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042 - Gathering Clouds · Wives and Daughters

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty one of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter forty one,
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  Speaker 1: Gathering Clouds. Missus Gibson came back full of rose colored
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  Speaker 1: accounts of London. Lady Cumnor had been gracious and affectionate.
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  Speaker 2: So touched by my going up to see her so
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  Speaker 2: soon after her return to England.
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  Speaker 1: Lady Harriet charming and devoted to her old governess, Lord Cumnor,
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  Speaker 1: just like.
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  Speaker 2: His dear, usual hearty self. And as for the Kirkpatricks, no,
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  Speaker 2: Lord Chancellor's house was ever grander than theirs, and the
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  Speaker 2: silk gown of the q C had floated over housemaids
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  Speaker 2: and footmen. Cynthia too was so much admired. And as
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  Speaker 2: for her dress, Missus Kirkpatrick had showered down ball dresses
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  Speaker 2: and wreaths and pretty bonnets and mantles like a fairy godmother.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Gibson's poor present of ten pounds shrank into very
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  Speaker 1: small dimensions compared with all this munificence.
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  Speaker 2: And they're so fond of her. I don't know when
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  Speaker 2: we shall have her back.
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  Speaker 1: Was Missus Gibson's winding up sentence.
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  Speaker 2: And now Molly, what have you and Papa been doing?
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  Speaker 2: Very gay you sounded in your letter. I had not
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  Speaker 2: time to read it in London, so I put it
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  Speaker 2: in my pocket and read it in the coach coming home.
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  Speaker 2: But my dear child, you do look so old fashioned
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  Speaker 2: with your gown made all tight and your hair all
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  Speaker 2: tumbling about in curls. Curls are quite gone out. We
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  Speaker 2: must do your hair differently.
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  Speaker 1: She continued, trying to smooth Molly's black waves into straitness.
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  Speaker 1: I sent Cynthia an African letter, said Molly, timidly.
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  Speaker 3: Did you hear anything or what was in it?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, poor child? It made her very uneasy, I think.
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  Speaker 2: She said she did not feel inclined to go to
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  Speaker 2: mister Rawson's ball, which was on that night, and for
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  Speaker 2: which Missus Kirkpatrick had given her the ball dress. But
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  Speaker 2: there was really nothing for her to fidget herself about.
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  Speaker 2: Roger only said he had had another touch of fever,
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  Speaker 2: but was better when he wrote he says every European
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  Speaker 2: has to be acclimatized by fever in that part of
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  Speaker 2: Abyssinia where he is.
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  Speaker 1: And did she go, asked Molly, yes.
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  Speaker 2: To be sure, it is not an engagement and if
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  Speaker 2: it were, it is not acknowledged. Fancy her going and saying,
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  Speaker 2: a young man that I know has been ill for
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  Speaker 2: a few days in Africa two months ago. Therefore I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to go to the ball to night. It
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  Speaker 2: would have seemed like affectation of sentiment. And if this
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  Speaker 2: one thing I hate it.
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  Speaker 3: Is that she would hardly enjoy herself, said Molly.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, but she did. Her dress was white gauze,
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  Speaker 2: trimmed with lilacs, and she really did look a mother,
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  Speaker 2: maybe allowed a little natural partiality, most lovely, and she
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  Speaker 2: danced every dance, although she was quite a stranger. I
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  Speaker 2: am sure she enjoyed herself for her manner of talking
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  Speaker 2: about it.
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  Speaker 3: Next morning, I wonder if the Squire knows knows.
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  Speaker 2: What, oh yes, to be sure you mean about Roger.
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  Speaker 2: I daresay he'd and there's no need to tell him,
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  Speaker 2: for I've no doubt it is all right now.
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  Speaker 1: And she went out of the room to finish her unpacking.
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  Speaker 1: Molly let her work fall and sighed.
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  Speaker 3: It will be a year to day after to morrow,
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  Speaker 3: since I came here to propose our going to hurst Wood.
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  Speaker 3: And Mamma was so vexed at his calling before lunch.
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  Speaker 3: I wonder if Cynthia remembers it as well as I do.
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  Speaker 3: And now perhaps, Oh, Roger, Roger, I wish I pray
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  Speaker 3: that you were safe home again. How could we all
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  Speaker 3: bear it? If?
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  Speaker 1: She covered her face with her hands and tried to
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  Speaker 1: stop thinking. Suddenly she got up, as if stung by
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  Speaker 1: a venomous fancy.
