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051 - Cynthia At Bay · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter fifty of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter fifty Cynthia
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Speaker 1: at Bay. Missus Gibson was slow in recovering her strength
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Speaker 1: after the influenza, and before she was well enough to
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Speaker 1: accept Lady Harriet's invitation to the towers. Cynthia came home
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Speaker 1: from London. If Mollie had thought, her manner of departure
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Speaker 1: was scarcely as affectionate and considerate as it might have been.
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Speaker 1: If such a thought had crossed Molly's fancy for an instant,
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Speaker 1: she was repentant for it. As soon as ever. Cynthia returned,
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Speaker 1: and the girls met together face to face with all
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Speaker 1: the old familiar affection, going upstairs to the drawing room,
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Speaker 1: with their arms round each other's waists, and sitting there
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Speaker 1: together hand in hand. Cynthia's whole manner was more quiet
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Speaker 1: than it had been when the weight of her unpleasant
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Speaker 1: secret rested on her mind and made her alternately despondent
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Speaker 1: or flighty. After all, said Cynthia, there's.
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Speaker 2: A look of home about these rooms, which was very pleasant.
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Speaker 2: But I wish I could see you looking stronger. Mamma
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Speaker 2: that's the only unpleasant thing, Molly. Why didn't you send
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Speaker 2: for me?
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Speaker 1: I wanted to do, began Molly, but I wouldn't let her,
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Speaker 1: said missus Gibson.
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Speaker 3: You were much better in London than here, for you
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Speaker 3: could have done me no good, and your letters were
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Speaker 3: very agreeable to read. And now Helen is better and
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Speaker 3: I'm nearly well, and you've come home just at the
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Speaker 3: right time, for everybody is full of the charity ball.
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Speaker 1: But we are not going this year, Mamma, said Cynthia, decidedly.
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Speaker 2: It's on the twenty fifth, isn't it. And I'm sure
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Speaker 2: you'll never be well enough to take us.
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Speaker 3: You really seem determined to make me out worse than
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Speaker 3: I am, child.
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Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, rather querulously, she being one of those
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Speaker 1: who when their malady is only trifling exaggerated, but when
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Speaker 1: it is really of some consequence, or unwilling to sacrifice
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Speaker 1: any pleasures by acknowledging it. It was well for her
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Speaker 1: in this instance that her husband had wisdom and authority
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Speaker 1: enough to forbid her going to this ball on which
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Speaker 1: she had set her heart. But the consequence of his
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Speaker 1: prohibition was an increase of domestic plaintiveness and low spirits,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to tell on Cynthia, the bright, gay Cynthia herself,
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Speaker 1: and it was often hard work for Mollie to keep
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Speaker 1: up the spirits of two other people as well as
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Speaker 1: her own.
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Speaker 4: Ill health might account for Missus Gibson's despondency, But why
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Speaker 4: was Cynthia so silent? Not to say so?
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Speaker 1: Sighing, Mollie was puzzled to account for it, and all
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Speaker 1: the more perplexed because from time to time Cynthia kept
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Speaker 1: calling upon her for praise for some unknown and mysterious
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Speaker 1: virtue that she had practiced. And Molly was young enough
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Speaker 1: to believe that after any exercise of virtue, the spirits rose,
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Speaker 1: cheered up by an approving conscience. Such was not the
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Speaker 1: case with Cynthia, However, she sometimes said such things as
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Speaker 1: these when she had been particularly inert and desponding.
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Speaker 2: Ah, Molly, you must let my goodness lie fallow for
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Speaker 2: a while. It has borne such a wonderful crop this year.
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Speaker 2: I have been so pretty behaved if you knew all
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Speaker 2: or really, Molly, my virtue must come down from the clouds.
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Speaker 2: It was strained to the utmost in London, and I
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Speaker 2: find it is like a kite. After soaring aloft for
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Speaker 2: some time, it suddenly comes down and gets tangled in
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Speaker 2: all sorts of briars and brambles. Which things are an
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Speaker 2: allegory unless you can bring yourself to believe in my
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Speaker 2: extraordinary goodness while I was away, giving me a sort
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Speaker 2: of right to fall foul of all Mamma's briars and brambles.
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Speaker 1: Now, but Molly had had some experience of Cynthia's whim
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Speaker 1: of perpetually hinting at a mystery which she did not
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Speaker 1: mean to reveal in the Mister Preston days, And although
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Speaker 1: she was occasionally piqued into curiosity, Cynthia's allusions at something
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Speaker 1: more in the background fell in general on rather deaf ears.
