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022 - The Half-Sisters · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty
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Speaker 1: one the Half Sisters. It appeared as if Missus Gibson's
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Speaker 1: predictions were likely to be verified, for Osborne Hamley found
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Speaker 1: his way to her drawing room pretty frequently. To be sure,
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Speaker 1: sometimes prophets can help on the fulfillment of their own prophecies,
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Speaker 1: and Missus Gibson was not passive. Molly was altogether puzzled
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Speaker 1: by his manners and ways. He spoke of occasional absences
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Speaker 1: from the hall without saying exactly where he had been.
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Speaker 1: But that was not her idea of the conduct of
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Speaker 1: a married man, who she imagined ought to have a
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Speaker 1: house and servants, and pay rent and taxes, and live
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Speaker 1: with his wife, who this mysterious wife might be faded
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Speaker 1: into insignificance before the wonder of where she was. London, Cambridge, Dover, nay,
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Speaker 1: even France were mentioned by him as places to which
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Speaker 1: he had been on these different little journeys. These facts
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Speaker 1: came out quite casually, almost as if he were unaware
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Speaker 1: of what he was betraying. Sometimes he dropped out such
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Speaker 1: sentences as these.
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Speaker 2: Ah that would be the day I was crossing was stormy. Indeed,
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Speaker 2: instead of our being only two hours, we were nearly five.
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Speaker 2: Or I met Lord Hollingford a deuver last week, and
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Speaker 2: he said, et cetera, cold now as nothing to what
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Speaker 2: it was in London on Thursday. The thermometer was down
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Speaker 2: at fifteen degrees.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps in the rapid flow of conversation, these small revelations
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Speaker 1: were noticed by no one but Molly, whose interest and
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Speaker 1: curiosity were always hovering over the secret she had become
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Speaker 1: possessed of. In spite of all her self reproach for
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Speaker 1: allowing her thoughts to dwell on what was still to
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Speaker 1: be kept as a mystery. It was also evident to
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Speaker 1: her that Osborne was not too happy at home. He
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Speaker 1: had lost the slight touch of cynicism which he had
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Speaker 1: effected when he was expected to do wonders at college,
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Speaker 1: and that was one good result of his failure. If
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Speaker 1: he did not give himself the trouble of appreciating other
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Speaker 1: people and their performances, at any rate, his conversation was
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Speaker 1: not so amply sprinkled with critical pepper. He was more absent,
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Speaker 1: not so agreeable. Missus Gibson thought but did not say
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Speaker 1: he looked ill in health. But that might be the
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Speaker 1: consequence of the real depression of spirits, which Molly occasionally
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Speaker 1: saw peeping out through all his pleasant surface talk. Now
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Speaker 1: and then, when he was talking directly to her, he
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Speaker 1: referred to the.
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Speaker 2: Happy days that are gone, or to the time when
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Speaker 2: my mother was.
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Speaker 1: Alive, And then his voice sank, and a gloom came
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Speaker 1: over his countenance, and Molly longed to express her own
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Speaker 1: deep sympathy. He did not often mention his father, and
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Speaker 1: Molly thought she could read in his manner when he
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Speaker 1: did that something of the painful restraint she had noticed
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Speaker 1: when she was last at the hall still existed between them.
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Speaker 1: Nearly every particular she knew of the family interior she
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Speaker 1: had heard from Missus Hamley, and she was uncertain how
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Speaker 1: far her father was acquainted with them, so she did
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Speaker 1: not like to question him too closely, Nor was he
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Speaker 1: a man to be so questioned as to the domestic
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Speaker 1: affairs of his paper. Sometimes she wondered if it was
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Speaker 1: a dream that short half hour in the library at
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Speaker 1: Hamley Hall, when she had learnt a fact which seemed
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Speaker 1: so all important to Osborne, yet which made so little
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Speaker 1: difference to his way of life, either in speech or action.
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Speaker 1: During the twelve or fourteen hours that she had remained
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Speaker 1: at the hole. Afterwards, no further allusion had been made
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Speaker 1: to his marriage, either by himself or by Roger. It
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Speaker 1: was indeed very like a dream. Probably Molly would have
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Speaker 1: been rendered much more uncomfortable in the possession of her
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Speaker 1: secret if Osborne had struck her as particularly attentive in
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Speaker 1: his devotion to Cynthia. She evidently amused and attracted him,
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Speaker 1: but not in any lively or passionate kind of way.
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Speaker 1: He admired her beauty and seemed to feel her charm,
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Speaker 1: but he would leave her side and come to sit
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Speaker 1: near Molly if anything reminded him of his mother, about
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Speaker 1: which she could talk to her and to her alone.
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Speaker 1: Yet he came so often to the Gibsons that missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson might be excused for the fancy she had taken
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Speaker 1: into her head. That it was for Cynthia's sake. He
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Speaker 1: liked the lounge, the friendliness, the company of two intelligent girls,
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Speaker 1: of beauty and manners above the average, one of whom
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Speaker 1: stood in a peculiar relation to him, as having been
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Speaker 1: especially beloved by the mother whose memory he cherished so fondly,
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Speaker 1: Knowing himself to be out of the category of bachelors,
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Speaker 1: he was perhaps too indifferent as to other people's ignorance
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Speaker 1: and its possible consequences. Somehow, Molly did not like to
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Speaker 1: be the first to introduce Roger's name into the conversation,
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Speaker 1: so she lost many an opportunity of hearing intelligence about him.