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  Speaker 3: I don't believe she loves him a she ought or
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  Speaker 3: she could not, could not have gone and danced. What
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  Speaker 3: shall I do if she does not? What shall I do?
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  Speaker 3: I can bear anything but that.
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  Speaker 1: But she found the long suspense as to his health
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  Speaker 1: hard enough to endure. They were not likely to hear
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  Speaker 1: from him for a month at least, and before that
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  Speaker 1: time had elapsed, Cynthia would be home again. Molly learnt
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  Speaker 1: to long for her return before the fortnight of her
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  Speaker 1: absence was over. She had had no idea that perpetual
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  Speaker 1: tete a tetes with Missus Gibson could, by any possibility
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  Speaker 1: be so tiresome as she found them. Perhaps Molly's state
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  Speaker 1: of delicate health consequent upon her rapid growth during the
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  Speaker 1: last few months made her irritable, but really often she
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  Speaker 1: had to get up and leave the room to calm
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  Speaker 1: herself down after listening to a long series of words
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  Speaker 1: more frequently plaintive or discontented in tone than cheerful, and
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  Speaker 1: which at the end conveyed no distinct impression of either
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  Speaker 1: the speaker's thought or feeling. Whenever anything had gone wrong,
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  Speaker 1: whenever mister Gibson had coolly persevered in anything to which
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  Speaker 1: she had objected, whenever the cook had made a mistake
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  Speaker 1: about the dinner, or the housemaid broken any little frangible article.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever Molly's hair was not done to her liking, or
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  Speaker 1: her dress did not become her or the smell of
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  Speaker 1: dinner pervaded the house, or the wrong callers came or
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  Speaker 1: the right callers did not come. In fact, whenever anything
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  Speaker 1: went wrong, poor mister Kirkpatrick was regretted and more over,
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  Speaker 1: nay almost blamed, as if had he only given himself
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  Speaker 1: the trouble of living, he could have helped it.
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  Speaker 2: When I look back to those happy days, it seems
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  Speaker 2: to me as if I had never valued them as
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  Speaker 2: I ought to be sure youth love, What did we
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  Speaker 2: care for poverty? I remember dear mister Kirkpatrick walking five
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  Speaker 2: miles into Stratford to buy me a muffin, because I
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  Speaker 2: had such a fancy for one after Cynthia was born.
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  Speaker 2: I don't mean to complain of dear Papa, but I
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  Speaker 2: don't think but perhaps I ought not to say it
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  Speaker 2: to you if mister Kirkpatrick had but taken care of
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  Speaker 2: that cough of his. But he was so obstinate, men
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  Speaker 2: always are, I think, and it really was selfish of him.
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  Speaker 2: Only I daresay he did not consider the forlorn state
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  Speaker 2: in which I should be left. It came harder upon
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  Speaker 2: me than upon most people, because I always was of
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  Speaker 2: such an affectionate, sensitive nature. I remember a little poem
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  Speaker 2: of mister Kirkpatrick's in which he compared my heart to
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  Speaker 2: a harp string vibrating to the slightest breeze.
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  Speaker 3: I thought harp strings required a pretty strong finger to
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  Speaker 3: make them sound.
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  Speaker 1: Said Molly, my dear child.
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  Speaker 2: You've no more poetry in you than your father. And
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  Speaker 2: as for your hair, it's worse than ever. Can't you
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  Speaker 2: drench it in water to take those untidy twists and
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  Speaker 2: twirls out of it.
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  Speaker 3: It only makes it cowl more and more when it
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  Speaker 3: gets dry.
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  Speaker 1: Said Molly, sudden tears coming into her eyes. As a
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  Speaker 1: recollection came before her like a picture seen long ago
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  Speaker 1: and forgotten for years, a young mother washing and dressing
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  Speaker 1: her little girl, placing the half naked darling on her knee,
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  Speaker 1: and twining the wet rings of dark hair fondly round
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  Speaker 1: her fingers, and then, in an ecstasy of fondness, kissing
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  Speaker 1: the little curly head. The receipt of Cynthia's letters made
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  Speaker 1: very agreeable events. She did not write often, but her
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  Speaker 1: letters were tolerably long when they did come, and very
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  Speaker 1: sprightly in tone. There was constant mention made of many
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  Speaker 1: new names, which conveyed no id to Molly, though Missus
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  Speaker 1: Gibson would try and enlighten her by running commentaries such
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  Speaker 1: as the following.
