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027 - A Charity Ball · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six 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: six A charity ball. At the present time there are
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Speaker 1: few people at a public ball besides the dancers and
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Speaker 1: their chaperones or relations in some degree interested in them.
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Speaker 1: But in the days when Molly and Cynthia were young,
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Speaker 1: before railroads were and before their consequences, the excursion trains
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Speaker 1: which take everyone up to London nowadays there to see
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Speaker 1: their fill of gay crowds and fine dresses. To go
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Speaker 1: to an annual charity ball, even though all thought of
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Speaker 1: dancing had passed five years ago, and without any of
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Speaker 1: the responsibilities of a chaperone, was very allowable and a
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Speaker 1: favorite piece of dissipation to all the kindly old maids
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Speaker 1: who thronged the country towns of England. They aired their
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Speaker 1: old lace and their best dresses. They saw the aristocratic
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Speaker 1: magnates of the countryside. They gossiped with their coevals, and
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Speaker 1: speculated on the romances of the young around them in
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Speaker 1: a curious yet friendly spirit. The miss Brownings would have
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Speaker 1: thought themselves sadly defrauded of the gayest event of the year.
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Speaker 1: If anything had prevented their attending the charity ball, and
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Speaker 1: Miss Browning would have been indignant. Miss phoebe aggrieved had
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Speaker 1: they not been asked to Ashcombe and Coreham by friends
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Speaker 1: at each place who had, like them, gone through the
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Speaker 1: dancing stage of life some five and twenty years before,
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Speaker 1: but who liked still to haunt the scenes of their
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Speaker 1: former enjoyment and see a younger generation dance on regardless
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Speaker 1: of their doom. They had come in one of the
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Speaker 1: two sedan chairs that yet lingered in use at Hollingford.
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Speaker 1: Such a night as this brought a regular harvest of
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Speaker 1: gains to the two old men, who, in what was
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Speaker 1: called the town's livery, trotted backwards and forwards with their
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Speaker 1: many loads of ladies and finery. There were some post
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Speaker 1: chaises and some flies. But after mature deliberation, Miss Browning
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Speaker 1: had decided to keep to the more comfortable custom of
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Speaker 1: the sedan chair, which, as she said to Miss Piper,
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Speaker 1: one of her visitors.
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Speaker 2: Came into the parlor and got full of the warm air,
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Speaker 2: and nipped you up and carried you tight and cozy
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Speaker 2: into another warm room where you could walk out without
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Speaker 2: having to show your legs. By going up steps or
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Speaker 2: down steps.
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Speaker 1: Of course, only one could go at a time. But
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Speaker 1: here again a little of Miss Browning's good management arranged
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Speaker 1: everything so very nicely. As Miss Hornblower, their other visitor, remarked,
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Speaker 1: she went first and remained in the warm cloak room
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Speaker 1: till her hostess followed. And then the two ladies went
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Speaker 1: arm in arm into the ballroom, finding out convenient seats.
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Speaker 1: Whence they could watch the arrivals and speak to their
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Speaker 1: passing friends, until Miss Phoebe and Miss Piper entered and
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Speaker 1: came to take possession of the seats reserved for them
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Speaker 1: by Miss Browning's care. These two younger ladies came in,
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Speaker 1: also arm in arm, but with a certain timid flurry
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Speaker 1: in look and movement, very different from the composed dignity
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Speaker 1: of their seniors by two or three years. When all
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Speaker 1: four were once more assembled together, they took breath and
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Speaker 1: began to converse. Upon my word, I really do think
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Speaker 1: this is a better room than Ashcombe court House, And.
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Speaker 3: How prettily it is decorated.
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Speaker 1: Piped out Miss Piper, Oh, well.
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Speaker 3: The roses are made, but you all have such taste
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Speaker 3: at holling Ford.
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Speaker 1: There's missus Dempster cried Miss Hornblower.
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Speaker 4: She said she and her two daughters were asked to
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Speaker 4: stay at mister Sheepshanks. Mister Preston was to be there too,
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Speaker 4: but I suppose they could not all come at once. Look,
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Speaker 4: and there is young Roscoe, our new doctor. I declare
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Speaker 4: it seems as if all Ashcombe were here. Mister Roscoe.
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Speaker 4: Mister Roscoe, come here and let me introduce you to
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Speaker 4: Miss Browning, the friend we are staying with. We think
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Speaker 4: very highly of our young doctor. I can assure you,
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Speaker 4: Miss Browning.
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Speaker 1: Mister Roscoe bowed and simpered at hearing his own praises.
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Speaker 1: But Miss Browning had no notion of having any doctor
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Speaker 1: praised who had come to settle on the very verge
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Speaker 1: of mister Gibson's practice. So she said to Miss Hornblower,
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Speaker 1: you must be glad.
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Speaker 2: I am sure to have somebody you can call any
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Speaker 2: if you are in any sudden hurry all for things
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Speaker 2: that are too trifling to trouble mister Gibson about. I
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Speaker 2: should think mister Roscoe would feel it a great advantage
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Speaker 2: to profit, as he will naturally have the opportunity of
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Speaker 2: doing by witnessing mister Gibson's skill.
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Speaker 1: Probably mister Roscoe would have felt more aggrieved by this
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Speaker 1: speech than he really was if his attention had not
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Speaker 1: been called off just then by the entrance of the
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Speaker 1: very mister Gibson, who was being spoken of. Almost before
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Speaker 1: Miss Browning had ended her severe and depreciatory remarks, he
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Speaker 1: had asked his friend, Miss Hornblower, who is the lovely
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Speaker 1: girl and pink?
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Speaker 5: Just come in?
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Speaker 1: Why that's Cynthia Kirkpatrick, said Miss Hornblower, taking up a
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Speaker 1: ponderous gold eyeglass to make sure of her fact how
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Speaker 1: she has grown? To be sure, it is two or
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Speaker 1: three years since she left Ashcombe. She was very pretty then,
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Speaker 1: people did say. Mister Preston admired her very much, But
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Speaker 1: she was so young.
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Speaker 6: Can you introduce me?
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Speaker 1: Asked the impatient young surgeon.
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Speaker 2: I should like to ask her to dance.
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Speaker 1: When Miss Hornblower returned from her greeting to her former acquaintance,
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Speaker 1: missus Gibson, and had accomplished the introduction in which mister
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Speaker 1: Roscoe had requested, she began her little confidences to Miss Browning.
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Speaker 7: Well.
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Speaker 4: To be sure, how condescending we are. I remember the
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Speaker 4: time when missus Kirkpatrick wore all black silks and was
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Speaker 4: thankful and civil as became her place as a schoolmistress,
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Speaker 4: and as having to earn her bread. And now she
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Speaker 4: is in a satin and she speaks to me as
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Speaker 4: if she could just recollect who I was, if she
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Speaker 4: tried very hard. It isn't so long ago since Missus
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Speaker 4: Dempster came to consult me as to whether Missus Kirkpatrick
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Speaker 4: would be offended if she sent her a new breadth
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Speaker 4: for her lilac silk gown in place of one that
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Speaker 4: had been spoiled by Missus Dempster's servants spilling the coffee
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Speaker 4: over it the night before. And she took it and
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Speaker 4: was thankful for all. She's dressed in pearl gray satin now,
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Speaker 4: and she would have been glad enough to marry mister
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Speaker 4: Preston in those days.