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Speaker 1: Osborne was often so languid or so absent that he
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Speaker 1: only followed the lead of talk, and as an awkward
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Speaker 1: fellow who had paid her no particular attention, and as
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Speaker 1: a second son, Roger was not pre eminent in Missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson's thoughts. Cynthia had never seen him, and the freak
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Speaker 1: did not take her often to speak about him. He
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Speaker 1: had not come home since he had obtained his high
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Speaker 1: place in the mathematical lists. That Molly knew, and she
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Speaker 1: knew too that he was working hard for something she
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Speaker 1: supposed a fellowship, and that was all. Osborne's tone in
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Speaker 1: speaking of him was always the same. Every word, every
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Speaker 1: inflection of the voice breathed out affection and respect, nay
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Speaker 1: even admiration, And this from the nil admirari brother who
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Speaker 1: seldom carried his exertions so far, Ah Roger, he said
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Speaker 1: one day, Molly caught the name in an instant, though
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Speaker 1: she had not heard what had gone before.
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Speaker 2: He is a fellow in a thousand a thousand. Indeed,
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Speaker 2: don't believe there is his match anywhere for goodness and
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Speaker 2: real solid power combined, Molly.
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Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, after mister Osborne Hamley had gone.
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Speaker 3: What sort of a man is this Roger Hamley? One
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Speaker 3: can't tell how much to believe of his brother's praises,
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Speaker 3: for it is the one subject in which Osborne Hamley
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Speaker 3: becomes enthusiastic. I've noticed it once or twice before.
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Speaker 1: While Molly hesitated on which point of the large round
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Speaker 1: to begin her description, Missus Gibson struck in.
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Speaker 4: It just shows what a sweet disposition Osborne Hamley is
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Speaker 4: of that he should praise his brother as he does.
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Speaker 4: I dare say he is a senior wrangler, and much
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Speaker 4: good it may do him. I don't deny that. But
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Speaker 4: as for conversation, he is as heavy as heavy can be,
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Speaker 4: a great awkward fellow to boot, who looks as if
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Speaker 4: he did not know two and two made four. For all,
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Speaker 4: he is such a mathematical genius. You would hardly believe
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Speaker 4: he was Osborne Hamley's brother to see him. I should
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Speaker 4: not think he has a profile at all.
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Speaker 1: What do you think of him, Molly, said the persevering Cynthia.
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Speaker 1: I like him, said Molly. He has been very kind
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Speaker 1: to me. I know he isn't handsome like Osborne. It
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Speaker 1: was rather difficult to say all this quietly, but Molly
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Speaker 1: managed to do it, quite aware that Cynthia would not
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Speaker 1: rest till she had extracted some kind of an opinion
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Speaker 1: out of her.
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Speaker 3: I suppose he will come home at Easter, said Cynthia,
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Speaker 3: and then I shall see him for myself.
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Speaker 4: It's a great pity that their being in mourning will
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Speaker 4: prevent their going to the Easter charity.
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Speaker 1: Ball, said missus Gibson plaintively.
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Speaker 4: I shan't like to take you two girls. If you
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Speaker 4: are not to have any partners, it will put me
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Speaker 4: into such an awkward position. I wish we could join
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Speaker 4: on to the Towers party that would secure you partners,
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Speaker 4: for they always bring a number of dancing men who
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Speaker 4: might dance with you after they had done their duty
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Speaker 4: by the ladies of the house. But really everything is
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Speaker 4: so changed since dear Lady cumnor has been an invalid,
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Speaker 4: that perhaps they won't go at all.
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Speaker 1: This Easter Ball was a great subject of conversation with
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Speaker 1: missus Gibson. She sometimes spoke of it as her first
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Speaker 1: appearance in society as a bride, though she had been
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Speaker 1: visiting once or twice a week all winter long. Then
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Speaker 1: she shifted her ground and said that she felt so
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Speaker 1: much interest in it because she would then have the
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Speaker 1: responsibility of introducing both her own and mister Gibson's daughter
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Speaker 1: to public notice. Though the fact was that pretty nearly
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Speaker 1: every one who was going to this ball had seen
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Speaker 1: the two young ladies, though not their ball dressers before,
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Speaker 1: but aping the manners of the aristocracy as far as
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Speaker 1: she knew them. She intended to bring out Molly and
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Speaker 1: Cynthia on this occasion, which she regarded in something of
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Speaker 1: the light of a presentation at court.
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Speaker 4: They are not out yet.
