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032 - Mischances · North and South

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty two of North and South. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Leanne Howlett. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,
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  Speaker 1: chapter thirty two. Mischances what remained to be denounced dragged
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  Speaker 1: It may be in chains werner all. The next day
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  Speaker 1: they sat together, they three. Mister Hale hardly ever spoke,
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  Speaker 1: but when his children asked him questions and forced him,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, into the present, Frederick scrief was no
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  Speaker 1: more to be seen or heard. The first paroxysm had
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  Speaker 1: passed over, and now he was ashamed of having been
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  Speaker 1: so battered down by emotion. And though his sorrow for
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  Speaker 1: the loss of his mother was a deep, real feeling
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  Speaker 1: and would last his life, it was never to be
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  Speaker 1: spoken of again. Margaret, not so passionate at first, was
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  Speaker 1: more suffering now. At times she cried a good deal,
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  Speaker 1: and her manner, even when speaking on indifferent things, had
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  Speaker 1: a mournful tenderness about it, which was deepened whenever her
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  Speaker 1: looks fell on Frederick, and she thought of his rapidly
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  Speaker 1: approaching departure. She was glad he was going on her
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  Speaker 1: father's account, however much she might grieve over it on
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  Speaker 1: her own. The anxious terror in which mister Hale lived
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  Speaker 1: lest his son should be detected and captured far outweighed
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  Speaker 1: the pleasure he derived from his presence. The nervousness had
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  Speaker 1: increased since missus Hale's death, probably because he dwelt upon
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  Speaker 1: it more exclusively. He started at every unusual sound and
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  Speaker 1: was never comfortable unless Frederick sat out of the immediate
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  Speaker 1: view of any one entering the room. Towards evening, he said,
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  Speaker 1: you will go with Frederick to the station, Margaret. I
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  Speaker 1: shall want to know he is safely off. You will
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  Speaker 1: ring word that he is clear of Milton at any rate. Certainly,
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  Speaker 1: said Margaret. I shall like it if you won't be
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  Speaker 1: lonely without me. Papa, No, no, I should always be
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  Speaker 1: fancying some one had known him and that he had
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  Speaker 1: been stopped unless you could tell me you had seen
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  Speaker 1: him off, and go to the Outwood station. It is
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  Speaker 1: quite as near, and not so many people about. Take
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  Speaker 1: a cab there there is less risk of his being seen.
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  Speaker 1: What time is your train, fred ten minutes past six,
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  Speaker 1: very nearly dark. So what will you do, Margaret? Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I can manage. I am getting very brave and very hard.
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  Speaker 1: It is a well lighted road all the way home
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  Speaker 1: if it should be dark. But I was out last week.
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  Speaker 1: Much later, Margaret was thankful when the parting was over,
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  Speaker 1: the parting from the dead mother and the living father.
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  Speaker 1: She hurried Frederick into the cab in order to shorten
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  Speaker 1: a scene which she saw was so bitterly painful to
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  Speaker 1: her father, who would accompany his son as he took
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  Speaker 1: his last look at his mother, partly in consequence of this,
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  Speaker 1: and partly owing to one of the very common mistakes
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  Speaker 1: in the railway guide as to the times. When trains
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  Speaker 1: arrived at the smaller stations, they found, on reaching Outwood
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  Speaker 1: that they had nearly twenty minutes to spare. The booking
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  Speaker 1: office was not open, so they could not even take
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  Speaker 1: the ticket. They accordingly went down the flight of steps
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  Speaker 1: that led to the level of the ground below the railway.
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  Speaker 1: There was a broad cinder path diagonally crossing a field
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  Speaker 1: which lay alongside of the carriage road, and they went
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  Speaker 1: there to walk backwards and forwards for the few minutes
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  Speaker 1: they had to spare Margaret's hand lay in Frederick's arm.
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  Speaker 1: He took hold of it affectionately. Margaret, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: consult mister Lennox as to the chance of exculpating myself
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  Speaker 1: so that I may return to England whenever. I choose
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  Speaker 1: more for your sake than for the sake of any
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  Speaker 1: one else. I can't bear to think of your lonely
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  Speaker 1: position if anything should happen to my father. He looked sadly, changed,
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  Speaker 1: terribly shaken. I wish you could get him to think
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  Speaker 1: of the Cadiz plan for many reasons. What could you
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  Speaker 1: do if he were taken away? You have no friend near.