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Speaker 1: I thought you said he admired her daughter, put in
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Speaker 1: Miss Browning to her irritated friend.
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Speaker 4: Well, perhaps I did, and perhaps it was so I'm
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Speaker 4: sure I can't tell. He was a great deal at
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Speaker 4: the house. Miss Dixon keeps the school in the same
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Speaker 4: house now, and I am sure she does it a
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Speaker 4: great deal better.
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Speaker 2: The Earl and the Countess are very fond of Missus
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Speaker 2: Gibson said, Miss Browning, I know for Lady Harriet told
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Speaker 2: us when she came to drink tea with us last autumn,
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Speaker 2: and they desired mister Preston to be very attentive to
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Speaker 2: her when she lived at Ashcombe.
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Speaker 4: Goodness sake, don't go and repeat what I've been saying
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Speaker 4: about mister Preston and missus Kirkpatrick to her ladyship. One
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Speaker 4: may be mistaken.
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Speaker 1: And you know I only said people talked about it.
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Speaker 1: Miss Hornblower was evidently alarmed lest her gossip should be
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Speaker 1: repeated to the Lady Harriet, who appeared to be on
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Speaker 1: such an intimate footing with her Hollingford friends. Nor did
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Speaker 1: Miss Browning dissipate the illusion Lady Harriet had drunk tea
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Speaker 1: with them and might do it again. And at any rate,
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Speaker 1: the little fright she had put into her friend was
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Speaker 1: not a bad return for that praise of mister Roscoe,
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Speaker 1: which had offended Miss Browning's loyalty to mister Gibson. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: Miss Piper and Miss Phoebe, who had not the character
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Speaker 1: of esbery Ford to maintain, talked of dresses of the
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Speaker 1: people present, beginning by complimenting each other what a.
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Speaker 8: Lovely turban you've got on, miss Piper. If I may
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Speaker 8: be allowed to say so, so be coming to your complexion,
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Speaker 8: do you think so?
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Speaker 1: Said Miss Piper, with ill concealed gratification. It was something
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Speaker 1: to have a complexion. At forty five, I cut it.
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Speaker 3: At Brown's at Somerton for this very ball. I thought
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Speaker 3: I must have something to set off my gown, which
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Speaker 3: isn't quite so new as it once was, and I
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Speaker 3: have no handsome jewelry like you.
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Speaker 1: Looking with admiring eyes at a large miniature set round
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Speaker 1: with pearls, which served as a shield to Miss Phoebe's breast,
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Speaker 1: it is handsome, that lady replied.
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Speaker 8: It is a likeness of my dear mother. Dorothy has
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Speaker 8: got my father on. The miniatures were both taken at
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Speaker 8: the same time, and just about then my uncle died
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Speaker 8: and left us each a legacy of fifty pounds, which
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Speaker 8: we agreed to spend on the setting of our miniatures.
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Speaker 8: But because they are so valuable, Dorothy always keeps them
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Speaker 8: locked up with the best silver and hides the box somewhere.
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Speaker 8: She will never tell me where, because she says, I've
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Speaker 8: such weak nerves that if a burglar with a loaded
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Speaker 8: pistol in my head. Were to ask me where we
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Speaker 8: kept our plate and jewels, I should be sure to
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Speaker 8: tell him. And she says, for her part, she would
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Speaker 8: never think of revealing under any circumstances. I'm sure. I
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Speaker 8: hope she won't be tried. But that's the reason I
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Speaker 8: don't wear it often. It's only the second time I've
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Speaker 8: had it on, and I can't even get at it
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Speaker 8: and look at it, which I should like to do.
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Speaker 8: I shouldn't have had it on to night, but that
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Speaker 8: Dorothy gave it out to me, saying it was but
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Speaker 8: a proper compliment to pay to the Duchess of Menteith,
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Speaker 8: who is to be here in all her diamonds.
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Speaker 3: Dear and me, is she really?
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Speaker 9: Do you know?
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Speaker 3: I never saw a duchess before?
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Speaker 1: And Miss Piper drew herself up and craned her neck,
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Speaker 1: as if resolved.
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Speaker 3: To behave herself properly, as she had.
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Speaker 1: Been taught to do at boarding school thirty years before.
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Speaker 1: In the presence of her grace, By and By, she
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Speaker 1: said to Miss Phoebe, with a sudden jerk out of position, Look.
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Speaker 3: Look that's our mister Chomley, the magistrate.
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Speaker 1: He was the great man of Coreham.
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Speaker 3: And that's missus Cholmley in red Satin, and mister George
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Speaker 3: and mister Harry from Oxford. I do declare, and Miss
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Speaker 3: Cholmley and pretty miss Sophie I should like to go
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Speaker 3: and speak with them, But then it's so formidable crossing
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Speaker 3: a room without a gentleman.
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Speaker 9: And there is.
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Speaker 3: Cox, the butcher and his wife. Why all Coreham seems
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Speaker 3: to be here? And how missus Cox can afford such
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Speaker 3: a gown? I can't make out for one, for I
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Speaker 3: know Cox had some difficulty in paying for the last
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Speaker 3: sheepy bot of my brother.
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Speaker 1: Just at this moment, the band, consisting of two violins,
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Speaker 1: a harp and an occasional clarinet, having finished their tuning
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Speaker 1: and brought themselves as nearly into accord as was possible,
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Speaker 1: struck up a brisk country dance, and partners quickly took
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Speaker 1: their places. Missus Gibson was secretly a little annoyed at,
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Speaker 1: since as being one of those to stand up in
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Speaker 1: this early dance, the performers in which were principally the
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Speaker 1: punctual Plebeians of Hollingford, who, when a ball was fixed
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Speaker 1: to begin at eight, had no notion of being later
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Speaker 1: and so losing part of the amusement for which they
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Speaker 1: had paid their money. She imparted some of her feelings
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Speaker 1: to Molly, sitting by her longing to dance and beating
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Speaker 1: time to the spirited music with one of her pretty
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Speaker 1: little feet.
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Speaker 5: Your dear Papa is always so very punctual tonight. It
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Speaker 5: seems almost a pity, for we really are here before
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Speaker 5: there is any one come that we know.
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Speaker 7: Oh, I see so many people here that I know.
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Speaker 7: There are mister and missus Meaton, and that nice's good
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Speaker 7: tempered daughter.
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Speaker 5: Oh, booksellers and butchers, if you will.
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Speaker 7: Papa has found a great many friends to talk to.