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Speaker 1: Was her favorite excuse when either of them was invited
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Speaker 1: to any house to which she did not wish them
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Speaker 1: to go, or they were invited without her. She even
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Speaker 1: made a difficulty about their not being out when Miss Browning,
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Speaker 1: that old friend of the Gibson family, came one morning
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Speaker 1: to ask the two girls to come to a friendly
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Speaker 1: tea and a round game afterwards, this mild piece of
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Speaker 1: gaiety being designed as an attention to three of missus
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Speaker 1: Goodenough's grandchildren, two young ladies and their schoolboy brother, who
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Speaker 1: was staying on a visit to their Grandmamma.
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Speaker 4: You are very kind, Miss Browning, but you see, I
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Speaker 4: hardly like to let them go. They are not out,
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Speaker 4: you know, till after the easter ball, till when we.
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Speaker 1: Are invisible, said Cynthia, always ready with her mockery to
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Speaker 1: exaggerate any pretension of her mother's.
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Speaker 3: We are so high in rank that our sovereign must
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Speaker 3: give us our sanction before we can play a round
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Speaker 3: game at your house.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia enjoyed the idea of her own full grown size
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Speaker 1: and stately gait as contrasted with that of a meek,
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Speaker 1: half fledged girl in the nursery. But Miss Browning was
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Speaker 1: half puzzled and half affronted.
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Speaker 5: I don't understand it at all. In my day, girls
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Speaker 5: went wherever it pleased people to ask them, without this
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Speaker 5: far so bursting out in all their new fine clothes
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Speaker 5: at some public place. I don't mean, but what the
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Speaker 5: gentry took their daughters to York or Matlock or Bath
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Speaker 5: to give them a taste of gay society. And they
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Speaker 5: were growing up, and the quality went up to London
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Speaker 5: and their young ladies were presented to Queen Charlotte and
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Speaker 5: went to a birthday ball. Perhaps, but for us little
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Speaker 5: Hollingford people, why we knew every child amongst us from
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Speaker 5: the day of its birth. And many a girl of
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Speaker 5: twelve or fourteen have I seen go out to a
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Speaker 5: card party and sit quiet at her work, and know
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Speaker 5: how to behave as well as any lady there. There
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Speaker 5: was no talk of coming out in those days for
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Speaker 5: anyone under the daughter of a squire.
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Speaker 3: After Easter, Molly and I shall know how to behave
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Speaker 3: at a card party.
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Speaker 1: But not before, said Cynthia demurely.
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Speaker 5: You're always fond of your quips and your cranks.
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Speaker 1: My dear, said Miss Browning, and I.
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Speaker 5: Wouldn't quite answer for your behavior. You sometimes let your
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Speaker 5: spirits carry you away. So I'm quite sure Molly will
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Speaker 5: be a little lady as she always is and always
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Speaker 5: wi and I have known her from a babe.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson took up arms on behalf of her own daughter,
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Speaker 1: or rather she took up arms against Molly's praises.
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Speaker 4: I don't think you would have called Molly a lady
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Speaker 4: the other day, Miss Browning, if you had found her
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Speaker 4: where I did, sitting up in a cherry tree six
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Speaker 4: feet from the ground. At least, I do assure you.
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Speaker 5: Oh but that wasn't pretty.
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Browning, shaking her head at Molly.
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Speaker 5: I thought you'd left off those tomboy ways.
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Speaker 4: She wants the refinement which good society gives in several ways.
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Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, returning to the attack on poor Molly.
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Speaker 4: She's very apt to come upstairs two steps at a time.
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Speaker 1: Only two, Molly, said Cynthia.
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Speaker 3: Why to day I found I could manage four of
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Speaker 3: those broad, shallow steps.
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Speaker 4: My dear child, what are you saying?
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Speaker 3: Only confessing that I, like Molly, want the refinements which
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Speaker 3: good society gives. Therefore, pollyase, do let us go to
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Speaker 3: Miss Browning's this evening. I will pledge myself for Molly
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Speaker 3: that she shan't set in a cherry tree, and Molly
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Speaker 3: shall see that I don't go upstairs in an unlady
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Speaker 3: like way. I will go upstairs as meekly as if
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Speaker 3: I were a come out young lady. And had been
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Speaker 3: to the Easter Ball.
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Speaker 1: So it was agreed that they should go. If mister
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Speaker 1: Osborne Hamley had been named as one of the probable visitors,
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Speaker 1: there would have been none of this difficulty about the affair.
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Speaker 1: But though he was not there, his brother Roger was.
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Speaker 1: Molly saw him in a minute when she entered the
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Speaker 1: little drawing room, but Cynthia did not. And see my DearS,
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Speaker 1: said Miss Phoebe Browning, turning them round to the side
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Speaker 1: where Roger stood waiting for his turn of speaking to Molly.
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Speaker 6: We've got a gentleman for you, after all, wasn't it fortunate?
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Speaker 6: Just as sister said that you might find it dull
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Speaker 6: you Cynthia, she meant, because you know you come from France. Then,
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Speaker 6: just as if he had been sent from heaven, mister
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Speaker 6: Roger came in to call. And I won't say we
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Speaker 6: laid violent hands on him, because he was too good
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Speaker 6: for that, but really we should have been near it
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Speaker 6: if he had not stayed of his own accord.