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  Speaker 2: Missus Green, Ah, that's mister Jones's pretty cousin who lives
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  Speaker 2: in Russell Square with the fat husband. They keep their carriage.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm not sure if it is not mister Green
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  Speaker 2: who is Missus Jones's cousin. We can ask Cynthia when
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  Speaker 2: she comes home mister Henderson to be sure. A young
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  Speaker 2: man with black whiskers a pupil of mister Kirkpatrick's formerly,
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  Speaker 2: or was he a pupil of mister Murray's I know
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  Speaker 2: they said he had read law with somebody.
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  Speaker 3: Ah.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they are the people who called the day after
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  Speaker 2: mister Rawson's ball, and who admired Cynthia so much without
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  Speaker 2: knowing I was her mother. She was very handsomely dressed,
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  Speaker 2: indeed in black satin, and the sun had a glass eye.
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  Speaker 2: But he was a young man of good property. Coleman, Yes,
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  Speaker 2: that was the name.
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  Speaker 1: No more news of Roger came until some time after
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia had returned from her London visit. She came back
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  Speaker 1: looking fresher and prettier than ever, beautifully dressed thanks to
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  Speaker 1: her own goodness, taste and her cousin's generosity, full of
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  Speaker 1: amusing details of the gay life she had been enjoying,
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  Speaker 1: yet not at all out of spirits at having left
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  Speaker 1: it behind her. She brought home all sorts of pretty
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  Speaker 1: and dainty devices for Molly. A neck ribbon made up
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  Speaker 1: in the newest fashion, a pattern for a tippet, a
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  Speaker 1: delicate pair of light gloves embroidered as Molly had never
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  Speaker 1: seen gloves embroidered before, and many other little signs of
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  Speaker 1: remembrance during her absence. Yet, somehow or other, Molly felt
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  Speaker 1: that Cynthia was changed in her relation to her. Molly
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  Speaker 1: was aware that she had never had Cynthia's full confidence,
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  Speaker 1: for with all her apparent frankness and naivete of manner,
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia was extremely reserved and reticent. She knew this much
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  Speaker 1: of herself, and had often laughed about it to Molly,
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  Speaker 1: and the latter had by this time found out the
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  Speaker 1: truth of her friend's assertion, but Molly did not trouble
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  Speaker 1: herself much about it. She too knew that there were
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  Speaker 1: many thoughts and feelings that flitted through her mind, which
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  Speaker 1: she should never think of telling any one, except perhaps
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  Speaker 1: if they were very much thrown together to her father.
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  Speaker 1: She knew that Cynthia, with help from her, more than
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  Speaker 1: thoughts and feelings, that she withheld facts. But then, as
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  Speaker 1: Molly reflected, these facts might involve details of struggle and suffering,
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  Speaker 1: might relate to her mother's neglect, and altogether be of
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  Speaker 1: so painful a character that it would be well if
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia could forget her childhood altogether, instead of fixing it
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  Speaker 1: in her mind by the relation of her grievances and troubles.
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  Speaker 1: So it was not now by any want of confidence
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  Speaker 1: that Molly felt distanced as it were, it was because
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia rather avoided than sought her companionship, because her eyes
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  Speaker 1: shunned the straight, serious, loving look of Molly's, because there
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  Speaker 1: were certain subjects on which she evidently disliked speaking, not
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  Speaker 1: particularly interesting things, as far as Molly could perceive, but
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  Speaker 1: it almost seemed as if they lay on the road
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  Speaker 1: to points to be avoided. Molly felt a sort of
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  Speaker 1: sighing pleasure in noticing Cynthia's changed manner of talking about Roger.
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  Speaker 1: She spoke of him tenderly, now, poor Roger, as she
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  Speaker 1: called him, and Molly thought that she must be referring
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  Speaker 1: to the illness which she had mentioned in his last letter.
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  Speaker 1: One morning in the first week after Cynthia's return home,
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  Speaker 1: just as he was going out, mister Gibson ran up
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  Speaker 1: into the drawing room, hat on, booted and spurred, and
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  Speaker 1: hastily laid an open pamphlet down before her, pointing out
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  Speaker 1: a particular passage with his finger, but not speaking a
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  Speaker 1: word before he rapidly quitted the room. His eyes were sparkling,
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  Speaker 1: and he had an amused as well as pleased expression.