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Speaker 5: Patience, my dear, hardly friends. There are some nice looking people.
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Speaker 1: Here, catching her eye on the Chumleys, but.
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Speaker 5: I dare say they have driven over from the neighborhood
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Speaker 5: of Ashcombe or Quorham, and have hardly calculated how soon
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Speaker 5: they would get here. I wonder when the Towers party
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Speaker 5: will come. Ah, there's no to Ashten and mister Preston come.
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Speaker 5: The room is beginning to fill.
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Speaker 1: So it was for this was to be a very
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Speaker 1: good ball, people said, and a large party from the
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Speaker 1: Towers was coming, and a duchess in diamonds among the number.
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Speaker 1: Every great house in the district was expected to be
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Speaker 1: full of guests on these occasions, but at this early
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Speaker 1: hour the townspeople had the floor almost entirely to themselves.
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Speaker 1: The county magnates came dropping in later, and chiefest among
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Speaker 1: them all was the Lord Lieutenant from the towers. But
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Speaker 1: tonight they were unusually late, and the aristocratic ozone being
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Speaker 1: absent from the atmosphere, there was a flatness about the
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Speaker 1: dancing of all those who considered themselves above the plebeian
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Speaker 1: ranks of the tradespeople. They, however, enjoyed themselves thoroughly, and
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Speaker 1: sprang and bounded till their eyes sparkled and their cheeks
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Speaker 1: glowed with exercise and excitement. Some of the more prudent parents,
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Speaker 1: mindful of their next day's duties, began to consider at
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Speaker 1: what hour they ought to go home. But with all
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Speaker 1: there was an expressed or unexpressed curiosity to see the
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Speaker 1: duchess and her diamonds. For the Menteeth diamonds were famous
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Speaker 1: in higher circle than that now assembled, and their fame
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Speaker 1: had trickled down to it through the medium of ladies maids,
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Speaker 1: and housekeepers. Mister Gibson had had to leave the ballroom
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Speaker 1: for a time, as he had anticipated, but he was
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Speaker 1: to return to his wife as soon as his duties
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Speaker 1: were accomplished, and in his absence, Missus Gibson kept herself
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Speaker 1: a little aloof from the miss Brownings and those of
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Speaker 1: her acquaintance who would willingly have entered into conversation with her,
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Speaker 1: with the view of attaching herself to the skirts of
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Speaker 1: the Towers party when they should make their appearance.
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Speaker 5: If Cynthia would not be so very ready in engaging
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Speaker 5: herself to every possible partner who asked her to dance,
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Speaker 5: there was sure to be young men staying at the
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Speaker 5: Towers who would be on the lookout for pretty girls
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Speaker 5: and who could tell to what a dance might lead.
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Speaker 1: Molly, too, though not so good a dancer as Cynthia,
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Speaker 1: and from her timidity, less graceful and easy, was becoming
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Speaker 1: engaged pretty deeply, and it must be confessed she was
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Speaker 1: longing to dance every dance, no matter with whom. Even
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Speaker 1: she might not be available for the more aristocratic partners
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson anticipated, she was feeling much annoyed with the
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Speaker 1: whole proceedings of the evening. When she was aware of
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Speaker 1: some one standing by her, and turning a little to
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Speaker 1: one side, she saw mister Preston keeping guard, as it were,
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Speaker 1: over the seats which Molly and Cynthia had just quitted.
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Speaker 1: He was looking so black that, if their eyes had
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Speaker 1: not met, Missus Gibson would have preferred not speaking to him.
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Speaker 1: As it was, She thought it unavoidable.
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Speaker 5: The rooms are not where lighted to night, are they?
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Speaker 5: Mister Preston, no, said he.
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Speaker 10: But who could light such dingy old paint as this
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Speaker 10: loaded with evergreen's too, which always darkened her room.
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Speaker 5: And the company too. I always think that freshness and
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Speaker 5: brilliancy of dress go as far as anything to brighten
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Speaker 5: up a room. Look what a set of people are here.
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Speaker 5: The greater part of the women are dressed in dark silks,
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Speaker 5: really only fit for a morning. The place will be
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Speaker 5: quite different by and by when the county families are
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Speaker 5: in a little more force.
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Speaker 1: Mister Preston made no reply. He had put his glass
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Speaker 1: in his eye, apparently for the purpose of watching the dancers.
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Speaker 1: If its exact trection could have been ascertained, it would
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Speaker 1: have been found that he was looking intently and angrily
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Speaker 1: at a flying figure in pink muslin. Many a one
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Speaker 1: was gazing at Cynthia with intentness besides himself, but no
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Speaker 1: one in anger. Missus Gibson was not so fine an
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Speaker 1: observer as to read all this.
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Speaker 9: But here was a.
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Speaker 1: Gentlemanly and handsome young man to whom she could prattle,
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Speaker 1: instead of either joining herself on to objectionable people or
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Speaker 1: sitting all forlorn until the Towers party came. So she
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Speaker 1: went on with her small remarks, you are not dancing,
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Speaker 1: mister Preston.
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Speaker 10: No, the partner I had engaged has made some mistake.
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Speaker 10: I am waiting to have an explanation with her.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson was silent. An uncomfortable tide of recollections appeared
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Speaker 1: to come over her. She, like mister Preston, watched Cynthia.
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Speaker 1: The dance was ended, and she was walking round the
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Speaker 1: room in easy unconcern as to what might await her. Presently,
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Speaker 1: her partner, mister Harry Chumly, brought her back to her seat.
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Speaker 1: She took that vacant next to mister Preston, leaving the
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Speaker 1: one by her mother for Molly's ocks caupation. The letter
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Speaker 1: returned a moment afterwards to her place. Cynthia seemed entirely
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Speaker 1: unconscious of mister Preston's neighborhood. Missus Gibson leaned forwards and
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Speaker 1: said to her daughter, your.
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Speaker 5: Last partner was a gentleman. My dear, you are improving
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Speaker 5: in your selection. I really was ashamed of you before
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Speaker 5: figuring away with that attorney's clerk. Molly, do you know
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Speaker 5: whom you've been dancing with? I have found out he
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Speaker 5: is the quorhum bookseller.
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Speaker 7: That accounts for his being so well up in all
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Speaker 7: the books I've been wanting to hear about.
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Speaker 1: Said Molly eagerly, but with a spice of malice in
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Speaker 1: her mind. He really was very pleasant, mamma, she added,
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Speaker 1: and he looks quite a gentleman and ances beautifully.
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Speaker 5: Very well. But remember, if you go on this way,
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Speaker 5: you will have to shake hands over the counter tomorrow
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Speaker 5: morning with some of your partners.
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Speaker 1: Of to night, said missus Gibson coldly.
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Speaker 7: But I really don't know how to refuse when people
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Speaker 7: are introduced to me and ask me, and I am
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Speaker 7: longing to dance, you know, to night. It is a
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Speaker 7: charitable and Papa said, everybody dances with everybody.