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Speaker 1: The moment Roger had done his cordial greeting to Molly,
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Speaker 1: he asked her to introduce him to Cynthia.
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Speaker 7: I want to know her, your new sister.
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Speaker 1: He added with the kind smile Molly remembered so well
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Speaker 1: from the very first day she had seen it directed
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Speaker 1: towards her as she sat crying under the weeping ash.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia was standing a little behind Molly when Roger asked
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Speaker 1: for this introduction. She was generally dressed with careless grace. Molly,
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Speaker 1: who was delicate neatness itself, used sometimes to wonder how
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Speaker 1: Cynthia's tumble gowns, tossed away so untidily, had the art
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Speaker 1: of looking so well and falling in such graceful folds.
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Speaker 1: For instance, the pale lilac muslin gown she wore this
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Speaker 1: evening had been worn many times before and had looked
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Speaker 1: unfit to wear again till Cynthia put it on. Then
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Speaker 1: the limpness became softness, and the very creases took the
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Speaker 1: lines of beauty. Molly in a daintily clean pink muslin,
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Speaker 1: did not look half so elegantly dressed as Cynthia. The
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Speaker 1: grave eyes that the latter raised when she had to
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Speaker 1: be presented to Roger had a sort of childlike innocence
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Speaker 1: and wonder about them, which did not quite belong to
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Speaker 1: Cynthia's character. She put on her armor of magic that
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Speaker 1: evening involuntarily, as she always did, but on the other
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Speaker 1: side she could not help trying her power on strangers.
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Speaker 1: Molly had always felt that she should have a right
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Speaker 1: to a good long talk with Roger when she next
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Speaker 1: saw him, and that he would tell her, or she
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Speaker 1: should gather from him all the details she so longed
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Speaker 1: to hear about the Squire, about the hall, about Osborne.
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Speaker 1: About himself, he was just as cordial and friendly as
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Speaker 1: ever with her. If Cynthia had not been there, all
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Speaker 1: would have gone on as she had anticipated. But of
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Speaker 1: all the victims to Cynthia's charms, he fell most prone
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Speaker 1: and abject. Molly saw it all as she was sitting
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Speaker 1: next to Miss Phoebe at the tea table, acting right
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Speaker 1: hand and passing cake cream sugar with such busy assiduity
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Speaker 1: that every one besides herself thought that her mind as
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Speaker 1: well as her hands, was fully occupied. She tried to
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Speaker 1: talk to the two shy girls, as in virtue of
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Speaker 1: her two years seniority she thought herself bound to do,
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Speaker 1: and the consequence was she went upstairs with the twain,
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Speaker 1: clinging to her arms and will to swear an eternal friendship.
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Speaker 1: Nothing would satisfy them, but that she must sit between
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Speaker 1: them at bank done. And they were so desirous of
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Speaker 1: her advice the important point of fixing the price of
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Speaker 1: the counters, that she could not ever have joined in
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Speaker 1: the animated conversation going on between Roger and Cynthia. Or rather,
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Speaker 1: it would be more correct to say that Roger was
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Speaker 1: talking in a most animated manner to Cynthia, whose sweet
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Speaker 1: eyes were fixed upon his face with a look of
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Speaker 1: great interest in all he was saying. While it was
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Speaker 1: only now and then that she made her low replies.
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Speaker 1: Molly caught a few words occasionally in the intervals of business.
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Speaker 8: And my uncles we always give a silver threapence for
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Speaker 8: three dozen. You know our silver threepences, don't you, dear
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Speaker 8: Miss Gibson.
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Speaker 7: The three classes are published in the Senate House at
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Speaker 7: nine o'clock on the Friday morning. And you can't imagine.
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Speaker 8: I think it will be thought rather shabby to play
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Speaker 8: anything less than sixpence.
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Speaker 1: That gentlemen, this in a whisper.
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Speaker 8: Is it Cambridge? And you know they always play very
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Speaker 8: high there and sometime ruined themselves, But they, dear Miss Gibson.
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Speaker 7: Oh, on this occasion, the Master of Arts, who precedes
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Speaker 7: the candidates for honors when they go into the Senate
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Speaker 7: House is called the father of the college to which
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Speaker 7: he belongs. I think I mentioned that before, didn't I?
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Speaker 9: So?
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Speaker 1: Cynthia was hearing all about Cambridge and the very examination
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Speaker 1: about which Molly had felt such keen interest without having
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Speaker 1: ever been able to have her questions answered by a
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Speaker 1: competent person, and Roger, to whom she had always looked
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Speaker 1: as the final and most satisfactory answerer, was telling the
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Speaker 1: whole of what she wanted to know, and she could
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Speaker 1: not listen. It took all her patience to make up
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Speaker 1: little packets of counters and settle as the arbiter of
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Speaker 1: the game whether it would be better for the round
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Speaker 1: or the oblong counters to be reckoned as six. And
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Speaker 1: when all was done and everyone sat in their places
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Speaker 1: round the table, Roger and Cynthia had to be called
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Speaker 1: twice before they came. They stood up, it is true,
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Speaker 1: at the first sound of their names, but they did
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Speaker 1: not move. Roger went on talking, Cynthia listening till the
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Speaker 1: second call, when they hurried to the table and tried
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Speaker 1: to appear all on a sudden quite interested in the
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Speaker 1: great questions of the game, namely the price of three
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Speaker 1: dozen counters, and whether, all things considered, it would be
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Speaker 1: better to call the round counters or the oblong half
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Speaker 1: a dozen each. Miss Browning, drumming a pack of cards
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Speaker 1: on the table and quite ready to begin dealing, decided
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Speaker 1: the matter by saying.