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Speaker 1: One day the mystery burst its shell and came out
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Speaker 1: in the shape of an offer made to Cynthia by
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Speaker 1: mister Henderson, and refused. Under all the circumstances, Molly could
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Speaker 1: not appreciate the heroic goodness so often alluded to. The
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Speaker 1: revelation of the secret at last took place. In this way.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson breakfasted in bed, she had done so ever
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Speaker 1: since she had had the influenza, and consequently her own
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Speaker 1: private letters always went up on her breakfast tray. One morning,
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Speaker 1: she came into the drawing room earlier than usual with
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Speaker 1: an open letter in her hand.
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Speaker 3: I've had a letter from Aunt Kirkpatrick, Cynthia, She sends
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Speaker 3: me my dividends. Your uncle is so busy. But what
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Speaker 3: does she mean by this?
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Speaker 1: Cynthia holding out the letter to her with a certain
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Speaker 1: paragraph indicated by her finger. Cynthia put her netting on
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Speaker 1: one side and looked at the writing. Suddenly her face
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Speaker 1: turned scarlet and then became of a deadly white. She
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Speaker 1: looked at Molly as if to gain courage from the strong,
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Speaker 1: serene countenance.
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Speaker 2: It means, Mamma, I may as well tell you at
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Speaker 2: once mister Henderson offered to me while I was in London,
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Speaker 2: and I refused.
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Speaker 3: Him, refused him, and you never told me, But let
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Speaker 3: me hear it by chance. Really, Cynthia, I think you're
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Speaker 3: very unkind, and pray what made you refuse mister Henderson?
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Speaker 3: Such a fine young man and such a gentleman. Your
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Speaker 3: uncle told me he had a very good private fortune.
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Speaker 2: Besides, Mamma, do you forget that I have promised to
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Speaker 2: marry Roger Hamley.
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Speaker 1: Said Cynthia quietly.
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Speaker 3: No, of course, I don't. How can I with Molly
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Speaker 3: always dinning the word engagement in my ears? But really,
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Speaker 3: when one considers all the uncertainties, and after all, it
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Speaker 3: was not a distinct promise, he seemed almost as if
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Speaker 3: he might have looked forward to something of this sort.
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Speaker 1: Of what sort, mamma, said Cynthia sharply, why of a
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Speaker 1: more eligible offer?
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Speaker 3: He must have known you might change your mind and
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Speaker 3: beat with some one you liked better, so little as
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Speaker 3: you had seen of the world.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia made an impatient movement as if to stop her mother.
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Speaker 2: I never said I liked him better? How can you
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Speaker 2: talk so, mamma, I'm going to marry Roger, and there's
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Speaker 2: an end of it. I will not be spoken to
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Speaker 2: about it again.
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Speaker 1: She got up and left the room, going to marry Roger.
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Speaker 3: That's all very fine, but who is to guarantee his
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Speaker 3: coming back alive? And if he does, what have they
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Speaker 3: to marry upon? I should like to know. I don't
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Speaker 3: wish to have accepted mister Henderson, though I am sure
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Speaker 3: she liked him, and true love ought to have its
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Speaker 3: course and not be thwarted. But she need not have
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Speaker 3: quite finally refused him until well, until we had seen
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Speaker 3: how matters turn out such an invalid as I am too,
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Speaker 3: it has given me quite a palpitation at the heart.
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Speaker 3: I do call it quite unfeeling of Cynthia.
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Speaker 1: Certainly, began Molly, But then she remembered that her stepmother
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Speaker 1: was far from strong and unable to bear a protest
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Speaker 1: in favor of the right course without irritation. So she
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Speaker 1: changed her speech into a suggestion of remedies for palpitation,
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Speaker 1: and curbed her impatience to speak out her indignation at
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Speaker 1: the contemplated falsehood to Roger. But when they were alone
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Speaker 1: and Cynthia began upon the subject, Molly was less merciful.
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Speaker 2: Cynthia said, well, Molly, now you know all I'm belonging
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Speaker 2: to tell you, And yet somehow I could not.
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Speaker 4: I suppose it was the repetition of mister Cox, said
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Speaker 4: Molly gravely. You were agreeable, and he took it for
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Speaker 4: something more.
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Speaker 1: I don't know, sighed Cynthia.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if I was agreeable or not.
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Speaker 2: He was very kind, very pleasant, but I did not
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Speaker 2: expect it all to end as it did. However, it's
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Speaker 2: of no use thinking of it.
