the trouble of reproving them, as missus Goodenough knows. I'm
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Speaker 2: very fond of Molly Gibson, very for her own sake
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Speaker 2: and for a mother's too. I'm not sure if I
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Speaker 2: don't think she's worth half a dozen Cynthias. But for
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Speaker 2: all that, she shouldn't break my best China teacup and
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Speaker 2: then sit doing nothing for a livelihood all the rest
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Speaker 2: of the evening.
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Speaker 1: By this time, Missus Goodenough gave evident signs of being tired.
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Speaker 1: Molly's misdemeanors and Miss Browning's broken teacup were not as
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Speaker 1: exciting subjects of conversation as Missus Gibson's newly discovered good
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Speaker 1: luck in having a successful London lawyer for a relation.
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Speaker 1: Mister Kirkpatrick had been, like many other men, struggling on
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Speaker 1: in his profession and encumbered with a large family of
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Speaker 1: his own, was ready to do a good turn for
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Speaker 1: his connections if it occasioned him no loss of time,
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Speaker 1: and if which was perhaps a primary condition he remembered
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Speaker 1: their existence. Cynthia's visit to Doughty Street eight or nine
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Speaker 1: years ago had not made much impression upon him, after
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Speaker 1: he had once suggested its feasibility to his good natured wife.
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Speaker 1: He was even rather startled every now and then by
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Speaker 1: the appearance of a pretty little girl amongst his own
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Speaker 1: children as they trooped into dessert and had to remind
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Speaker 1: himself who she was, But as it was his custom
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Speaker 1: to leave the table almost immediately and to retreat into
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Speaker 1: a small back room called his study to immerse himself
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Speaker 1: in papers for the rest of the evening, the child
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Speaker 1: had not made much impression upon him, and probably the
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Speaker 1: next time he remembered her existence was when Missus Kirkpatrick
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Speaker 1: wrote to him to beg him to receive Cynthia for
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Speaker 1: a night on her way to school at Boulogne. The
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Speaker 1: same request was repeated on her return, but it so
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Speaker 1: happened that he had not seen her either time, and
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Speaker 1: only dimly remembered some remarks which his wife had made
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Speaker 1: on one of these occasions that it seemed to her
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Speaker 1: rather hazardous to send so young a girl so long
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Speaker 1: a journey without making more provision for her safety than
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Speaker 1: Missus Kirkpatrick had done. He knew that his wife would
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Speaker 1: fill up all deficiencies in this respect as if Cynthia
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Speaker 1: had been her own daughter, and thought no more about
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Speaker 1: her until he received an invitation to attend Missus Kirkpatrick's
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Speaker 1: wedding with mister Gibson, the highly esteemed surgeon of Hollingford
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Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera, an attention which irritated instead of
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Speaker 1: pleasing him.
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Speaker 5: Does the woman think I have nothing to do but
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Speaker 5: run the country in search of brides and bridegrooms when
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Speaker 5: this great case of Houghton versus Houghton is coming on
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Speaker 5: and I haven't a moment to spare?
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Speaker 1: He asked of his wife. Perhaps she never heard of it,
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Speaker 1: suggested missus Kirkpatrick.
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Speaker 5: Nonsense, The case has been in the paper for days,
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Speaker 5: but she mayn't know you are engaged in it.
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Speaker 1: She mayn't, said he meditatively. Such ignorance was possible. But
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Speaker 1: now the great case of Houghton versus Houghton was a
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Speaker 1: thing of the past. The hard struggle was over, the
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Speaker 1: comparative table land of q sedem gained, and mister Kirkpatrick
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Speaker 1: had leisure for family feeling and recollection. One day, in
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Speaker 1: the easter vacation, he found himself near Hollingford. He had
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Speaker 1: a Sunday to spare, and he wrote to offer himself
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Speaker 1: as a visitor to the Gibsons from Friday till Monday,
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Speaker 1: expressing strongly what he really felt in a less degree,
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Speaker 1: his wish to make mister Gibson's acquaintance. Mister Gibson, though
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Speaker 1: often overwhelmed with professional business, was always hospitable, and moreover,
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Speaker 1: it was always a pleasure to him to get out
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Speaker 1: of the somewhat confined mental atmosphere which he had breathed
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Speaker 1: over and over again, and have a whiff of fresh air,
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Speaker 1: a glimpse of what was passing in the great world
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Speaker 1: beyond his daily limits of thought and action. So he
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Speaker 1: was ready to give a cordial welcome to his unknown relation.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson was in a flutter of sentimental delight, which
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Speaker 1: she fancied was family affection, but which might not have
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Speaker 1: been quite so effervescent if mister Kirkpatrick had remained in
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Speaker 1: his former position of struggling lawyer with seven children living
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Speaker 1: in Darty Street. When the two gentlemen met, they were
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Speaker 1: attracted towards each other by a similarity of character, with
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Speaker 1: just enough difference in their opinions to make the experience
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Speaker 1: of each on which such opinions were based valuable to
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Speaker 1: the other. To Missus Gibson, although the bond between them
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Speaker 1: counted for very little in their intercourse, mister Kirkpatrick paid
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Speaker 1: very polite attention and was in fact very glad that
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Speaker 1: she had done so well for herself as to marry
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Speaker 1: a sensible and agreeable man who was able to keep
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Speaker 1: her in comfort and to behave to her daughter in
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Speaker 1: so liberal a manner. Molly struck him as a delicate
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Speaker 1: looking girl, who might be very pretty if she had
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Speaker 1: a greater look of health and animation. Indeed, looking at
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Speaker 1: her critically, there were beautiful points about her face, long
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Speaker 1: soft gray eyes, curling black eyelashes, rarely showing dimples, perfect tea.