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Speaker 5: Rounds are sixes and three dozen counters cost sixpence, Pay
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Speaker 5: up if you please, and let us begin at once.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia sat between Roger and William Orford, the young schoolboy
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Speaker 1: who bitterly resented on this occasion his sister's habit of
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Speaker 1: calling him Willie, as he thought it was this boyish
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Speaker 1: sobriquet which prevented Cynthia from attending as much to him
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Speaker 1: as to mister Roger Hamley. He also was charmed by
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Speaker 1: the charmer, who found leisure to give him one or
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Speaker 1: two of her sweet smiles. On his return home to
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Speaker 1: his Grandmamma's he gave out one or two. Very decided
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Speaker 1: and rather a rich gtional opinions, quite opposed as was
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Speaker 1: natural to his sisters. One was that, after.
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Speaker 8: All, a signior wrangler was no great shakes any man
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Speaker 8: might be when if he liked that there were a
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Speaker 8: lot of fellows that he knew who would be very
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Speaker 8: sorry to go for anything so slow.
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Speaker 1: Molly thought that the game would never end. She had
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Speaker 1: no particular turn for gambling in her and whatever her
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Speaker 1: card might be, she regularly put on two counters, indifferent
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Speaker 1: as to whether she won or lost. Cynthia, on the contrary,
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Speaker 1: staked high and was at one time very rich, but
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Speaker 1: ended by being in debt to Molly something like six shillings.
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Speaker 1: She had forgotten her purse, she said, and was obliged
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Speaker 1: to borrow from the more provident Molly, who was aware
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Speaker 1: that the round game of which Miss Browning had spoken
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Speaker 1: to her was likely to require money. If it was
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Speaker 1: not a very merry affair for all the individuals concerned,
17:50
Speaker 1: it was a very noisy one. On the whole. Molly
17:53
Speaker 1: thought it was going to last till midnight, but punctually,
17:56
Speaker 1: as the clock struck nine, the little maidservant staggered in
17:59
Speaker 1: under the weight of a tray loaded with sandwiches, cakes
18:02
Speaker 1: and jelly. This brought on a general move, and Roger,
18:06
Speaker 1: who appeared to have been on the watch for something
18:07
Speaker 1: of the kind, came and took a chair by Molly.
18:10
Speaker 7: I am so glad to see you again. It seems
18:13
Speaker 7: such a long time since Christmas.
18:16
Speaker 1: Said he, dropping his voice and not alluding more exactly
18:19
Speaker 1: to the day when she had left the hall. It
18:21
Speaker 1: is a long time, she replied. We are close to
18:24
Speaker 1: eastern now. I have so wanted to tell you how
18:27
Speaker 1: glad I was to hear about your honors at Cambridge.
18:29
Speaker 1: I once thought of sending you a message through your brother,
18:32
Speaker 1: but then I thought it might be making too much
18:34
Speaker 1: fuss because I know nothing of mathematics or of the
18:38
Speaker 1: value of a senior wranglership, and you were sure to
18:40
Speaker 1: have so many congratulations from people who did.
18:43
Speaker 8: Now.
18:43
Speaker 7: I miss yours, though, Molly said he kindly. But I
18:47
Speaker 7: felt sure you were glad for me.
18:49
Speaker 9: Glad and proud too, said she. I should so like
18:52
Speaker 9: to hear something more about it. I heard you telling.
18:55
Speaker 7: Cynthia, Yes, what a charming person she is. I should
19:00
Speaker 7: think you must be happier than we expected long ago.
19:03
Speaker 9: But tell me something about the seeny wranglership, please, said Molly.
19:07
Speaker 7: It's a long story, and I ought to be helping
19:10
Speaker 7: the miss Browns to hand sandwiches. Besides, you wouldn't find
19:14
Speaker 7: it very interesting. It's so full of technical details.
19:19
Speaker 9: Cynthia looked very much interested, said Molly.
19:22
Speaker 7: Well, then I refer you to her, for I must
19:26
Speaker 7: go now. I can't, for shame, go on sitting here
19:30
Speaker 7: and letting those good ladies have all the trouble. But
19:33
Speaker 7: I shall come and call on missus Gibson. Soon. Are
19:37
Speaker 7: you walking home to night?
19:38
Speaker 9: Yes?
19:39
Speaker 1: I think so, replied Molly, eagerly, foreseeing what was to come.
19:43
Speaker 7: Then I shall walk home with you. I left my
19:46
Speaker 7: horse at the George, and that's half way. I suppose
19:49
Speaker 7: old Betty will allow me to accompany you and your sister.