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Speaker 1: No, said Molly, simply, for to her mind, the pleasantest
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Speaker 1: and kindest person in the world, put in comparison with Roger,
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Speaker 1: was as nothing he stood by himself. Cynthia's next words,
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Speaker 1: and they did not come very soon, were on a
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Speaker 1: quite different subject, and spoken in a rather pettish tone.
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Speaker 1: Nor did she allude again in jesting sadness to her
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Speaker 1: late efforts at virtue. In a little while, Missus Gibson
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Speaker 1: was able to accept the oft repeated invitation from the
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Speaker 1: Towers to go and stay there for a day or two.
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Speaker 1: Lady Harriet told her that it would be.
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Speaker 5: A kindness to Lady Cumnor to come and bear her
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Speaker 5: company in the life of seclusion. The latter was still
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Speaker 5: compelled to lead.
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Speaker 1: And Missus Gibson was flattered and gratified, with a dim
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Speaker 1: unconscious sense of being really wanted, not merely deluding herself
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Speaker 1: into a pleasing fiction. Lady Cumnor was in that state
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Speaker 1: of convalescence common to many invalids. The spring of life
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Speaker 1: had begun again to flow, and with the flow returned
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Speaker 1: the old desires and projects and plans, which had all
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Speaker 1: become mere matters of indifference during the worst part of
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Speaker 1: her illness, but as yet her bodily strength was not
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Speaker 1: sufficient to be an agent to her energetic mind, and
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Speaker 1: the difficulty of driving the ill matched pair of body
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Speaker 1: and will, the one weak and languid, the other strong
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Speaker 1: and stern, made her Ladyship often very irritable. Missus Gibson
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Speaker 1: herself was not quite strong enough for suffre dulour, and
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Speaker 1: the visit to the towers was not, on the whole
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Speaker 1: quite so happy a one as she had anticipated. Lady
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Speaker 1: Cuxhaven and Lady Harriet, each aware of their mother's state
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Speaker 1: of health and temper, but only alluding to it as
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Speaker 1: slightly as was absolutely necessary in their conversations with each other,
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Speaker 1: took care not to leave Claire too long with Lady Cumnor,
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Speaker 1: But several times when one or the other went to
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Speaker 1: relieve guard, they found Claire in tears and Lady Cumnor
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Speaker 1: holding forth on some point on which she had been
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Speaker 1: meditating during the silent hours of her illness, and on
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Speaker 1: which she seemed to consider herself born to set the
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Speaker 1: world to rights. Missus Gibson was always apt to consider
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Speaker 1: these remarks as addressed with a person direction at some
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Speaker 1: error of her own, and defended the fault in question
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Speaker 1: with a sense of property in it, whatever it might
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Speaker 1: happen to be. The second and the last day of
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Speaker 1: her stay at the Towers, Lady Harriet came in and
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Speaker 1: found her mother haranguing in an excited tone of voice,
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Speaker 1: and Claire looking submissive and miserable and oppressed.
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Speaker 5: What's the matter, dear mamma, are you not tiring yourself
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Speaker 5: with talking?
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Speaker 6: No, not at all. I was only speaking of the
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Speaker 6: folly of people dressing above their station. I began by
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Speaker 6: telling Claire of the fashions of my grandmother's days, when
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Speaker 6: every class had a sort of costume of its own,
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Speaker 6: and servants did not ape tradespeople, nor tradespeople professional men,
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Speaker 6: and so on. And what must the foolish woman do
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Speaker 6: but begin to justify her own dress, as if I
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Speaker 6: had been accusing her, or even thinking about her at all.
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Speaker 6: Such non since, really, Claire, your husband has spoilt too. Sadly,
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Speaker 6: if you can't listen to anyone without thinking they are
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Speaker 6: alluding to you, people may flatter themselves just as much
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Speaker 6: by thinking that their faults are always present to other
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Speaker 6: people's minds, as if they believe that the world is
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Speaker 6: always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.
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Speaker 3: I was told Lady Cumnor that the silk was reduced
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Speaker 3: in price. I bought it at Waterloo House after the
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Speaker 3: season was over.
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Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, touching the very handsome gowns she wore,
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Speaker 1: in deprecation of Lady Cumnor's angry voice and blundering on
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Speaker 1: to the very source of irritation.
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Speaker 6: Again, Claire, how often must I tell you I had
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Speaker 6: no thought of you or your gowns, or whether they
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Speaker 6: cost much or little. Your husband has to pay for them,
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Speaker 6: and it is his concern if you spend more on
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Speaker 6: your dress than you ought to do.
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Speaker 3: It was only five guineas for the whole dress.