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  Speaker 1: We are curiously bare of relations. Margaret could hardly keep
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  Speaker 1: from crying at the tender anxiety with which Frederick was
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  Speaker 1: bringing before her, an event which she herself felt was
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  Speaker 1: not very improbable, so severely had the cares of the
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  Speaker 1: last few months told upon mister Hale. But she tried
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  Speaker 1: to rally, as she said, there have been such strained,
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  Speaker 1: unexpected changes in my life during these last two years
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  Speaker 1: that I feel more than ever that it is not
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  Speaker 1: worth while to calculate too closely what I should do
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  Speaker 1: if any future event took place. I try to think
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  Speaker 1: only upon the present, she paused. They were standing still
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, close on the field side of the
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  Speaker 1: stile leading into the road. The setting sun fell on
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  Speaker 1: their faces. Frederick held her hand in his and looked
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  Speaker 1: with wistful anxiety into her face, Reading their more care
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  Speaker 1: and trouble than she would betray by words, she went on,
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  Speaker 1: we shall write often to one another, and I will promise,
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  Speaker 1: for I see it will set your mind at ease
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  Speaker 1: to tell you every worry I have, Papa is She
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  Speaker 1: started a little, a hardly visible start, but Frederick felt
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  Speaker 1: the sudden motion of the hand he held and turned
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  Speaker 1: his full face to the road, along which a horseman
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  Speaker 1: was slowly riding, just passing the very style where they stood.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret bowed her bow was stiffly returned. Who is that?
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  Speaker 1: Said Frederick, almost before he was out of hearing. Margaret
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  Speaker 1: was a little drooping, a little flushed, as she replied,
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  Speaker 1: mister Thornton, you saw him before, you know only his back.
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  Speaker 1: He is an unprepossessing looking fellow. What a scowl he has.
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  Speaker 1: Something has happened to vex him, said Margaret apologetically. You
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  Speaker 1: would not have thought him unprepossessing if you had seen
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  Speaker 1: him with Mamma. I fancy it must be time to
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  Speaker 1: go and take my ticket. If I had known how
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  Speaker 1: dark it would be, we wouldn't have sent back the cab. Margaret, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: don't fidget about that. I can take a cab here
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  Speaker 1: if I like, or go back by the railroad when
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  Speaker 1: I should have shot some people and lamps all the
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  Speaker 1: way from the Milton station house. Don't think of me.
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  Speaker 1: Take care of yourself. I am sick with the thought
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  Speaker 1: that Leonards may be in the same train with you.
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  Speaker 1: Look well into the carriage before you get in. They
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  Speaker 1: went back to the station, Margaret insisted upon going into
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  Speaker 1: the full light of the flaring gas inside to take
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  Speaker 1: the ticket. Some idle looking young men were lounging about
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  Speaker 1: with the station master. Margaret thought she had seen the
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  Speaker 1: face of one of them before, and returned him a
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  Speaker 1: proud look of offended dignity for his somewhat impertinent stare
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  Speaker 1: of undisguised admiration. She went hastily to her brother, who
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  Speaker 1: was standing outside, and took hold of his arm. Have
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  Speaker 1: you got your bag? Let us walk about here on
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  Speaker 1: the platform, said she, a little flurried at the idea
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  Speaker 1: of so soon being left alone, and her bravery oozing
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  Speaker 1: out rather faster than she liked to acknowledge, even to herself.
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  Speaker 1: She heard a step following them along the flags. It
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  Speaker 1: stopped when they stopped, looking out along the line and
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  Speaker 1: hearing the whiz of the coming train. They did not speak.
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  Speaker 1: Their hearts were too full. Another moment and the train
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  Speaker 1: would be here. A minute more and he would be gone.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret almost repented the urgency with which she had entreated
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  Speaker 1: him to go to London. It was throwing more chances
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  Speaker 1: of detection in his way. If he had sailed for
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  Speaker 1: Spain by Liverpool, he might have been off in two
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  Speaker 1: or three hours. Frederick turned round right facing the lamp,
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  Speaker 1: where the gas darted up in vivid anticipation of the train.