19:53
Speaker 7: You used to describe her as something of a dragon.
19:57
Speaker 9: Betty has left us, said Molly, sadly. She's gone to
20:00
Speaker 9: live at the place at Ashcombe. He made a face
20:03
Speaker 9: of dismay, and then went off to his duties. The
20:06
Speaker 9: short conversation had been very pleasant, and his manner had
20:09
Speaker 9: had just the brotherly kindness of old times. But it
20:12
Speaker 9: was not quite the manner he had to Cynthia, and
20:15
Speaker 9: Molly half thought she would have preferred the latter. He
20:18
Speaker 9: was now hovering about Cynthia, who had declined the offer
20:21
Speaker 9: of refreshments from Willie Orford. Roger was tempting her, and
20:25
Speaker 9: with playful entreaties urging her to take something from him.
20:29
Speaker 9: Every word they said could be heard by the whole room.
20:31
Speaker 9: Yet every word was said on Roger's part, at least
20:35
Speaker 9: as if he could not have spoken it in that
20:36
Speaker 9: peculiar manner to any one else at length, and rather
20:41
Speaker 9: more because she was weary of being entreated than because
20:43
Speaker 9: it was his wish. Cynthia took a macaroon, and Roger
20:47
Speaker 9: seemed as happy as though she had crowned him with flowers.
20:50
Speaker 9: The whole affair was as trifling and commonplace as could
20:53
Speaker 9: be in itself, hardly worth noticing. And yet Molly did
20:57
Speaker 9: notice it and felt uneasy. She could not tell why.
21:01
Speaker 9: As it turned out, it was a rainy night, and
21:04
Speaker 9: Missus Gibson sent a fly for the two girls instead
21:06
Speaker 9: of Old Betty's substitute. Both Cynthia and Molly thought of
21:10
Speaker 9: the possibility of their taking the two offored girls back
21:13
Speaker 9: to their grandmother's and so saving them a wet walk.
21:16
Speaker 9: But Cynthia got the start and speaking about it, and
21:19
Speaker 9: the thanks and the implied praise for thoughtfulness were hers.
21:22
Speaker 9: When they got home, mister and Missus Gibson were sitting
21:25
Speaker 9: in the drawing room, quite ready to be amused by
21:28
Speaker 9: any details of the evening. Cynthia began, Ah, it wasn't
21:32
Speaker 9: very entertaining. One didn't expect that.
21:35
Speaker 1: And she yawned wearily. Who were there, asked mister Gibson.
21:39
Speaker 10: Quite a young party, wasn't it.
21:40
Speaker 3: They'd only asked Lizzie and Fanny Orford and their brother.
21:43
Speaker 3: But mister Roger Hamley had ridden over and called on
21:46
Speaker 3: miss Brownings, and I kept him to tea. No one
21:48
Speaker 3: else Roger.
21:49
Speaker 1: Hamley there, said mister Gibson.
21:52
Speaker 10: He's come home. Then I must make time to ride
21:54
Speaker 10: over and see him.
21:55
Speaker 1: You'd much better ask him here, said missus Gibson.
21:58
Speaker 4: Suppose you invite him and his brother to dine here
22:00
Speaker 4: on Friday, my dear, it would be a very pretty attention.
22:03
Speaker 4: I think, my dear, these.
22:05
Speaker 10: Young Cambridge men have a very good taste in wine,
22:07
Speaker 10: and don't spare it. My cellar won't stand many of
22:10
Speaker 10: their attacks.
22:11
Speaker 4: I didn't think you were so inhospitable, mister Gibson.
22:14
Speaker 10: I'm not inhospitable. I'm sure if you'll put bitter beer
22:18
Speaker 10: in the corner of your notes of invitation, just as
22:21
Speaker 10: the smart people put quadrilles as a sign of the
22:24
Speaker 10: entertainment offered. We'll have Osborne and Roger to dinner any
22:28
Speaker 10: day you like. And what do you think of my favorite, Cynthia?
22:31
Speaker 10: You hadn't seen him before.
22:32
Speaker 3: I think, Oh, he's nothing like sir annesome as his brother,
22:36
Speaker 3: nor so polished, nor so easy to talk to. He
22:39
Speaker 3: entertained me for more than an hour with a long
22:40
Speaker 3: account of some examination or other. But there's something one
22:43
Speaker 3: likes about him.
22:44
Speaker 1: Well and Molly, said missus Gibson, who piqued herself on
22:48
Speaker 1: being an impartial stepmother and who always tried hard to
22:52
Speaker 1: make Molly talk as much as Cynthia.
22:54
Speaker 4: What sort of an evening have you had?
22:56
Speaker 9: Very pleasant?
22:57
Speaker 11: Thank you?
22:58
Speaker 1: Her heart a little belied her, as she said she
23:00
Speaker 1: had not cared for the round game, and she would
23:03
Speaker 1: have cared for Roger's conversation. She had had what she
23:06
Speaker 1: was indifferent to, and had not had what she would
23:09
Speaker 1: have liked.