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Speaker 1: Pleaded Missus Gibson. And very pretty it is, said Lady Harriet,
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Speaker 1: stooping to examine it, and so hoping to soothe the
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Speaker 1: poor aggrieved woman. But Lady Cumnor went on, no, you.
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Speaker 6: Ought to have known me better by this time. When
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Speaker 6: I think a thing, I say it out. I don't
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Speaker 6: beat about the bush. I use straightforward language. I will
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Speaker 6: tell you where I think you have been in fault, Claire,
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Speaker 6: if you like to know.
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Speaker 1: Like it or not. The plain speaking was coming.
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Speaker 6: Now you have spoilt that girl of yours till she
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Speaker 6: does not know her own mind. She has behaved abominably
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Speaker 6: to mister Preston, and it is all in consequence of
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Speaker 6: the faults in her education. You have much to answer.
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Speaker 1: For, Mamma, Mamma, said Lady Harriet.
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Speaker 5: Mister Preston did not wish it spoken about.
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Speaker 1: And at the same moment Missus Gibson exclaimed.
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Speaker 3: Cynthia mister Preston.
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Speaker 1: In such a tone of surprise eyes that if Lady
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Speaker 1: Cumnor had been in the habit of observing the revelations
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Speaker 1: made by other people's tones and voices, she would have
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Speaker 1: found out that Missus Gibson was ignorant of the affair
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Speaker 1: to which she was alluding.
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Speaker 6: As for mister Preston's wishes, I do not suppose I
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Speaker 6: am bound to regard them when I feel it my
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Speaker 6: duty to reprove error.
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Speaker 1: Said Lady Cumnor loftily to Lady Harriet and Claire.
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Speaker 6: Do you mean to say that you are not aware
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Speaker 6: that your daughter has been engaged to mister Preston for
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Speaker 6: some time years I believe, and has at last chosen
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Speaker 6: to break it off and has used the Gibson girl,
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Speaker 6: I forget her name as a cat's paw, and made
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Speaker 6: both her and herself the town's talk. The But for
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Speaker 6: all the gossip of Hollingford, I remember when I was young,
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Speaker 6: there was a girl called Jilting Jessie. You all have
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Speaker 6: to watch over your young lady, or she will get
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Speaker 6: some such name. I speak to you like a friend, Claire,
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Speaker 6: when I tell you it's my opinion that girl of
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Speaker 6: yours will get herself into some more mischief yet before
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Speaker 6: she's safely married. Not that I care one straw for
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Speaker 6: mister Preston's feelings. I don't even know if he's got
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Speaker 6: feelings or not. But I know what is becoming in
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Speaker 6: a young woman, and Jilting is not. And now you
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Speaker 6: may both go away and send Bradley to me, for
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Speaker 6: I'm tired and want to have a little sleep.
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Speaker 3: Indeed, Lady Cumnor, will you believe me? I do not
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Speaker 3: think Cynthia was ever engaged to mister Preston. There was
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Speaker 3: an old flirtation. I was afraid ring the bell for Bradley.
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Speaker 1: Said Lady Cumnor, wearily, her eyes closed. Lady Harriet had
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Speaker 1: too much experience of her mother's moods not to lead
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Speaker 1: missus Gibson away by main force. She protesting all the
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Speaker 1: while that she.
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Speaker 3: She did not think there was any truth in the statement,
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Speaker 3: though it was dear Lady Cumnor that said it.
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Speaker 1: Once in her own room, Lady Harriet said.
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Speaker 5: Now, Clare, I'll tell you all about it, and I
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Speaker 5: think you'll have to believe it, for it was mister
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Speaker 5: Preston himself who told me. I heard of a great
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Speaker 5: commotion in Hollingford about mister Preston, and I met him
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Speaker 5: riding out and asked him what it was all about.
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Speaker 5: He didn't want to speak about it. Evidently no man does,
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Speaker 5: I suppose when he's been jilted. And he made both
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Speaker 5: Papa and me promise not to tell. But Papa did.
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Speaker 5: And that's what Mamma has for a foundation, you see,
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Speaker 5: a really good one.
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Speaker 3: But Cynthia is engaged to another man, she really is,
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Speaker 3: and another a very good match indeed, has just been
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Speaker 3: offering to her in London. Mister Preston is always at
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Speaker 3: the root of mischief.
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Speaker 5: Nay, I do think in this case it must be
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Speaker 5: that pretty miss Cynthia of yours who has drawn on
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Speaker 5: one man to be engaged to her not to say too,
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Speaker 5: and another to make her an offer. I can't endure
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Speaker 5: mister Preston, but I think it's rather hard to accuse
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Speaker 5: him of having called.