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Speaker 1: But there was a languor over all, a slow depression
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Speaker 1: of manner, which contrasted unfavorably with the brightly colored Cynthia, sparkling, quick, graceful,
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Speaker 1: and witty. As mister Kirkpatrick expressed it afterwards to his.
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Speaker 5: Wife, he was quite in love with that girl.
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Speaker 1: And Cynthia, as ready to captivate strangers as any little
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Speaker 1: girl of three or four, rose to the occasion, forgot
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Speaker 1: all her cares and despondencies, remembered no longer her regret
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Speaker 1: at having lost something of mister Gibson's good opinion, and
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Speaker 1: listened eagerly and made soft replies intermixed with naive sallies
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Speaker 1: of droll humor, till mister Kirkpatrick was quite captivated.
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Speaker 5: He left Hollingford or surprised to have performed a duty
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Speaker 5: and found it a pleasure. For missus Gibson and Molly,
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Speaker 5: he had a general friendly feeling, but he did not
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Speaker 5: care if he ever saw them again, while for mister
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Speaker 5: Gibson he had a warm respect, a strong personal liking,
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Speaker 5: which he should be glad to have ripened into a
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Speaker 5: friendship if there was time for it in this bustling world.
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Speaker 5: And he fully resolved to see more of Cynthia. His
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Speaker 5: wife must know her, they must have her up to
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Speaker 5: stay with them in London and show her something of
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Speaker 5: the world.
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Speaker 1: But on returning home mister Kirkpatrick found so much work
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Speaker 1: awaiting him that he had to lock up embryo friendships
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Speaker 1: and kindly plans in some safe closet of his mind,
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Speaker 1: and give himself up, body and soul to the immediate
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Speaker 1: work of his profession. But in May he found time
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Speaker 1: to take his wife to the Academy exhibition, and some
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Speaker 1: portrait there striking him as being like Cynthia. He told
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Speaker 1: his wife more about her and his visit to Hollingford
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Speaker 1: than he had ever had leisure to do before. And
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Speaker 1: the result was that on the next day a letter
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Speaker 1: was sent off to Missus Gibson, inviting Cynthia to pay
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Speaker 1: a visit to her cousins in London, and reminding her
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Speaker 1: of many little circumstances that had occurred when she was
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Speaker 1: with them as a child, so as to carry on
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Speaker 1: the clue of friendship from that time to the present.
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Speaker 1: On its receipt, this letter was greeted in various ways
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Speaker 1: by the four people who sat around the breakfast table.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson read it to herself first, then without telling
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Speaker 1: what its contents were, so that her auditors were quite
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Speaker 1: in the dark as to what her remarks applied.
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Speaker 6: She said, I think they might have remembered that I
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Speaker 6: am a generation nearer to them than she is. But
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Speaker 6: nobody thinks of family affection nowadays. And I liked him
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Speaker 6: so much, and bought a new cookery book, all to
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Speaker 6: make it pleasant and agreeable, and what he was used to.
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Speaker 1: She said all this in a plaintive, aggrieved tone of voice.
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Speaker 1: But as no one knew to what she was referring,
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Speaker 1: it was difficult to offer her consolation. Her husband was
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Speaker 1: the first to speak, if you.
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Speaker 7: Want us to sympathize with you. Tell us what is
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Speaker 7: the nature of your woe?
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Speaker 6: Why I dare say it's what he means as a
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Speaker 6: very kind attention. Only I think I ought to have
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Speaker 6: been asked before, Cynthia.