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Speaker 1: Said Ma Molly in a pleading tone of voice, for
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Speaker 1: she could not quite thoroughly enjoy herself if she was
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Speaker 1: out of harmony with anyone. What reply missus Gibson would
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Speaker 1: have made to this speech cannot now be ascertained, for
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Speaker 1: before she could answer, mister Preston stepped a little forwards
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Speaker 1: and said, in a tone which he meant to be
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Speaker 1: icily indifferent, but which trembled with anger.
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Speaker 10: If Miss Gibson finds any difficulty in refusing a partner,
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Speaker 10: she has only to apply to Miss Kirkpatrick for instructions.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia lifted up her beautiful eyes, and, fixing them on
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Speaker 1: mister Preston's face, said, very quietly, as if only stating
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Speaker 1: a matter of fact.
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Speaker 6: You forget I think, mister Preston, Miss Gibson implied that
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Speaker 6: she wished to dance with the person who asked her.
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Speaker 6: That makes all the difference. I can't instruct her how
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Speaker 6: to act in that difficulty.
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Speaker 1: And to the rest of this little conversation, Cynthia appeared
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Speaker 1: to lend no ear, and she was almost directly claimed
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Speaker 1: by her next partner. Mister Preston took the seat now
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Speaker 1: left empty, much to Molly's annoyance. At first, she feared
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Speaker 1: lest he might be going to ask her to dance,
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Speaker 1: but instead he put out his hand for Cynthia's nosegay,
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Speaker 1: which she had left on rising and trusted to Molly.
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Speaker 1: It had suffered considerably from the heat of the room
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Speaker 1: and was no longer full and fresh, not so much
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Speaker 1: so as Molly's, which had not in the first instance
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Speaker 1: been pulled to pieces in picking out the scarlet flowers
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Speaker 1: which now adorned Molly's hair, and which had since been
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Speaker 1: cherished with more care. Enough, however, remained of Cynthia's to
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Speaker 1: show very distinctly that it was not the one mister
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Speaker 1: Preston had sent, and it was perhaps to convince himself
17:28
Speaker 1: of this that he rudely asked to examine it. But Molly,
17:32
Speaker 1: faithful to what she imagined would be Cynthia's wish, refused
17:35
Speaker 1: to allow him to touch it. She only held it
17:38
Speaker 1: a little nearer.
17:39
Speaker 10: Miss Kirkpatrick, has not done me the honor of wearing
17:42
Speaker 10: the bouquet I sent her. I see she received it,
17:44
Speaker 10: I suppose and my note.
17:46
Speaker 1: Yes, said Molly, rather intimidated by the tone in which
17:49
Speaker 1: this was said.
17:50
Speaker 7: But we had already accepted these two nosegayes.
17:53
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson was just the person to come to the
17:56
Speaker 1: rescue with her honeyed words on such an occasion as
17:58
Speaker 1: the present. She evidently was rather afraid of mister Preston
18:01
Speaker 1: and wished to keep at peace with him.
18:03
Speaker 5: Oh, yes, we were so sorry. Of course, I don't
18:06
Speaker 5: mean to say we could be sorry for anyone's kindness.
18:08
Speaker 5: But two such lovely nosegays had been sent from Hamley Hall.
18:12
Speaker 5: You may see how beautiful from what Molly holds in
18:15
Speaker 5: her hand, and they had come before yours.
18:17
Speaker 10: Mister Preston, I should have felt honored if you had
18:19
Speaker 10: accepted of mine, since the young ladies were so well
18:22
Speaker 10: provided for. I was at some pains in selecting the
18:25
Speaker 10: flowers at Greens. I think I may say it was
18:27
Speaker 10: rather more recherchet than that of Miss Kirkpatrick's, which Miss
18:31
Speaker 10: Gibson holds so tenderly and securely in her hand.
18:35
Speaker 7: Oh, because Cynthia would take out the most effective flowers
18:38
Speaker 7: to put in.
18:39
Speaker 1: My hair, exclaimed Molly. Eagerly did, she said, mister Preston,
18:43
Speaker 1: with a certain accent of pleasure in his voice, as
18:46
Speaker 1: though he were glad she set so little store by
18:48
Speaker 1: the nosegay, and he walked off to stand behind Cynthia
18:51
Speaker 1: in the quadrille that was being danced, and Molly saw
18:54
Speaker 1: him making her reply to him against her will. Molly
18:56
Speaker 1: was sure, but somehow his face and manner implied power
19:00
Speaker 1: over her. She looked grave, deaf, indifferent, indignant, defiant, But
19:05
Speaker 1: after a half whispered speech to Cynthia at the conclusion
19:08
Speaker 1: of the dance, she evidently threw him an impatient consent
19:11
Speaker 1: to what he was asking for. He walked off with
19:14
Speaker 1: a disagreeable smile of satisfaction on his handsome face. All
19:17
Speaker 1: this time, the murmurs were spreading at the lateness of
19:20
Speaker 1: the party from the towers, and person after person came
19:23
Speaker 1: up to Missus Gibson as if she were the accredited
19:26
Speaker 1: authority as to the Earl and Countess's plans. In one
19:30
Speaker 1: sense this was flattering, but then the acknowledgment of common
19:33
Speaker 1: ignorance and wonder reduced her to the level of the
19:36
Speaker 1: inquirer's Missus Goodenough felt herself particularly aggrieved. She had had
19:40
Speaker 1: her spectacles on for the last hour and a half
19:43
Speaker 1: in order to be ready for the sight of the
19:45
Speaker 1: very first minute anyone from the towers appeared at the door.
19:49
Speaker 11: I had a headache, she complained, And I should have
19:52
Speaker 11: sent my mooney and never stirred out of doors to night.
19:56
Speaker 11: For I've seen many of these here balls, and my
19:59
Speaker 11: Lord and Miley too, when they were better worth looking at.
20:02
Speaker 5: No they are now.
20:03
Speaker 11: But everyone was talking of the duchess and the duchess
20:07
Speaker 11: and a diamonds, and I thought I shouldn't like to
20:10
Speaker 11: be behind hands and never a see neither the duchess
20:12
Speaker 11: nor a diamonds.
20:14
Speaker 5: So I'm here and.
20:15
Speaker 11: Call and candlelight, wasting a way at home. For I
20:18
Speaker 11: told Sally to sit up for me, and above everything,
20:21
Speaker 11: I cannot abide waste. I took it from my mother,
20:25
Speaker 11: who was such a one against waste, as you never
20:27
Speaker 11: see nowadays. She was a manager, if ever there was
20:30
Speaker 11: a one, and brought up nine children on less than
20:33
Speaker 11: anyone else could do.
20:35
Speaker 5: I'll be bound why she.