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Speaker 1: Up the rivals.
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Speaker 5: Who are I suppose the occasion of his being jilted.
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Speaker 3: I don't know. I always feel as if he owed
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Speaker 3: me a grudge, and men have so many ways of
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Speaker 3: being spiteful. You must acknowledge that he had not met you.
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Speaker 3: I should not have had dear Lady Cumnor so angry
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Speaker 3: with me.
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Speaker 5: She only wanted to warn you about Cynthia. Mamma always
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Speaker 5: has been very particular about her own daughters. She has
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Speaker 5: been very severe on the least approach to flirting, and
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Speaker 5: Mary will be like her.
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Speaker 3: But Cynthia will flirt and I can't help it. She
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Speaker 3: is not noisy or giggling. She is always a lady
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Speaker 3: that everybody must own. But she has a way of
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Speaker 3: attracting men. She must have inherited from me, I think.
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Speaker 1: And here she smiled faintly and would not have rejected
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Speaker 1: a confirmatory compliment, but none came.
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Speaker 3: However, I will speak to her. I will get to
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Speaker 3: the bottom of the whole affair. Pray, tell Lady Cumnor
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Speaker 3: that it has so fluttered me the way she spoke
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Speaker 3: about my dress and all, and it only cost five
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Speaker 3: guineas after all, produced from eight.
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Speaker 5: Well, never mind, now you are looking very much flushed,
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Speaker 5: quite feverish. I left you too long in Mamma's hot room.
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Speaker 5: But do you know she is so much pleased to
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Speaker 5: have you here?
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Speaker 1: And so Lady Cumnor really was. In spite of the
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Speaker 1: continual lectures which she gave Claire, and which poor missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson turned under as helplessly as the typical worm, still
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Speaker 1: it was something to have a countess to scold her,
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Speaker 1: and that pleasure would endure when the worry was past.
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Speaker 1: And then Lady Harriet petted her more than usual to
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Speaker 1: make up for what she had to go through in
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Speaker 1: the convalescence room, and Lady Cuxhaven talked sense to her
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Speaker 1: with dashes of science a deep thought intermixed which was
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Speaker 1: very flattering, although generally unintelligible, And Lord Cumnor, good natured,
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Speaker 1: good tempered, kind and liberal, was full of gratitude to
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Speaker 1: her for her kindness in coming to see Lady Cumnor,
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Speaker 1: and his gratitude took the tangible shape of a haunch
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Speaker 1: of venison, to say nothing of lesser game. When she
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Speaker 1: looked back upon her visit as she drove home in
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Speaker 1: the solitary grandeur of the Tower's carriage, there had been
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Speaker 1: but one great enduring rub, Lady Cumnor's crossness, and she
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Speaker 1: chose to consider Cynthia as the cause of that, instead
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Speaker 1: of seeing the truth which had been so often set
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Speaker 1: before her by the members of her ladyship's family, that
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Speaker 1: it took its origin in her state of health. Missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson did not exactly mean to visit this one discomfort
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Speaker 1: upon Cynthia, nor did she quite mean to upbraid her
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Speaker 1: daughter for conduct as yet unexplained, and which might have
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Speaker 1: some justification. But finding her quietly sitting in the drawing room,
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Speaker 1: she sat down despondingly in her own little easy chair,
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Speaker 1: and in reply to Cynthia's quick, pleasant greeting of.
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Speaker 2: Well, mamma, how are you? We didn't expect you so early.
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Speaker 2: Let me take off your bonnet and shawl.
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Speaker 1: She replied, dolefully.
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Speaker 3: It has not been such a happy visit that I
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Speaker 3: should wish to prolong it.
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Speaker 1: Her eyes were fixed on the carpet, and her face
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Speaker 1: was as irresponsive to the welcome offered as she could
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Speaker 1: make it. What has been the matter, asked Cynthia, in
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Speaker 1: all good faith?
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Speaker 3: You Cynthia, You I little thought when you were born
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Speaker 3: how I should have to bear to hear you spoken about.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia threw back her head and angry light came into
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Speaker 1: her eyes.
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Speaker 2: What business have they with me? How come there to
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Speaker 2: talk about me in any way?
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Speaker 3: Everybody is talking about you. It is no wonder they are.
19:35
Speaker 3: Lord Cumnor is sure to hear about everything always. You
19:38
Speaker 3: should take more care about what you do, Cynthia, if
19:40
Speaker 3: you don't like being talked about.
19:42
Speaker 2: Rather depends upon what people say.
19:44
Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, affecting a lightness which she did not feel,
19:48
Speaker 1: for she had a prevision of what was coming.