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  Speaker 1: A man in the dress of a railway porter started forward,
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  Speaker 1: a bad looking man who seemed to have drunk himself
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  Speaker 1: into a state of brutality, although his senses were in
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  Speaker 1: perfect order. By your leave, miss, said he pushing Margaret
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  Speaker 1: rudely on one side and seizing Frederick by the collar.
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  Speaker 1: Your name is Hale, I believe in an instant how
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  Speaker 1: Margaret did not see, for everything danced before her eyes,
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  Speaker 1: but by some slight of wrestling, Frederick had tripped him up,
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  Speaker 1: and he fell from the height of three or four feet,
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  Speaker 1: which the platform was elevated above the space of soft
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  Speaker 1: ground by the side of the railroad. There he lay. Run, run,
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  Speaker 1: gasped Margaret, The train is here. It was Leonard's was it? Oh? Run,
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  Speaker 1: I will carry your bag. And she took him by
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  Speaker 1: the arm to push him along with all her feeble force.
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  Speaker 1: A door was opened in a carriage. He jumped in,
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  Speaker 1: and as he leant out to say God bless you, Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: the train rushed past her, and she was left standing alone.
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  Speaker 1: She was so terribly sick and faint that she was
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  Speaker 1: thankful to be able to turn into the ladies waiting
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  Speaker 1: room and sit down for an instant. At first, she
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  Speaker 1: could do nothing but gasp for breath. It was such
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  Speaker 1: a hurry, such a sickening alarm, such a near chance.
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  Speaker 1: If the train had not been there at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: the man would have jumped up again and called for
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  Speaker 1: assistance to arrest him. She wondered if the man had
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  Speaker 1: got up, She tried to remember if she had seen
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  Speaker 1: him move. She wondered if he could have been seriously
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  Speaker 1: hurt she ventured out. The platform was all alight, but
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  Speaker 1: still quite deserted. She went to the end and looked
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  Speaker 1: over somewhat fearfully. No one was there, And then she
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  Speaker 1: was glad she had made herself go and inspect, for
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  Speaker 1: otherwise terrible thoughts would have haunted her dreams. And even
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  Speaker 1: as it was, she was so trembling and affrighted that
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  Speaker 1: she felt she could not walk home along the road,
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  Speaker 1: which did indeed seem lonely and dark as she gazed
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  Speaker 1: down upon it from the blaze of the station. She
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  Speaker 1: would wait till the down train passed and take her
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  Speaker 1: seat in it. But what if Leander's recognized her as
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  Speaker 1: Frederick's companion? She peered about before venturing into the booking
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  Speaker 1: office to take her ticket. There were only some railway
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  Speaker 1: officials standing about and talking loud to one another. So
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  Speaker 1: Lennard's has been drinking again, said one, seemingly in authority.
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  Speaker 1: He'll need all his boasted influence to keep his place
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  Speaker 1: this time. Where is he asked another, while Margaret, her
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  Speaker 1: back towards them, was counting her change with trembling fingers,
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  Speaker 1: not daring to turn round until she heard the answer
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  Speaker 1: to this question. I don't know. He came in not
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  Speaker 1: five minutes ago with some long story or other about
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  Speaker 1: a fall he'd had, swearing awfully, and wanted to borrow
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  Speaker 1: some money from me to go to London by the
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  Speaker 1: next up train. He made all sorts of tipsy promises,
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  Speaker 1: but I'd something else to do than listen to him.
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  Speaker 1: I told him to go about his business, and he
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  Speaker 1: went off at the front door. He's at the nearest vaults.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be bound, said the first speaker. Your money would
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  Speaker 1: have gone there too, if you'd been such a fool
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  Speaker 1: as to lend it. Catch me. I knew better. What
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  Speaker 1: is London meant? Why he has never paid me off
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  Speaker 1: that five shillings? And so they went on, and now
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  Speaker 1: all Margaret's anxiety was for the train to come. She
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  Speaker 1: hid herself once more in the ladies waiting room and fancied.
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  Speaker 1: Every noise was Leonard's step, every loud and boisterous voice
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  Speaker 1: was his, But no one came near her until the
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  Speaker 1: train drew up, when she was civilly helped into a
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  Speaker 1: carriage by a porter, into whose face she durst not
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  Speaker 1: looked till they were in motion, and then she saw
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  Speaker 1: that it was not Leonard's end of Chapter thirty two.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Leanne Howlett