20:37
Speaker 11: Wouldn't let us be extravagant, not even in the matter
20:40
Speaker 11: of colds. Whenever any owners had a pretty bad cold,
20:44
Speaker 11: she took the opportunity and cut our hair, For she said,
20:47
Speaker 11: she said, it was of no use having two colds
20:51
Speaker 11: when one would do, and cutting of our hair was
20:53
Speaker 11: sure to give us a cold. But for all that,
20:56
Speaker 11: I wish the Duchess would come.
20:58
Speaker 1: Ah, but fancy what it is to me, sighed out
21:01
Speaker 1: missus Gibson.
21:03
Speaker 5: So long as I have been without seeing the dear family,
21:05
Speaker 5: and seeing so little of them the other day when
21:07
Speaker 5: I was at the towers for the Duchess would have
21:10
Speaker 5: my opinion on Lady Alice's true so and kept asking
21:13
Speaker 5: me so many questions it took up all the time.
21:15
Speaker 5: And Lady Harriet's last words were a happy anticipation of
21:18
Speaker 5: our meeting tonight. It's nearly twelve o'clock.
21:22
Speaker 1: Every one of any pretensions to gentility was painfully affected
21:25
Speaker 1: by the absence of the family from the towers. The
21:28
Speaker 1: very fiddlers seemed unwilling to begin playing a dance that
21:31
Speaker 1: might be interrupted by the entrance of the great folk.
21:33
Speaker 1: Miss Phoebe Browning had apologized for them. Miss Browning had
21:36
Speaker 1: blamed them with calm dignity. It was only the butchers
21:40
Speaker 1: and bakers and candlestick makers who rather enjoyed the absence
21:43
Speaker 1: of restraint and were happy and hilarious. At last, there
21:47
Speaker 1: was a rumbling, a rushing, and a whispering, and the
21:49
Speaker 1: music stopped, so the dancers were obliged to do so too,
21:53
Speaker 1: And in came Lord Cumnor in his state dress, with
21:56
Speaker 1: a fat, middle aged woman on his arm. She was
21:59
Speaker 1: dressed almost like a girl.
22:01
Speaker 3: In a sprigged muslin, with natural flowers in her hair,
22:05
Speaker 3: but not a vestige of a jewel or a diamond.
22:10
Speaker 8: Yet it must be the Duchess. But what was a
22:13
Speaker 8: duchess without diamonds.
22:15
Speaker 2: And in a dress which Farmer Watson's daughter might have worn.
22:19
Speaker 3: Was it the Duchess?
22:20
Speaker 11: Could it be the Duchess?
22:23
Speaker 1: The little crowd of inquirers around Missus Gibson thickened to
22:26
Speaker 1: hear her confirm their disappointing surmise. After the Duchess came
22:30
Speaker 1: Lady Cumnor, looking like Lady Macbeth in black velvet, a
22:34
Speaker 1: cloud upon her brow, made more conspicuous by the lines
22:37
Speaker 1: of age rapidly gathering on her handsome face. And Lady
22:41
Speaker 1: Harriet and other ladies, amongst whom there was one dressed
22:43
Speaker 1: so like the Duchess as to suggest the idea of
22:46
Speaker 1: a sister rather than a daughter. As far as dress went,
22:50
Speaker 1: there was Lord Hollingford, plain in face, awkward in person,
22:53
Speaker 1: gentlemanly in manner, and half a dozen younger men, Lord
22:56
Speaker 1: Albert Monson, Captain James and others of their aige age
23:00
Speaker 1: and standing, who came in looking anything if not critical.
23:03
Speaker 1: This long expected party swept up to the seats reserved
23:06
Speaker 1: for them at the head of the room, apparently regardless
23:09
Speaker 1: of the interruption they caused for the dancers stood aside
23:12
Speaker 1: and almost dispersed back to their seats, And when money
23:15
Speaker 1: musk struck up again, not half the former set of
23:18
Speaker 1: people stood up to finish the dance. Lady Harriet, who
23:21
Speaker 1: was rather different to Miss Piper and no more mind
23:24
Speaker 1: at crossing the room alone than if the lookers on
23:26
Speaker 1: were so many cabbages, spied the Gibson party pretty quickly
23:29
Speaker 1: out and came across to them.
23:31
Speaker 9: Here we are at last. How'd you do, dear? Why
23:35
Speaker 9: little one to Molly? How nice you're looking? Aren't we
23:39
Speaker 9: shamefully late?
23:40
Speaker 1: Oh it's only just past twelve, said missus Gibson.
23:44
Speaker 5: And I daresay you dined very late.
23:47
Speaker 9: It wasn't that. It was that ill mannered woman who
23:50
Speaker 9: went to her own room after we came out from dinner,
23:53
Speaker 9: and she and Lady Alice stayed there invisible till we
23:56
Speaker 9: thought they were pushing on some splendid attire as they
23:59
Speaker 9: ought to have done. And at half past ten, when
24:01
Speaker 9: Mamma sent up to them to say the carriages were
24:04
Speaker 9: at the door, the Duchess sent down for some beef tea,
24:07
Speaker 9: and at last appeared a llenfant as you see her.
24:11
Speaker 9: Mamma is so angry with her, and some of the
24:13
Speaker 9: others are annoyed at not coming earlier, and one or
24:16
Speaker 9: two are giving themselves airs about coming at all. Papa
24:19
Speaker 9: is the only one who was not affected by it.
24:22
Speaker 1: Then, turning to Molly, Lady Harriet asked, have.
24:25
Speaker 9: You been dancing much, Miss Gibson.
24:27
Speaker 7: Yes, not every dance, but nearly all.
24:30
Speaker 1: It was a simple question enough, but Lady Harriet speaking
24:33
Speaker 1: at all to Molly had become to missus. Gibson almost
24:36
Speaker 1: liked shaking a red rag at a bull. It was
24:39
Speaker 1: the one thing sure to put her out of temper.
24:41
Speaker 1: But she would not have shown this to Lady Harriet
24:43
Speaker 1: for the world only she contrived to baffle any endeavors
24:46
Speaker 1: at further conversation between the two by placing herself betwixt
24:50
Speaker 1: Lady Harriet and Molly, whom the former asked to sit
24:53
Speaker 1: down in the absent Cynthia's room.
24:54
Speaker 9: I won't go back to those people. I'm so mad
24:57
Speaker 9: with them. And besides, I hardly saw you the other
25:00
Speaker 9: and I must have some gossip with you.
25:02
Speaker 1: So she sat down by Missus Gibson, and as Missus
25:05
Speaker 1: Goodenough afterwards expressed.
25:07
Speaker 11: It looked like anybody else.
25:09
Speaker 1: Missus Goodenough said this to excuse herself for a little
25:12
Speaker 1: misadventure she fell into. She had taken a deliberate survey
25:16
Speaker 1: of the grandees at the upper end of the room,
25:19
Speaker 1: spectacles on nose, and had inquired in no very measured
25:22
Speaker 1: voice who everybody was from mister Sheepshanks, my Lord's agent,
25:26
Speaker 1: and her very good neighbor, who in vain tried to
25:29
Speaker 1: check her loud ardor for information by replying to her
25:32
Speaker 1: and whispers, but she was rather deaf as well as blind,
25:36
Speaker 1: so his low tones only brought upon him fresh inquiries.