19:51
Speaker 3: Well, I don't like it at any rate. It is
19:54
Speaker 3: not pleasant to me to hear first of my daughter's
19:56
Speaker 3: misdoings from Lady Cumnor, and then to be lectured about
19:59
Speaker 3: her and her f ating and had jilting, as if
20:01
Speaker 3: I did anything to do with it. I can assure
20:04
Speaker 3: you it has quite spoilt my visit. No, don't touch
20:07
Speaker 3: my shawl. When I go to my room. I can
20:09
Speaker 3: take it myself.
20:10
Speaker 1: Cynthia was brought to bay and sat down, remaining with
20:14
Speaker 1: her mother, who kept sighing ostentatiously from time to time.
20:18
Speaker 2: Would you mind telling me what they said? If there
20:21
Speaker 2: are accusations brought against me, it is as well I
20:23
Speaker 2: should know what they are.
20:24
Speaker 1: Here's Molly, as the girl entered the room fresh from
20:28
Speaker 1: a morning's walk.
20:29
Speaker 2: Molly, Mamma has come back from the towers, and my
20:31
Speaker 2: Lord and my lady have been doing me the honor
20:33
Speaker 2: to talk over my crimes and misdemeanors. And I am
20:36
Speaker 2: asking Mamma what they have said. I don't set up
20:38
Speaker 2: for more virtue than other people, but I can't make
20:41
Speaker 2: out what an earl and a countess have to do
20:43
Speaker 2: with poor little me.
20:44
Speaker 1: It was not for your sake, said missus Gibson.
20:47
Speaker 3: It was for mine. They felt for me, for it
20:50
Speaker 3: is not pleasant to have one's child's name in everybody's mouth.
20:54
Speaker 2: As I said before, that depends upon how it is
20:57
Speaker 2: in everybody's mouth. If I were going to marry Lord Holly,
21:00
Speaker 2: I make no doubt every one would be talking about me.
21:03
Speaker 2: Neither you nor I should mind it in the least.
21:05
Speaker 3: But this is no marriage with Lord Hollingford, So it
21:08
Speaker 3: is nonsense to talk it as if it was. They say,
21:10
Speaker 3: you've gone and engaged yourself to mister Preston and now
21:13
Speaker 3: refuse to marry him, and they call that jilting.
21:16
Speaker 2: Do you wish me to marry him?
21:18
Speaker 1: Mamma asked Cynthia, her face in a flame, her eyes
21:21
Speaker 1: cast down. Molly stood by very hot, not fully understanding it,
21:27
Speaker 1: and only kept where she was by the hope of
21:29
Speaker 1: coming in as sweetener or peacemaker or helper of some kind. No,
21:35
Speaker 1: said missus Gibson, evidently discomfited by the question.
21:39
Speaker 3: Of course, I don't you have gone and entangled yourself
21:42
Speaker 3: with Roger Hamley, a very worthy young man, but nobody
21:46
Speaker 3: knows where he is and if he's alive or dead,
21:48
Speaker 3: and he is not a penny. If he is alive, I.
21:50
Speaker 2: Beg your pardon. I know that he has some fortune
21:53
Speaker 2: from his mother. It may not be much, but he
21:55
Speaker 2: is not penniless, and he is sure to earn fame
21:58
Speaker 2: in great reputation, and with it my will come.
22:00
Speaker 1: Said Cynthia.
22:02
Speaker 3: You've entangled yourself with him, and you've done something of
22:05
Speaker 3: the sort of mister Preston and got yourself into such
22:08
Speaker 3: an embrillio.
22:10
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson could not have said mess for the world,
22:14
Speaker 1: although the word was present to her mind.
22:17
Speaker 3: That when a really eligible person comes forward, handsome, agreeable
22:21
Speaker 3: and quite the gentleman, and a good private fortune into
22:24
Speaker 3: the bargain, you have to refuse him. You'll end as
22:27
Speaker 3: an old maid, Cynthia, and it will break my heart.
22:30
Speaker 2: I dare say I.
22:31
Speaker 1: Shall, said Cynthia quietly.
22:33
Speaker 2: I sometimes think I'm the kind of person of which
22:35
Speaker 2: old maids are made.
22:37
Speaker 1: She spoke seriously, and a little sadly. Missus Gibson began again.
22:42
Speaker 3: I don't want to know your secrets as long as
22:44
Speaker 3: they are secrets. But when all the town is talking
22:46
Speaker 3: about you, I think I ought to be told.