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  Speaker 1: All this Molly noticed, as well as Cynthia's flush of
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  Speaker 1: color as she read what was thus pointed out to her.
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  Speaker 1: Then she pushed it a little on one side, not
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  Speaker 1: closing the book, however, and went on with her work.
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  Speaker 3: What is it? May I see it?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Molly, stretching out her hand for the pamphlet, which
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  Speaker 1: lay within her reach. But she did not take it
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  Speaker 1: until Cynthia had said.
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  Speaker 4: Certainly, I don't suppose there are any great secrets in
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  Speaker 4: a scientific journal full of reports of meetings, And she
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  Speaker 4: gave the book a little push towards Molly.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, Cynthia said, Molly, catching her breath as she read,
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  Speaker 1: are you not proud? For it was an account of
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  Speaker 1: an annual gathering of the Geographical Society? And Lord Hollingford
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  Speaker 1: had read a letter he had received from Roger Hamley,
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  Speaker 1: dated from Arakuoba, a district in Africa, hitherto unvisited by
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  Speaker 1: any intelligent European traveler, and about which mister Hamley sent
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  Speaker 1: many curious particulars. The reading of this letter had been
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  Speaker 1: received with the greatest interest, and several subsequent speakers had
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  Speaker 1: paid the writer very high compliments. But Molly might have
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  Speaker 1: known Cynthia better than to expect an answer responsive to
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  Speaker 1: the feelings that prompted her question. Let Cynthia be ever
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  Speaker 1: so proud, ever so glad, or so grateful, or even indignant, remorseful,
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  Speaker 1: grieved or sorry. The very fact that she was expected
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  Speaker 1: by another to entertain any of these emotions would have
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  Speaker 1: been enough to prevent her expressing them.
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  Speaker 4: I'm afraid I'm not as much struck by the wonder
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  Speaker 4: of the thing as you are, Molly. Besides, it is
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  Speaker 4: not news to me, at least not entirely. I heard
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  Speaker 4: about the meeting before I left London. It was a
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  Speaker 4: good deal talked about in my uncle's set. To be sure,
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  Speaker 4: I didn't hear all the fine things they save her there.
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  Speaker 4: But then, you know, that's a mere fashion of speaking
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  Speaker 4: which means nothing. Somebody is bound to pay compliments when
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  Speaker 4: a lord takes the trouble to read one of his
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  Speaker 4: letters aloud.
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  Speaker 3: Nonsense, said Molly. You know you don't believe what you
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  Speaker 3: are saying, Cynthia.
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia gave that pretty little jerk of her shoulders, which
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  Speaker 1: was her equivalent for a French shrug, but did not
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  Speaker 1: lift up her head from her sewing. Molly began to
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  Speaker 1: read the report over again.
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  Speaker 3: Why Cynthia, she said, you might have been there. Ladies
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  Speaker 3: were there. It's as many ladies were present. Oh, couldn't
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  Speaker 3: you have managed to go if your uncle's set cared
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  Speaker 3: about these things? Wouldn't some of them have taken you.
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  Speaker 4: Perhaps if I had asked them, But I think they
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  Speaker 4: would have been rather astonished at my sudden turn for science.
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  Speaker 3: You might have told your uncle how matters really stood.
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  Speaker 3: You wouldn't have talked about it if you had wished
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  Speaker 3: him not. I am sure, and he could have helped
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  Speaker 3: you once for all, Molly.
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  Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, now laying down her work and speaking with
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  Speaker 1: a quick authority.
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  Speaker 4: Do learn to understand that it is and always has
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  Speaker 4: been my wish not to have the relation which Roger
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  Speaker 4: and I bear to each other mentioned or talked about.
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  Speaker 4: When the right time comes, I will make it known
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  Speaker 4: to my uncle and to everybody whom I may concern.
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  Speaker 4: But I am not going to make mischief and get
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  Speaker 4: myself into trouble, even for the sake of hearing compliments
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  Speaker 4: paid to him by letting it out before the time.
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  Speaker 4: If I'm pushed to it, I'd sooner break it off
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  Speaker 4: altogether at once and have done with it. I can't
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  Speaker 4: be worse off than I am.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Her angry tone had changed into a kind of
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  Speaker 1: desponding complaint. Before she had ended her sentence, Molly looked
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  Speaker 1: at her with dismay. I can't understand you, Cynthia, she
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  Speaker 1: said at length.