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Speaker 1: Said, she reading the letter over again.
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Speaker 7: Who's he? And what's meant for a kind attention?
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Speaker 6: Mister Kirkpatrick? To be sure this letter is from him?
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Speaker 6: And he wants Cynthia to go and pay them a visit,
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Speaker 6: and never says anything about you or me, my dear,
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Speaker 6: And I'm sure we did our best to make it pleasant,
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Speaker 6: and he should have asked us first, I.
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Speaker 7: Think, as I couldn't possibly have gone, it makes very
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Speaker 7: little difference to me.
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Speaker 6: But I could have gone, and at any rate, he
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Speaker 6: should have paid us the compliment. It's only a proper
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Speaker 6: mark of respect, you know. So ungrateful too when I
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Speaker 6: gave up my dressing room on purpose.
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Speaker 7: For him, and I dressed for dinner every day he
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Speaker 7: was here. If we are each to recapitulate all our
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Speaker 7: sacrifices on his behalf. But for all that I didn't
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Speaker 7: expect to be invited to his house, I shall be
19:47
Speaker 7: only too glad if he will come again to mine.
19:50
Speaker 6: I've a great mind not to let Cynthia go.
19:53
Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson reflectively. I can't go, mamma, said Cynthia, coloring.
19:59
Speaker 8: My yours are also shabby, and my old bonnet must
20:02
Speaker 8: do for the summer.
20:04
Speaker 6: Well, but you can buy a new one, and I'm
20:06
Speaker 6: sure it is high time you should get yourself another
20:08
Speaker 6: silk gown. You must have been saving up a great
20:10
Speaker 6: deal for I don't know when you've had any new clothes.
20:14
Speaker 1: Cynthia began to say something, but stopped short. She went
20:18
Speaker 1: on buttering her toast, but she held it in her
20:20
Speaker 1: hand without eating it, without looking up either as After
20:24
Speaker 1: a minute or two of silence, she spoke again.
20:27
Speaker 8: I cannot go. I should like it very much, but
20:29
Speaker 8: I really cannot go. Please, Mamma, write at once and
20:32
Speaker 8: refuse it.
20:34
Speaker 6: Nonsense, child. When a man in mister Kirkpatrick's position comes
20:37
Speaker 6: forward to offer a favor, it does not do to
20:39
Speaker 6: decline it without giving a sufficient reason. So kind of
20:42
Speaker 6: him as it is too.
20:43
Speaker 8: Suppose you offer to go instead of me.
20:46
Speaker 1: Proposed Cynthia.
20:48
Speaker 7: No, no, that won't do.
20:51
Speaker 1: Said mister Gibson. Decidedly.
20:53
Speaker 7: You can't transfer invitations in that way. But really, this
20:57
Speaker 7: excuse about your clothes does appear to be very trivial, Cynthia.
21:00
Speaker 7: If you have no other reason to.
21:02
Speaker 8: Give, it is a real true reason to.
21:05
Speaker 1: Me, said Cynthia, looking up at him as she spoke.
21:09
Speaker 8: You must let me judge for myself. It would not
21:11
Speaker 8: do to go there in a state of shabbiness, for
21:13
Speaker 8: even in Doughty Street. I remember my aunt was very
21:16
Speaker 8: particular about dress. And now that Margaret and Helen are
21:19
Speaker 8: grown up and they visit so much, Pray don't say
21:22
Speaker 8: anything more about it, for I know it would not do.
21:25
Speaker 6: What have you done with all your money?
21:26
Speaker 1: I wonder, said missus Gibson.
21:30
Speaker 6: You've twenty pounds a yeah, thanks to mister Gibson and me,
21:32
Speaker 6: and I'm sure you haven't spent more than ten.
21:35
Speaker 8: I hadn't many things when I came back from.
21:37
Speaker 1: France, said Cynthia, in a low voice, and evidently troubled
21:41
Speaker 1: by all this questioning.
21:43
Speaker 8: Pray, let it be decided at once. I can't go,
21:45
Speaker 8: and there's an end of it.
21:47
Speaker 1: She got up and left the room rather suddenly. I
21:50
Speaker 1: don't understand it at all, said missus Gibson. Do you
21:54
Speaker 1: Molly No? I know she doesn't like spending money on
21:59
Speaker 1: her dress, and is very careful. Molly said this much,
22:03
Speaker 1: and then was afraid she had made mischief.
22:05
Speaker 6: But then she must have got the money somewhere. It
22:08
Speaker 6: always has struck me that if you have not extravagant
22:10
Speaker 6: habits and do not live up to your income, you
22:12
Speaker 6: must have a certain sum to lay by at the
22:14
Speaker 6: end of the year. Have I not often, said sir
22:16
Speaker 6: mister Gibson.