22:48
Speaker 2: But Mamma, I didn't know I was such a subject
22:51
Speaker 2: of conversation. And even now I can't make out how
22:54
Speaker 2: it has come about.
22:55
Speaker 3: No more can I. I only know that they say
22:57
Speaker 3: you've been engaged to mister Preston and ought to married him,
23:00
Speaker 3: and that I can't help it if you did not
23:02
Speaker 3: choose any more than I could have helped your refusing
23:04
Speaker 3: mister Henderson. And yet I am constantly blame for your misconduct.
23:09
Speaker 3: I think it's very hard.
23:10
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson began to cry. Just then her husband came in.
23:15
Speaker 7: You here, my dear, welcome back.
23:17
Speaker 1: Said he, coming up to her courteously and kissing her cheek.
23:21
Speaker 7: Why what's the matter? Tears, and he.
23:24
Speaker 1: Heartily wished himself away again. Yes, said she, raising herself
23:29
Speaker 1: up and clutching after sympathy of any kind, at any price.
23:34
Speaker 3: I'm come home again, and I'm telling Cynthia how lady
23:36
Speaker 3: Cumnor has been so cross to me and all through her.
23:40
Speaker 3: Did you know she had gone and engaged herself to
23:42
Speaker 3: mister Preston and then broke in it off? Everybody is
23:45
Speaker 3: talking about it, and they know it. Up at the towers.
23:48
Speaker 1: For one moment his eyes met Molly's and he comprehended
23:52
Speaker 1: it all. He made his lips up into a whistle,
23:55
Speaker 1: but no sound came. Cynthia had quite lost her defiant
23:59
Speaker 1: manner since her mother had spoken to mister Gibson. Molly
24:03
Speaker 1: sat down by her. Cynthia said he very seriously. Yes,
24:08
Speaker 1: she answered softly, is this true?
24:11
Speaker 7: I had heard something of it before, not much, but
24:14
Speaker 7: there is scandal enough about it to make it desirable
24:17
Speaker 7: that you should have some protector, some friend who knows
24:20
Speaker 7: the whole truth.
24:22
Speaker 1: No answer. At last, she said, Molly knows it all.
24:27
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson too had been awed into silence by her
24:31
Speaker 1: husband's grave manner, and she did not like to give
24:34
Speaker 1: vent to the jealous thought in her mind.
24:36
Speaker 3: That Molly had known the secret of which she was ignorant.
24:39
Speaker 1: Mister Gibson replied to Cynthia with some sternness.
24:43
Speaker 7: Yes, I know that Molly knows it all, and that
24:46
Speaker 7: she has had to bear slander and ill words for
24:49
Speaker 7: your sake, Cynthia, But she refused to tell me more.
24:53
Speaker 1: She told you that much, did she said Cynthia, aggrieved.
24:56
Speaker 1: I could not help it, said Molly. She didn't your name,
25:01
Speaker 1: said mister Gibson.
25:02
Speaker 7: At the time. I believe she thought she had concealed it,
25:05
Speaker 7: but there was no mistaking who it was.
25:07
Speaker 2: Why did she speak about it at all?
25:09
Speaker 1: Said Cynthia with some bitterness. Her tone her question stirred
25:14
Speaker 1: up mister Gibson's passion.
25:16
Speaker 7: It was necessary for her to justify herself to me.
25:20
Speaker 7: I heard my daughter's reputation attacked for the private meeting
25:23
Speaker 7: she had given to mister Preston. I came to her
25:27
Speaker 7: for an explanation. There's no need to be ungenerous, Cynthia,
25:30
Speaker 7: because you've been a flirt and a jilt, even to
25:33
Speaker 7: the degree of dragging Molly's name down into the same mire.
25:37
Speaker 1: Cynthia lifted her bowed down head and looked at him.
25:41
Speaker 2: You say that to me, mister Gibson, not knowing what
25:43
Speaker 2: the circumstances are. You say that he.
25:45
Speaker 1: Had spoken too strongly. He knew it, but he could
25:49
Speaker 1: not bring himself to own it. Just at that moment.
25:53
Speaker 1: The thought of his sweet innocent Molly, who had borne
25:56
Speaker 1: so much patiently prevented any retraction of his words at
26:00
Speaker 1: the time, Yes, he said, I.