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  Speaker 4: Now I dare say you can't, said Cynthia.
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  Speaker 1: Looking at her with tears in her eyes and very tenderly,
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  Speaker 1: as if in atonement for her late vehemence.
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  Speaker 4: I am afraid I hope you never will.
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  Speaker 1: In a moment, Molly's arms were around her. Oh, Cynthia,
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  Speaker 1: she murmured, Have.
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  Speaker 3: I been plaguing you? Have I vexed you? Don't say
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  Speaker 3: you're afraid of my knowing you. Of course you've your faults.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody has, but I think I love you the better
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  Speaker 3: for them. I don't know that I am so very bad.
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  Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, smiling a little through the tears that Molly's
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  Speaker 1: words and caresses had forced to overflow from her eyes.
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  Speaker 4: But I have got into scrapes. I'm in a scrape now.
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  Speaker 4: I do sometimes believe I shall always be in scrapes,
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  Speaker 4: and if they ever come to light, I shall seem
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  Speaker 4: to be worse than I really am. And I know
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  Speaker 4: your father will throw me off and I no, I
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  Speaker 4: won't be afraid that you will, Molly.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure I won't are they. Do you think how
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  Speaker 1: would Roger take it? Asked Molly, very timidly.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know. I hope you will never hear of it.
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  Speaker 4: I don't see why he should. For in a little while,
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  Speaker 4: I shall be quite clear again. It all came about
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  Speaker 4: without my ever thinking I was doing wrong. I've a
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  Speaker 4: great mind to tell you all about it, Molly.
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  Speaker 1: Molly did not like to urge it, though she longed
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  Speaker 1: to know and to see if she could not offer help.
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  Speaker 1: But while Cynthia was hesitating and perhaps to say the truth,
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  Speaker 1: rather regretting that she had even made this slight advance
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: towards bestowing her confidence, missus Gibson came in full of
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: some manner of altering a gown of hers, so as
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: to make it into the fashion of the day as
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  Speaker 1: she had seen it. During her visit to London. Cynthia
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  Speaker 1: seemed to forget her tears and her troubles, and to
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  Speaker 1: throw her whole soul into millinery. Cynthia's correspondence went on
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  Speaker 1: pretty briskly with her London cousins. According to the usual
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  Speaker 1: rate of correspondence in those days. Indeed, missus Gibson was
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  Speaker 1: occasionally inclined to complain of the frequency of Helen Kirkpatrick's letters,
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  Speaker 1: for before the penny post came in, the recipient had
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  Speaker 1: to pay the postage of letters, and elevenpence halfpenny three
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: times a week came, according to missus Gibson's murder reckoning
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: when annoyed to a sum between three and four shillings.
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  Speaker 1: But these complaints were only for the family they saw
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  Speaker 1: the wrong side of the tapestry Hollingford in general. Miss
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  Speaker 1: Brownings in particular.
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  Speaker 2: Heard of dear Helen's enthusiastic friendship for Cynthia, and of
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  Speaker 2: the real pleasure it was to receive such constant news
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  Speaker 2: relays of news indeed from London. It was almost as
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  Speaker 2: good as there a.
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  Speaker 5: Great deal better, I should think.
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  Speaker 1: Said Miss Browning with some severity, for she had got
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  Speaker 1: many of her notions of the metropolis from the British essayists,
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  Speaker 1: where town is so often represented.