22:18
Speaker 7: Probably, well, then apply.
22:20
Speaker 6: The same reasoning to Cynthia's case. And then I ask
22:23
Speaker 6: what has become of the money?
22:24
Speaker 1: I cannot tell, said Molly. Seeing that she was appealed to,
22:29
Speaker 1: she may have given it away to someone who wants it.
22:32
Speaker 1: Mister Gibson put down his newspaper.
22:34
Speaker 7: It's very clear that she has neither got the dress
22:37
Speaker 7: nor the money necessary for this London visit, and that
22:40
Speaker 7: she doesn't want any more inquiries to be made on
22:43
Speaker 7: the subject. She likes mysteries, in fact, and I detest them. Still.
22:47
Speaker 7: I think it's a desirable thing for her to keep
22:49
Speaker 7: up the acquaintance or friendship or whatever it is to
22:52
Speaker 7: be called with her father's family. And I shall gladly
22:55
Speaker 7: give her ten pounds. And if that's not enough, why
22:57
Speaker 7: either you must help her out, or she must do
22:59
Speaker 7: it without some superfluous article of dress or another.
23:03
Speaker 6: I'm sure there never was such a kind, dear, generous
23:06
Speaker 6: man as you are, mister Gibson, said his wife, to
23:10
Speaker 6: think of your being a stepfather and so good to
23:13
Speaker 6: my poor fatherless girl. But Molly, my dear, I think
23:16
Speaker 6: you'll acknowledge that you two are very fortunate in your stepmother,
23:20
Speaker 6: are not you? Love? And what happy tete a tetes
23:23
Speaker 6: we shall have together when Cynthia goes to London. I'm
23:26
Speaker 6: not sure if I don't get on better with you
23:28
Speaker 6: even than with her, though she is my own child.
23:31
Speaker 6: For as dear Papa says, so truly, there is a
23:33
Speaker 6: love of mystery about her. And if I hate anything,
23:36
Speaker 6: it is the slightest concealment, or reserve ten pounds, why
23:40
Speaker 6: it will quite set her up. Buy her a couple
23:42
Speaker 6: of new gowns and a new bonnet, and I don't
23:45
Speaker 6: know what all, dear mister Gibson, how very generous.
23:48
Speaker 1: You are, something very like pshaw was growled out from
23:54
Speaker 1: behind the newspaper. May I go and tell her, said Molly, rising.
23:58
Speaker 6: Up, Yes, do love, tell her? It would be so
24:01
Speaker 6: ungrateful to refuse, and tell her that your father wishes
24:04
Speaker 6: her to go, and tell her too that it would
24:06
Speaker 6: be quite wrong not to avail herself of an opening
24:08
Speaker 6: which may by and by be extended to the rest
24:10
Speaker 6: of the family. I am sure if they ask me,
24:13
Speaker 6: which certainly they ought to do, I won't say before
24:15
Speaker 6: they asked Cynthia, because I never think of myself, and
24:18
Speaker 6: are really the most forgiving person in the world, and
24:20
Speaker 6: forgiving slights. But when they do ask me, which they
24:23
Speaker 6: are sure to do, I shall never be content till
24:25
Speaker 6: by putting in a little hint here and a little
24:27
Speaker 6: hint there, I've induced them to send to you an
24:29
Speaker 6: invitation a month or two in London would do you
24:32
Speaker 6: so much good, Molly.
24:34
Speaker 1: Molly had left the room before this speech was ended,
24:37
Speaker 1: and mister Gibson was occupied with his newspaper, But Missus
24:41
Speaker 1: Gibson finished it to herself, very much to her own satisfaction,
24:45
Speaker 1: for after all.
24:46
Speaker 6: It was better to have some one of the family
24:48
Speaker 6: going on the visit, though she might not be the
24:50
Speaker 6: right person, than to refuse it altogether and never to
24:53
Speaker 6: have the opportunity of saying anything about it. As mister
24:56
Speaker 6: Gibson was so kind to Cynthia, she too would be
24:58
Speaker 6: kind to Molly, and dress her becomingly, and invite young men.
25:01
Speaker 1: To the house, do all the things, in fact, which
25:05
Speaker 1: Molly and her father did not want to have done,
25:08
Speaker 1: and throw the old stumbling blocks in the way of
25:10
Speaker 1: their unrestrained intercourse, which was the one thing they desired
25:13
Speaker 1: to have free and open, and without the constant dread
25:17
Speaker 1: of her jealousy. End of Chapter thirty eight.