26:03
Speaker 7: Do say it. You cannot tell what evil constructions are
26:07
Speaker 7: put upon actions, ever so slightly beyond the bounds of
26:09
Speaker 7: maidenly propriety. I do say that Molly has had a
26:13
Speaker 7: great deal to bear in consequence of this clandestine engagement
26:17
Speaker 7: of yours, Cynthia. There may be extenuating circumstances I acknowledge,
26:22
Speaker 7: but you will need to remember them all to excuse
26:24
Speaker 7: your conduct to Roger Hamley when he comes home. I
26:29
Speaker 7: ask you to tell me the full truth in order
26:31
Speaker 7: that until he comes and has a legal right to
26:34
Speaker 7: protect you. I may do so. No answer, It certainly
26:39
Speaker 7: requires explanation.
26:40
Speaker 1: Continued he here are.
26:42
Speaker 7: You engaged to two men at once?
26:44
Speaker 1: To all appearances, Still no answer, to be.
26:49
Speaker 7: Sure, the gossips of the town haven't yet picked out
26:51
Speaker 7: the fact of Roger Hamley's being your accepted lover. But
26:55
Speaker 7: scandal has been resting on Molly and ought to have
26:58
Speaker 7: rested on you, Sincenthea for a concealed engagement to mister Preston,
27:04
Speaker 7: necessitating meetings in all sorts of places unknown to your friends.
27:08
Speaker 4: Papa said, Molly, if you knew all, you wouldn't speak
27:12
Speaker 4: so to Cynthia, I wish you would tell you herself
27:15
Speaker 4: all that she has told me.
27:17
Speaker 7: I am ready to hear whatever she has to.
27:19
Speaker 1: Say, said he.
27:20
Speaker 2: But Cynthia said, no, you have prejudged me. You have
27:24
Speaker 2: spoken to me as you had no right to speak.
27:26
Speaker 2: I refuse to give you my confidence or accept your help.
27:30
Speaker 2: People are very cruel to me.
27:31
Speaker 1: Her voice trembled for a moment.
27:34
Speaker 2: I did not think you would have been, but I
27:36
Speaker 2: can bear it.
27:37
Speaker 1: And then, in spite of Molly, who would have detained
27:40
Speaker 1: her by force, she tore herself away and hastily left
27:43
Speaker 1: the room. Oh, Papa, said Molly, crying and clinging to him.
27:49
Speaker 4: Do let me tell you all.
27:51
Speaker 1: And then she suddenly recollected the awkwardness of telling some
27:55
Speaker 1: of the details of the story before Missus Gibson and
27:58
Speaker 1: stopped short.
28:00
Speaker 3: I think, mister Gibson, you have been very, very unkind
28:04
Speaker 3: to my poor fatherless child.
28:06
Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, emerging from behind her pocket handkerchief.
28:10
Speaker 3: I only wish her poor father had been alive, and
28:12
Speaker 3: all this would never have happened.
28:15
Speaker 7: Very probably. Still, I cannot see of what either she
28:18
Speaker 7: or you have to complain. Inasmuch as we could, I
28:21
Speaker 7: and mine have sheltered her. I have loved her. I
28:25
Speaker 7: do love her almost as if she were my own child,
28:28
Speaker 7: as well as Molly. I do not pretend to do.
28:31
Speaker 3: That's it, mister Gibson, you do not treat her like
28:34
Speaker 3: your own child.
28:35
Speaker 1: But in the midst of this wrangle, Molly stole out
28:38
Speaker 1: and went in search of Cynthia. She thought she bore
28:41
Speaker 1: an olive branch of healing in the sound of her
28:43
Speaker 1: father's just spoken words.
28:46
Speaker 7: I do love her almost as if she were my
28:48
Speaker 7: own child.
28:49
Speaker 1: But Cynthia was locked into her room and refused to
28:52
Speaker 1: open the door open to me, please, pleaded Molly.
28:57
Speaker 4: I have something to say to you. I want to
28:59
Speaker 4: see you. Do you open?
29:02
Speaker 2: No, said Cynthia, not now, I am busy. Leave me alone.
29:06
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear what you have got to say.
29:08
Speaker 2: I don't want to see you. By and by we
29:10
Speaker 2: shall meet.
29:11
Speaker 1: And then Molly stood quietly, wondering what new words of
29:16
Speaker 1: more persuasion she could use. In a minute or two,
29:19
Speaker 1: Cynthia called out, are.
29:21
Speaker 2: You there still, Molly?
29:22
Speaker 1: And when Molly answered yes and hoped for a relenting
29:27
Speaker 1: the same hard, metallic voice telling of resolution and repression,
29:32
Speaker 1: spoke out.
29:33
Speaker 2: Go away. I cannot bear the feeling of your being there,
29:36
Speaker 2: waiting and listening. Go downstairs, out of the house, anywhere away.
29:41
Speaker 2: It is the most you can do for me now.
29:44
Speaker 1: End of chapter fifty