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  Speaker 5: As the center of dissipation, corrupting country wives and squire's daughters,
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  Speaker 5: and unfitting them for all their duties by the constant
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  Speaker 5: whirl of its not always innocent pleasures. London was a
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  Speaker 5: sort of moral pitch which few could touch and not
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  Speaker 5: be defiled.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Browning had been on the watch for signs of
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: deterioration in Cynthia's character ever since her return home, But
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: except in a greater number of pretty and becoming articles
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: of dress, there was no great change for the worst
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: to be perceived. Cynthia had been.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: In the world, had beheld the glaring, glitter and dazzling
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: display of London.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Yet had come back to Hollingford as ready as ever
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to place a chair for Miss Browning, or to gather
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: flowers for a nosegay for Miss Phoebe, or to mend
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: her own clothes. But this was all set down to
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the merits of Cynthia, not to the credit of London town.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: As far as I can judge of London.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Said Miss Browning, sententiously, continuing her tirade against the place.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: It's no better than a pickpocket and a robber dressed
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: up in the spoils of honest folk. I should like
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: to know where my Lord Hollingford was bred, and mister
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: Roger Harnly, your good husband, lent me that report of
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: the meeting. Missus Gibson where so much was said about
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: them both, and he was as proud of their praises
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: as if he had taken akin to them. And Phoebe
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: read it aloud to me, for the print was too
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: small for my eyes. She was a good deal perplexed
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: with all the new names of places, but I said
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: she had better skip them all, for we had never
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: heard of them before, and probably should never hear of
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: them again. But she read out the fine things they
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: said of my Lord and mister Roger. And I put
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: it to you where were they born and bred? Why
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: within eight miles of Hollingford. It might have been Molly
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: there or me, it's all a chance. And then they
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: go and talk about the pleasures of intellectual society in
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: London and the distinguished people up there, that it is
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: such an advantage to know, and all the time I
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: know it's only shops and the play that's the real attraction.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: But that's neither here nor there. We all put our
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: best foot foremost, and if we have a reason to
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: give that looks sensible, we speak it out like men,
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: and never say anything about the silliness we are hugging
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: to our hearts. But I ask you again, where does
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: this fine society come from, and these wise men, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: these distinguished travelers. Why out of country parishes like this?
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: London picks them all up and decks herself with them,
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: and then calls out loud to the folks she's robbed,
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: and says, come and see how fine I am. Fine. Indeed,
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: I've no patience with London. Cynthia is much better out
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: of it. And I'm not sure if I were you,
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: Missus Gibson, if I wouldn't stop up those London letters,
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: they'll only be unsettling her.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: But perhaps she may live in London some of these days,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Miss Browning.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Simpered Missus Gibson, time.
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: Enough then to be thinking of London. I wish her
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: an honest country husband, with enough to live upon and
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: a little to lay by, and a good character to boot.
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: Mind that Molly.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Said, she firing round upon the startled Molly.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: I wish Cynthia a husband with good character. But she's
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: got a mother to look after her. You've none, And
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: when your mother was alive, she was a dear friend
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: of mine. So I'm not going to let you throw
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: yourself away upon anyone whose life isn't clear and above board.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: You may depend upon it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: This last speech fell like a bomb into the quiet
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: little drawing room. It was delivered with such vehemence. Miss Browning,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in her secret heart, meant it as a warning against
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the intimacy she believed that Molly had formed with mister Preston.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But as it happened that Molly had never dreamed of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: any such intimacy. The girl could not imagine why such
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: severity of speech should be addressed to her. Missus Gibson,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: who always took up the points of every word or
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: action with her, I touched her own self and called
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: it sensitiveness. Broke the silence that followed Miss Browning's speech
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: by saying plaintively.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I'm sure, Miss Browning, you are very much mistaken. If
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: you think that any mother could take more care of
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Molly than I do. I don't. I can't think there
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: is any need for any one to interfere to protect her.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: And I have not an idea why you have been
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: talking in this way, just as if we were all
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: wrong and you were all right. It hurts my feelings.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Indeed it does, for Molly can tell you there is
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: not a thing or a favor that Cynthia has that
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: she has not. And as for not taking care of her,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: why if she were to go up to London to morrow,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I should make a point of going with her to
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: see after her. And I never did it for Cynthia
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: when she was at school in France. And her bedroom
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Miss furnished just like Cynthia's, and I let her wear
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: my red shawl whenever she likes. She might have it
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: oftener if she would. I can't think what you mean,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Miss Browning.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: I did not mean to offend you, but I meant
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: just to give Molly a hint. She understands what I mean.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: I'm sure I don't, said Molly boldly. I haven't a
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: notion what you meant if you were alluding to anything
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: more than you said straight out that you do not
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: wish me to marry any one who hasn't a good character,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: and that as you were a friend of Mamma's, you
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: would prevent my marrying a man with a bad character