25:39
Speaker 1: Now satisfied as far as she could be, and on
25:41
Speaker 1: her way to departure and the extinguishing of fire and candlelight,
25:45
Speaker 1: she stopped opposite to Missus Gibson, and thus addressed her
25:48
Speaker 1: by way of renewal of their former subject of conversation.
25:51
Speaker 11: Such a shabby thing for a duchess. I never saw
25:55
Speaker 11: not a bit of a diamond nearer there, none of
25:57
Speaker 11: em worth looking at except the Countess, and she's always
26:01
Speaker 11: a personable woman, and not so lusty as she was.
26:05
Speaker 11: But they're not worth waiting up for till this time
26:07
Speaker 11: of night.
26:09
Speaker 1: There was a moment's pause, then Lady Harriet put out
26:12
Speaker 1: her hand and said, you.
26:13
Speaker 9: Don't remember me, but I know you from having seen
26:16
Speaker 9: you at the towers. Lady Cumnor is a good deal
26:19
Speaker 9: thinner than she was, but we hope her health is
26:22
Speaker 9: better for it.
26:23
Speaker 1: It's Lady Harriet, said Missus Gibson to missus goodenough in
26:27
Speaker 1: reproachful dismay.
26:28
Speaker 11: DearI may your ladyship. I hope I've given no offense,
26:33
Speaker 11: But you see that is to say your ladyship sees
26:37
Speaker 11: that it's late oururs for folkses. Me and I only
26:41
Speaker 11: stayed out of my bed to see the Duchess, and
26:44
Speaker 11: I thought she'd come in diamonds under coronet. And it
26:47
Speaker 11: puts one out at my age to be disappointed in
26:49
Speaker 11: the only chance I'm like to have of so fine
26:52
Speaker 11: a sight.
26:53
Speaker 1: I'm put out too, said Lady Harriet.
26:55
Speaker 9: I wanted to have come early, and here we are
26:58
Speaker 9: as late as this. I'm so cross and ill tempered.
27:01
Speaker 9: I should be glad to hide myself in bed as
27:03
Speaker 9: soon as you will do.
27:04
Speaker 1: She said this so sweetly that Missus Goodenough relaxed into
27:08
Speaker 1: a smile and her crabness into a compliment.
27:11
Speaker 11: I don't believe, as ever, your ladyship can be cross
27:14
Speaker 11: and ill tempered with that pretty face. I'm an old woman,
27:17
Speaker 11: so you must let me say so.
27:19
Speaker 1: Lady Harriet stood up and made a low curtsey. Then,
27:22
Speaker 1: holding out her hand, she said.
27:23
Speaker 9: I won't keep you up any longer, but I promise
27:26
Speaker 9: one thing in return for your pretty speech. If I'm
27:29
Speaker 9: ever a duchess, I'll come and show myself to you
27:32
Speaker 9: in all my robes and gewgaws. Good night, madam. There.
27:36
Speaker 1: I knew how it would be, said she not resuming
27:39
Speaker 1: her seat.
27:40
Speaker 9: And on the eve of a county election too.
27:42
Speaker 5: Oh, you must not take old missus Goodenough as a specimen,
27:45
Speaker 5: dear Lady Harriet. She is always a grumbler. I am
27:49
Speaker 5: sure no one else would complain if you're all being
27:51
Speaker 5: as late as you liked.
27:52
Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson. What do you say Molly, said Lady Harriet,
27:56
Speaker 1: suddenly turning her eyes on Molly's face.
27:58
Speaker 9: Don't you think we've lost some of our popularity, which
28:01
Speaker 9: at this time means votes by coming so late? Come
28:05
Speaker 9: answer me. You used to be a famous little truth teller.
28:08
Speaker 7: I don't know about popularity your votes, said Molly, rather unwillingly.
28:13
Speaker 7: But I think many people were sorry you did not
28:15
Speaker 7: come sooner. And isn't that rather a proof of popularity?
28:19
Speaker 1: She added?
28:20
Speaker 9: That's a very neat and diplomatic answer.
28:23
Speaker 1: Said Lady Harriet, smiling and tapped Molly's cheek with her fan.
28:26
Speaker 5: Molly knows nothing about it.
28:28
Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, a little off her guard.
28:31
Speaker 5: It would be very impertinent if she were any one else,
28:33
Speaker 5: questioned Lady Cumnor's perfect right to come when she chose.
28:37
Speaker 9: Well, all I know is I must go back to
28:39
Speaker 9: Mamma now, but I shall make another raid into these
28:42
Speaker 9: regions by and by, and you must keep a place
28:44
Speaker 9: for me. Ah, there are miss Brownings, you see. I
28:48
Speaker 9: don't forget my lesson, Miss Gibson.
28:50
Speaker 5: Molly, I cannot have you speaking so to Lady Harriet,
28:53
Speaker 5: said missus Gibson, as soon as she was left alone,
28:56
Speaker 5: with her stepdaughter. You would never have known her at
28:58
Speaker 5: all if it had not been for me. And don't
29:01
Speaker 5: be always putting yourself into our conversation.
29:03
Speaker 7: But I must speak. If she asked me questions, pleaded.
29:07
Speaker 5: Molly, Well, if you must, you must. I acknowledge. I'm
29:10
Speaker 5: candid about that at any rate. But there's no need
29:13
Speaker 5: for you to set up to have an opinion at
29:14
Speaker 5: your age.
29:15
Speaker 7: I don't know how to help it, said Molly.
29:18
Speaker 5: She's such a whimsical person. Look there, if she's not
29:21
Speaker 5: talking to Miss Phoebe. And Miss Phoebe is so weak,
29:23
Speaker 5: she'll be easily led away into fancying. She is hand
29:26
Speaker 5: and glove with Lady Harriet. If there is one thing
29:29
Speaker 5: I hate more than another, it is the trying to
29:31
Speaker 5: make out an intimacy with great people.
29:34
Speaker 1: Molly felt innocent enough, so she offered no justification of
29:37
Speaker 1: herself and made no reply. Indeed, she was more occupied
29:41
Speaker 1: in watching Cynthia. She could not understand the change which
29:44
Speaker 1: seemed to have come over her. She was dancing, it
29:47
Speaker 1: was true, with the same lightness and grace as before,
29:50
Speaker 1: but the smooth bounding motion as of a feather blown
29:53
Speaker 1: onwards by the wind, was gone. She was conversing with
29:56
Speaker 1: her partner, but without the soft animation that usually shone
29:59
Speaker 1: out upon her countenance, And when she was brought back
30:02
Speaker 1: to her seat, Molly noticed her changed color and her
30:05
Speaker 1: dreamily abstracted eyes. What is the matter, Cynthia asked she
30:09
Speaker 1: in a low voice. Nothing, said Cynthia, suddenly looking up
30:13
Speaker 1: and in an accent of what in her was sharpness.