23:10
Speaker 10: We've had our unexpected visitor, too, said mister Gibson, just
23:14
Speaker 10: after dinner. Who should come in? But mister Preston, I
23:18
Speaker 10: fancy he's having more of the management of the Hollingford
23:21
Speaker 10: property than formerly. Sheepshanks is getting an old man, and
23:26
Speaker 10: if so, I suspect we shall see a good deal
23:28
Speaker 10: of Preston. He's no blate, as they used to say
23:32
Speaker 10: in Scotland, and made himself quite at home to night.
23:36
Speaker 10: If I'd asked him to stay, or indeed, if I'd
23:39
Speaker 10: done anything but yawn, he'd have been here now. But
23:42
Speaker 10: I defy any man to stay when i've a fit
23:44
Speaker 10: of yawning.
23:45
Speaker 9: Do you like mister Preston, Papa, asked Molly, about as
23:49
Speaker 9: much as I do half the men I meet.
23:52
Speaker 10: He talks well and has seen a good deal. I
23:54
Speaker 10: know very little of him, though, except that he's my
23:57
Speaker 10: Lord's steward, which is a guarantee for a good deal.
24:01
Speaker 9: Lady Harriet spoke pretty strongly against him that day I
24:04
Speaker 9: was with her at the manor house.
24:05
Speaker 4: Lady Harriet's always full of fancies. She likes persons to
24:09
Speaker 4: day and dislikes them.
24:10
Speaker 1: To morrow, said missus Gibson, who was touched on her
24:13
Speaker 1: sow point. Whenever Molly quoted Lady Harriet or said anything
24:17
Speaker 1: to imply, ever so transitory and intimacy with her, you
24:21
Speaker 1: must know a.
24:21
Speaker 10: Good deal about mister Preston, my dear, I suppose you
24:25
Speaker 10: saw a good deal of him at Ashcombe.
24:27
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson colored and looked at Cynthia before she replied.
24:31
Speaker 1: Cynthia's face was set into a determination not to speak,
24:34
Speaker 1: however much she might be referred to.
24:36
Speaker 4: Yes, we saw a good deal of him at one time.
24:39
Speaker 4: I mean, he's changeable, I think, but he always sent
24:42
Speaker 4: us game and sometimes fruit. There were some stories against him,
24:45
Speaker 4: but I never believed them.
24:47
Speaker 1: What kind of stories, said mister Gibson quickly.
24:50
Speaker 4: Oh, vague stories, you know, scandal. I dare say no
24:54
Speaker 4: one ever believed them. He could be so agreeable if
24:57
Speaker 4: he chose, and my Lord, who was so very particular,
25:00
Speaker 4: would never have kept him as an agent if they
25:02
Speaker 4: were true, not that I ever knew what they were.
25:05
Speaker 4: For I consider all scandal as abominable gossip.
25:08
Speaker 10: I'm very glad I yawned in his.
25:09
Speaker 1: Face, said mister Gibson.
25:11
Speaker 10: I hope you'll take the hint.
25:13
Speaker 9: If it was one of your giant gapes, Papa, I
25:15
Speaker 9: should call it more than a hint, said Molly. And
25:18
Speaker 9: if you want a yarning chorus the next time it comes,
25:21
Speaker 9: I'll join in. Want you, Cynthia, I.
25:23
Speaker 1: Don't know, replied the latter shortly as she lighted her
25:27
Speaker 1: bed candle. The two girls had usually some nightly conversation
25:30
Speaker 1: in one or other of their bedrooms, but to night
25:33
Speaker 1: Cynthia said something or other about being terribly tired and
25:36
Speaker 1: hastily shut her door. The very next day Roger came
25:40
Speaker 1: to pay his promised call. Molly was out in the
25:43
Speaker 1: garden with Williams, planning the arrangement of some new flower beds,
25:46
Speaker 1: and deep in her employment of placing pigs upon the
25:49
Speaker 1: lawn to mark out the differing situations. When standing up
25:52
Speaker 1: to mark the effect, her eye was caught by the
25:55
Speaker 1: figure of a gentleman sitting with his back to the light,
25:58
Speaker 1: leaning forwards and talking or listening eagerly. Molly knew the
26:02
Speaker 1: shape of the head perfectly and hastily began to put
26:06
Speaker 1: off her brown Holland gardening apron, emptying the pockets as
26:09
Speaker 1: she spoke to Williams. You can finish it now, I think,
26:12
Speaker 1: said she. You know about the bright colored flowers being
26:15
Speaker 1: against the privet hedge, and where the new roast bread.
26:18
Speaker 5: Is to be.
26:18
Speaker 12: I cann't justly say as I do, said he. Maybe
26:22
Speaker 12: you'll just go over it all once again. Miss Molly
26:25
Speaker 12: I'm not as young as I once as to was,
26:27
Speaker 12: and my it is not so clear nowadays, and I'd
26:30
Speaker 12: be loath to make mistakes when you're so set upon
26:33
Speaker 12: your plans.
26:35
Speaker 1: Molly gave up her impulse in a moment. She saw
26:38
Speaker 1: that the old gardener was really perplexed, yet that he
26:41
Speaker 1: was as anxious as he could be to do his best.