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: by every means in your power. I'm not thinking of
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: marrying I don't want to marry anybody at all. But
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: if I did and you were not a good man,
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: I should thank you for coming and warning me of it.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: I shall not stand on warning you, Molly, I shall
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: forbid the bands in church if.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Need be, said Miss Browning, half convinced of the clear,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: transparent truth of what Molly had said, blushing all over.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: It is true. But with her steady eyes fixed on
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Miss Browning's face while she spoke, Do said Molly.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Well, well, I won't say any more. Perhaps I was mistaken.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: You won't say any more about it, But remember what
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: I have said, Molly, there's no harm in that at
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: any rate. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, missus Gibson,
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: as stepmothers go, I think you try and do your duty.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Good morning, good bye to you both, and God bless you.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: If Miss Browning thought that her final blessing would secure
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: peace in the room she was leaving, she was very
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: much mistaken. Missus Gibson burst out with try.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: And do my duty. Indeed, I should be much obliged
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: to you, Molly, if you would take care not to
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: behave in such a manner as to bring down upon
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: me such impertinence as I have just been receiving from
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Miss Browning.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: But I don't know what made her talk as she did.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Mamma said Molly.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: I'm sure I don't know and I don't care either,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: But I know that I never was spoken to as
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: if I was trying to do my duty before trying. Indeed,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: everybody always knew that I did it without talking about
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: it before my face in that rude manner. I've that
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: deep feeling about duty that I think it ought only
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: to be talked about in church and in such sacred
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: places as that, not to have a common caller startling
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: one with it, even though she was an early friend
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: of your mother's. And as if I didn't look after
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: you quite as much as I look after Cynthia. Why
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: it was only yesterday I went up to Syntha's room
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and found her reading a letter that she put away
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: in a hurry as soon as I came in. And
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: I didn't even ask her who it was from. And
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I'm sure I should have made you tell me.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Very likely, missus Gibson shrank from any conflicts with Cynthia,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: pretty sure that she would be worsted in the end,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: while Molly generally submitted sooner than have any struggle for
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: her own will. Just then Cynthia came in.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: What's the matter?
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Said she, quickly seeing that something was wrong.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Why Molly has been doing something which is set that
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: impertinent Miss Browning off in to lecturing me on trying
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: to do my duty. If your poor father had but lived, Cynthia,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: I should never have been spoken to as I have
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: been a stepmother trying to do her duty. Indeed, that
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: was Miss Browning's expression.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Any allusion to her father took from Cynthia all desire
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of irony. She came forward and again asked Molly what
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: was the matter. Molly, herself ruffled, made answer.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Miss Browning seemed to think I was likely to marry
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: someone whose character was objectionable.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: You, Molly, said Cynthia.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Yes, she once before spoke to me. I suspect she
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: has got some notion about mister Preston in her head.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Cynthia sat down quite suddenly. Molly went on.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: And she spoke as if Mamma did not look enough
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: after me. I think she was rather provoking.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Not rather, but very very impertinent.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, a little soothed by Molly's recognition of
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: her grievance.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: What could have put it into her head?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, very quietly, taking up her sewing as she spoke.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know, said her mother, replying to the question
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: after her own fashion.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I'm sure I don't always approve of mister Preston, but
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: even if it was him she was thinking about, He's
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: far more agreeable than she is, and I'd much rather
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: have him coming to call than an old maid like
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: her any day.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know that it was mister Preston she was
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: thinking about, said Molly. It was only a guess. When
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: you were both in London she spoke about him. I
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: thought she had heard something about you and him, Cynthia.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Unseen by her mother, Cynthia looked up at Molly, her
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: eyes full of prohibition, her cheeks full of angry color.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Molly stopped short suddenly after that look. She was surprised
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: at the quietness with which Cynthia said almost immediately.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Well, after all, it is only your fancy that she
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: was alluding to mister Preston, so perhaps we had better
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: not say any more about him. And as for her
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: advice to Mamma to look after you better, miss Molly,
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: I'll stand bail for your good behavior, for both Mamma
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: and I know you're the last person to do any
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: foolish things in that way. And now don't let us
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: talk any more about it. I was coming to tell
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: you that Hannah Brand's little boy has been badly burnt,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: and her sister's downstairs asking for old linen.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson was always kind to poor people, and she
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: immediately got up and went to her stores to search
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: for the article wanted. Cynthia turned quietly round to Molly.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Molly, pray, don't ever allude to anything between me and
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: mister Preston, not to Mamma, nor to any one. Never
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: do I've a reason for it. Don't say anything more
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: about it ever.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson came back at this moment, and Molly had
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to stop short again on the brink of Cynthia's confidence.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Uncertain indeed this time whether she would have been told
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of anything more, and only sure that she had annoyed
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Cynthia a good deal. But the time was approaching when
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: she would know all end of Chapter forty one