30:16
Speaker 6: Why should there be?
30:17
Speaker 7: I don't know, but you look different to what you did,
30:21
Speaker 7: tired or something.
30:22
Speaker 6: There's nothing the matter, or if there is, don't talk
30:24
Speaker 6: about it. It's all your fancy.
30:26
Speaker 1: This was a rather contradictory speech, to be interpreted by
30:30
Speaker 1: intuition rather than by logic. Molly understood that Cynthia wished
30:33
Speaker 1: for quietness and silence, But what was her surprise, after
30:37
Speaker 1: the speeches that passed before and the implication of Cynthia's
30:40
Speaker 1: whole manner to mister Preston, to see him come up
30:43
Speaker 1: to her and without a word, offer his arm and
30:46
Speaker 1: lead her away to dance. It appeared to strike missus
30:49
Speaker 1: Gibson as something remarkable for forgetting her late passage at
30:53
Speaker 1: arms with Molly. She asked, wonderingly, as if almost distrusting
30:56
Speaker 1: the evidence of her senses.
30:58
Speaker 5: Is Cynthia going to dance with mister Preston.
31:01
Speaker 1: Molly had scarcely time to answer before she herself was
31:03
Speaker 1: led off by her partner. She could hardly attend to
31:06
Speaker 1: him or to the figures of the quadrille for watching
31:09
Speaker 1: for Cynthia among the moving forms. Once she caught a
31:11
Speaker 1: glimpse of her, standing still downcast, listening to mister Preston's
31:16
Speaker 1: eager speech. Again, she was walking languidly among the dancers,
31:19
Speaker 1: almost as if she took no notice of those around her.
31:22
Speaker 1: When she and Molly joined each other again, the shade
31:25
Speaker 1: on Cynthia's face had deepened to gloom. But at the
31:28
Speaker 1: same time, if a physiognomist had studied her expression, he
31:32
Speaker 1: would have read in it defiance and anger, and perhaps
31:34
Speaker 1: also a little perplexity. While this quadrille had been going on,
31:38
Speaker 1: Lady Harriet had been speaking to her brother Hollingford, she said,
31:42
Speaker 1: laying her hand on his arm and drawing him a
31:44
Speaker 1: little apart from the well born crowd among which he stood,
31:47
Speaker 1: silent and abstracted.
31:49
Speaker 9: You don't know how these good people here have been
31:51
Speaker 9: hurt and disappointed with our being so late and with
31:54
Speaker 9: the Duchess's ridiculous simplicity of.
31:56
Speaker 12: Dress, why should they mind it.
31:59
Speaker 1: Asked he, taking advantage of her being out of breath
32:01
Speaker 1: with eagerness.
32:02
Speaker 9: Oh, don't be so wise and stupid. Don't you see
32:06
Speaker 9: we're a show and a spectacle. It's like having a
32:09
Speaker 9: pantomime with Harlequin and Columbine and plain clothes.
32:12
Speaker 12: I don't understand how he began.
32:15
Speaker 9: Then take it upon trust. They really are a little disappointed,
32:19
Speaker 9: whether they are logical or not in being so, And
32:22
Speaker 9: we must try and make it up to them, for
32:24
Speaker 9: one thing, because I can't bear our vassals to look
32:27
Speaker 9: dissatisfied and disloyal. And then there's the election in June.
32:31
Speaker 12: I really would as soon be out of the house
32:34
Speaker 12: as in it nonsense.
32:36
Speaker 9: It would grieve Papa beyond measure. And there's no time
32:39
Speaker 9: to talk about that.
32:40
Speaker 8: Now.
32:40
Speaker 9: You must go and dance with some of the townspeople.
32:43
Speaker 9: I'll ask Sheepshanks to introduce me to a respectable young farmer.
32:47
Speaker 9: Can't you get Captain James to make himself useful? There
32:50
Speaker 9: he goes with Lady Alice. If I don't get him
32:53
Speaker 9: introduced to the ugliest tailor's daughter I can find for
32:55
Speaker 9: the next dance.
32:57
Speaker 1: She put her arm on her brother's as she spoke,
32:59
Speaker 1: as if to lead him to some partner. He resisted, however,
33:02
Speaker 1: resisted piteously.
33:04
Speaker 12: Pray, don't halliot, you know I can't dance. I hate it.
33:08
Speaker 12: I always did. I don't know how to get through
33:11
Speaker 12: a quadrille.
33:12
Speaker 1: It's a country dance, said she resolutely.
33:16
Speaker 12: It's all the same. And what shall I say to
33:19
Speaker 12: my partner. I haven't a notion. I shall have no
33:22
Speaker 12: subject in common speak of being disappointed. They'll be ten
33:26
Speaker 12: times more disappointed when they find I can neither dance
33:30
Speaker 12: nor talk.
33:31
Speaker 9: I'll be merciful, don't be so cowardly in their eyes.
33:35
Speaker 9: A lord may dance like a bear, as some lords
33:38
Speaker 9: not very far from me are, if he likes, and
33:41
Speaker 9: they'll take it for grace. And you shall begin with
33:44
Speaker 9: Molly Gibson, your friend, the doctor's daughter. She's a good, simple,
33:48
Speaker 9: intelligent little girl, which you'll think a great deal more of,
33:51
Speaker 9: I suppose, than of the frivolous fact of her being
33:54
Speaker 9: very pretty. Claire, Will you allow me to introduce my
33:57
Speaker 9: brother to miss Gibson, He hopes to engage her for
34:00
Speaker 9: this dance.
34:01
Speaker 1: Lord Hollingford, Miss Gibson, Poor Lord Hollingford, there was nothing
34:06
Speaker 1: for it but for him to follow his sister's very
34:08
Speaker 1: explicit lead, and Molly and he walked off to their places,
34:12
Speaker 1: e tartily, wishing their dance together well over. Lady Harriet
34:15
Speaker 1: flew off to mister Sheepshanks to secure her respectable young farmer,
34:19
Speaker 1: and missus Gibson remained alone.
34:22
Speaker 5: Wishing that Lady Cumnor would send one of her attendant
34:25
Speaker 5: gentlemen for her. It would be so much more agreeable
34:28
Speaker 5: to be sitting even at the fag and of nobility
34:31
Speaker 5: than here on a bench with everybody, hoping that everybody
34:34
Speaker 5: would see Molly dancing away with the Lord. Yet vexed
34:38
Speaker 5: that the chance had so befallen that Molly, instead of Cynthia,
34:41
Speaker 5: was the young lady singled out, wondering if simplicity of
34:44
Speaker 5: dress was now become the highest fashion, and pondering on
34:47
Speaker 5: the possibility of cleverly inducing Lady Harriet to introduce Lord
34:51
Speaker 5: Albert Monson to her own beautiful daughter, Cynthia.