26:44
Speaker 1: So she went over the ground again, pegging and explaining
26:47
Speaker 1: till the wrinkled brow was smooth again, and he kept saying.
26:50
Speaker 12: I see all right, miss Molly. I's got it in
26:54
Speaker 12: my head as clear as patch work now.
26:57
Speaker 1: So she could leave him and go in, But just
26:59
Speaker 1: as she was close to the garden door, Roger came out.
27:03
Speaker 1: It really was, for once a case of virtue its
27:05
Speaker 1: own reward, for it was far pleasanter to her to
27:08
Speaker 1: have him in a tete a tete. However, short than
27:11
Speaker 1: in the restraint of missus Gibson's and Cynthia's presence.
27:14
Speaker 7: I only just found out where you were, Molly. Missus
27:18
Speaker 7: Gibson said you had gone out, but she didn't know where.
27:21
Speaker 7: And it was the greatest chance that I turned round
27:24
Speaker 7: and saw you.
27:25
Speaker 9: I saw you some time ago, but I couldn't leave Williams.
27:29
Speaker 9: I think he was unusually slow to day. He seemed
27:31
Speaker 9: as if he couldn't understand my plants for the new
27:33
Speaker 9: flower beds.
27:35
Speaker 7: Is that the paper you've got in your hand? Let
27:38
Speaker 7: me look at it, will you? Ah? I see you've
27:42
Speaker 7: borrowed some of your ideas for our garden at home,
27:45
Speaker 7: haven't you. This bed of scarlet geraniums with the border
27:49
Speaker 7: of young oaks pegged down. That was a fancy of
27:53
Speaker 7: my dear mother's.
27:54
Speaker 1: They were both silent for a minute or two. Then
27:57
Speaker 1: Molly said, how is the Squire. I've never seen him since?
28:01
Speaker 2: No.
28:02
Speaker 7: He told me how much he wanted to see you,
28:05
Speaker 7: but he couldn't make up his mind to come and call.
28:08
Speaker 7: I suppose it would never do now for you to
28:11
Speaker 7: come and stay at the hall, would it? It would
28:13
Speaker 7: give my father so much pleasure. He looks upon you
28:17
Speaker 7: as a daughter, and I'm sure both Osborne and I
28:20
Speaker 7: shall always consider you like a sister to us, after
28:24
Speaker 7: all my mother's love for you and your tender care
28:27
Speaker 7: of her at last. But I suppose it wouldn't do.
28:31
Speaker 1: No, certainly not, said Molly hastily.
28:35
Speaker 7: I fancy if you could come it would put us
28:38
Speaker 7: a little to rights, you know, as I think I
28:41
Speaker 7: once told you, Osborne has behaved differently to what I
28:44
Speaker 7: should have done, though not wrongly, only what I call
28:49
Speaker 7: an error of judgment. But my father, I'm sure, has
28:53
Speaker 7: taken up some notion of never mind. Only the end
28:57
Speaker 7: of it is that he holds Osborne still tacit disgrace
29:01
Speaker 7: and is miserable himself all the time. Osborne, too, is
29:05
Speaker 7: sore and unhappy, and is strange from my father. It
29:10
Speaker 7: is just what my mother would have put right very soon,
29:13
Speaker 7: and perhaps you could have done it unconsciously. I mean,
29:17
Speaker 7: for this wretched mystery that Osborne preserves about his affairs
29:21
Speaker 7: is at the root of it all. But there's no
29:24
Speaker 7: use talking about it. I don't know why I began.
29:27
Speaker 1: Then with a wrench, changing the subject. While Molly still
29:30
Speaker 1: thought of what he had been telling her, he broke out.
29:33
Speaker 7: I can't tell you how much I like miss Kirkpatrick. Molly,
29:37
Speaker 7: it must be a great pleasure to you having such
29:39
Speaker 7: a companion.
29:40
Speaker 1: Yes, said Molly, half smiling.
29:43
Speaker 9: I'm very fond of her, and I think I like
29:45
Speaker 9: her better every day I know her. But how quickly
29:48
Speaker 9: you have found out her virtues?
29:50
Speaker 7: I didn't say virtues, did I asked?
29:53
Speaker 1: He reddening, but putting the question in all good faith.
29:57
Speaker 11: Yet I don't think one could be deceived that face.
30:01
Speaker 11: And Missus Gibson appears to be a friendly person. She
30:06
Speaker 11: has asked Osborne and me to dine here on Friday.
30:10
Speaker 1: Bitter beer came into Molly's mind, but what she said
30:13
Speaker 1: was and are you coming?
30:15
Speaker 7: Certainly I am unless my father wants me, And I've
30:19
Speaker 7: given Missus Gibson a conditional promise for Osborne too, So
30:22
Speaker 7: I shall see you all very soon again. But I
30:26
Speaker 7: must go now. I have to keep an appointment seven
30:29
Speaker 7: miles from here in half an hour's time. Good luck
30:33
Speaker 7: to your flower garden, Molly.
30:36
Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty one,