34:55
Speaker 1: Molly found Lord Hollingford the wise and learned Lord Hollingford
35:00
Speaker 1: rangely stupid in understanding the mystery of.
35:03
Speaker 7: Cross hands, and back again, down the middle and up again.
35:06
Speaker 1: He was constantly getting hold of the wrong hands, and
35:09
Speaker 1: as constantly stopping. When he had returned to his place,
35:12
Speaker 1: quite unaware that the duties of society and the laws
35:15
Speaker 1: of the dance required that he should go on capering
35:18
Speaker 1: till he had arrived at the bottom of the room.
35:20
Speaker 1: He perceived that he had performed his part very badly,
35:22
Speaker 1: and apologized to Molly when once they had arrived at
35:25
Speaker 1: that haven of comparative peace, and he expressed his regret
35:28
Speaker 1: so simply and heartily that she felt at her ease
35:31
Speaker 1: with him at once, especially when he confided to her.
35:34
Speaker 12: His reluctance at having to dance at all, and his
35:38
Speaker 12: only doing it under his sister's compulsion.
35:41
Speaker 1: To Molly, he was an elderly widower, almost as old
35:44
Speaker 1: as her father, and by and by they got into
35:46
Speaker 1: a very pleasant conversation. She learnt from him that Roger
35:49
Speaker 1: Hamley had just been publishing a paper in some scientific
35:52
Speaker 1: periodical which had excited considerable attention, as it was intended
35:57
Speaker 1: to confute some theory by a great French physiologist, and
36:00
Speaker 1: Roger's article proved the writer to be possessed of a
36:03
Speaker 1: most unusual amount of knowledge on the subject. This piece
36:06
Speaker 1: of news was of great interest to Molly, and in
36:08
Speaker 1: her question she herself evinced so much intelligence and a
36:12
Speaker 1: mind so well prepared for the reception of information, that
36:15
Speaker 1: Lord Hollingford at any rate would have felt his quest
36:18
Speaker 1: of popularity a very easy affair. Indeed, if he might
36:21
Speaker 1: have gone on talking quietly to Molly during the rest
36:24
Speaker 1: of the evening. When he took her back to her place,
36:26
Speaker 1: he found mister Gibson there and fell into talk with him,
36:29
Speaker 1: until Lady Harriet once more came to stir him up
36:32
Speaker 1: to his duties. Before very long, however, he returned to
36:35
Speaker 1: mister Gibson's side and began telling him of this paper
36:38
Speaker 1: of Roger Hamley's, of which mister Gibson had not yet heard.
36:42
Speaker 1: In the midst of their conversation, as they stood close
36:44
Speaker 1: by Missus Gibson, Lord Hollingford saw Molly in the distance,
36:48
Speaker 1: and interrupted himself to say.
36:50
Speaker 12: What a charming little lady that daughter of yours is.
36:54
Speaker 12: Most girls of her age are so difficult to talk to.
36:56
Speaker 12: But she is intelligent and full of intentry. Rest in
37:00
Speaker 12: all sorts of sensible things well read too. She was
37:05
Speaker 12: up in l'aur regna, animal and very pretty.
37:09
Speaker 1: Mister Gibson bowed much pleased at such a compliment from
37:13
Speaker 1: such a man, were he lud or not. It is
37:16
Speaker 1: very likely that if Molly had been a stupid listener,
37:19
Speaker 1: Lord Hollingford would not have discovered her beauty, or the
37:22
Speaker 1: converse might be asserted, if she had not been young
37:24
Speaker 1: and pretty, he would not have exerted himself to talk
37:27
Speaker 1: on scientific subjects in a manner which she could understand.
37:30
Speaker 1: But in whatever way Molly had won his approbation and admiration,
37:34
Speaker 1: there was no doubt that she had earned it somehow,
37:36
Speaker 1: And when she next returned to her place, Missus Gibson
37:39
Speaker 1: greeted her with soft words and a gracious smile. For
37:42
Speaker 1: it does not require much reasoning power to discover that
37:45
Speaker 1: if it is a fine thing to be mother in
37:47
Speaker 1: law to a very magnificent three tailed bashore, it presupposes
37:51
Speaker 1: that the wife who makes the connection between the two
37:53
Speaker 1: parties is in harmony with her mother. And so far
37:56
Speaker 1: had Missus Gibson's thoughts wandered into futurity.
38:00
Speaker 5: She only wished that the happy chance had fallen to
38:03
Speaker 5: Cynthia's instead of to Molly's lot. But Molly was a docile,
38:07
Speaker 5: sweet creature, very pretty and remarkably intelligent. As my Lord
38:12
Speaker 5: had said, it was a pity that Cynthia preferred making
38:15
Speaker 5: millinery to reading, but perhaps that could be rectified. And
38:19
Speaker 5: there was Lord Cumnor coming to speak to her, and
38:22
Speaker 5: Lady Cumnor nodding to her and indicating a place by
38:25
Speaker 5: her side.
38:27
Speaker 1: It was not an unsatisfactory ball upon the whole to
38:29
Speaker 1: missus Gibson, although she paid the usual penalty for sitting
38:33
Speaker 1: up beyond her ordinary hour in perpetual glare and movement.
38:36
Speaker 1: The next morning she awoke irritable and fatigued, and a
38:39
Speaker 1: little of the same feeling oppressed both Cynthia and Molly.
38:42
Speaker 1: The former was lounging in the window seat, holding a
38:45
Speaker 1: three days old newspaper in her hand, which she was
38:48
Speaker 1: making a pretense of reading, when she was startled by
38:51
Speaker 1: her mother's saying.
38:52
Speaker 5: Cynthia, can't you take up a book and improve yourself?
38:55
Speaker 5: I am sure your conversation will never be worth listening
38:58
Speaker 5: to unless you read something better than newspapers. Why don't
39:02
Speaker 5: you keep up your French? There was some French book
39:04
Speaker 5: that Molly was reading, Renner Animal.
39:07
Speaker 1: I think no, I never read it, said Molly, blushing.
39:12
Speaker 7: Mister Roger Hamley sometimes read pieces out of it when
39:15
Speaker 7: I was first at the hall, and told me what
39:17
Speaker 7: it was about.
39:18
Speaker 5: Oh well, then I suppose I was mistaken. But it
39:22
Speaker 5: comes to all the same thing, Cynthia, you really must
39:25
Speaker 5: learn to settle yourself to some improving reading every morning.
39:28
Speaker 1: Rather to Molly's surprise, Cynthia did not reply a word,
39:32
Speaker 1: but dutifully went and brought down from amongst her blonde
39:35
Speaker 1: school books, the Siecle de Louis Cadors. But after a
39:38
Speaker 1: while Molly saw that this improving reading was just as
39:42
Speaker 1: much a mere excuse for Cynthia's thinking her own thoughts
39:45
Speaker 1: as the newspaper had been. End of Chapter twenty six