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020 - Cynthia's Arrival · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter nineteen, Cynthia's arrival.
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Speaker 1: Molly's father was not at home when she returned, and
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Speaker 1: there was no one to give her a welcome. Missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson was out paying calls, the servants told Molly. She
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Speaker 1: went upstairs to her own room, meaning to unpack and
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Speaker 1: arrange her borrowed books. Rather, to her surprise, she saw
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Speaker 1: the chamber corresponding to her own, being dusted. Water and
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Speaker 1: towels too, were being carried in. Is any one coming,
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Speaker 1: she asked of the housemaid.
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Speaker 2: Missus daughter from France, Miss Kirkpatrick is coming to morrow?
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Speaker 3: Was Cynthia coming at last? Oh? What a pleasure it
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Speaker 3: would be to have a companion, a girl, a sister
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Speaker 3: of her own age.
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Speaker 1: Molly's depressed spirits sprang up again with bright elasticity. She
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Speaker 1: longed for Missus Gibson's return to ask her all about it.
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Speaker 1: It must be very sudden, for mister Gibson had said
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Speaker 1: nothing of it at the hall the day before. No
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Speaker 1: quiet reading. Now the books were hardly put away. With
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Speaker 1: Molly's usual neatness, she went down into the drawing room
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Speaker 1: and could not settle to anything. At last, Missus Gibson
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Speaker 1: came home, tired out with her walk and her heavy
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Speaker 1: velvet cloak. Until that was taken off and she had
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Speaker 1: rested herself for a few minutes, she seemed quite unable
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Speaker 1: to attend to Molly's questions.
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Speaker 4: Oh, yes, Cynthia is coming home to morrow by the
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Speaker 4: umpire which passes through at ten o'clock. What an oppressive
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Speaker 4: day it is for the time of the year. I
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Speaker 4: really am almost ready to faint. Cynthia heard of some opportunity,
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Speaker 4: I believe, and was only too glad to leave school
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Speaker 4: a fortnight earlier than we planned. She never gave me
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Speaker 4: the chance of writing to say I did or did
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Speaker 4: not like her coming so much before the time, and
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Speaker 4: I shall have to pay for her, just the same
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Speaker 4: as if she had stopped, and I meant to have
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Speaker 4: asked her to bring me a French bonnet, and then
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Speaker 4: you could have had one made after mine. But I'm
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Speaker 4: very glad she's coming, poor dear, Is anything the matter?
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Speaker 1: Were asked Molly, Oh no, why should there be?
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Speaker 3: You called her poor dear? And it made me afraid
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Speaker 3: lest she might be ill.
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Speaker 4: Oh, no, it's only a way I got into when
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Speaker 4: mister Kirkpatrick died a fatherless girl. You know, one always
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Speaker 4: does call them poor DearS. Oh no, Cynthia never is ill.
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Speaker 4: She's as strong as a horse. She never would have
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Speaker 4: felt to day as I have done. Could you get
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Speaker 4: me a glass of wine and a biscuit, my dear,
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Speaker 4: I'm really quite faint.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson was much more excited about Cynthia's arrival than
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Speaker 1: her own mother was. He anticipated her coming as a
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Speaker 1: great pleasure to Molly, on whom, in spite of his
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Speaker 1: recent marriage and his new wife, his interests principally centered.
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Speaker 1: He even found time to run upstairs and see the
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Speaker 1: bedrooms of the two girls, for the furniture, of which
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Speaker 1: he had paid a pretty round sum.
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Speaker 5: Well, I suppose young ladies like their bedrooms decked out
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Speaker 5: in this way. It's very pretty, certainly, But I liked.
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Speaker 3: My own old room better, Papa. But perhaps Cynthia is
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Speaker 3: accustomed to such decking up.
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Speaker 5: Perhaps at any rate, she'll see we've tried to make
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Speaker 5: it pretty. Yours is like hers. That's right. It might
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Speaker 5: have hurt her if first had been smarter than yours. Now,
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Speaker 5: good night, in your fine flimsy bed.
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Speaker 1: Molly was up betimes almost before it was light, arranging
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Speaker 1: her pretty Hamley flowers in Cynthia's room. She could hardly
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Speaker 1: eat her breakfast that morning. She ran upstairs and put
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Speaker 1: on her things, thinking that Missus Gibson was quite sure
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Speaker 1: to go down to the George Inn, where the umpire
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Speaker 1: stopped to meet her daughter after a two years absence.
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Speaker 1: But to her surprise, Missus Gibson had arranged herself at
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Speaker 1: her great worsted work frame, just as usual, and she,
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Speaker 1: in her turn, was astonished at Molly's bonnet and cloak.
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Speaker 4: Where are you going so early? Child? The fog hasn't
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Speaker 4: cleared away yet.
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Speaker 3: I thought she would go and meet Cynthia, and I
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Speaker 3: wanted to go with you.
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Speaker 4: She will be here in half an hour, and dear
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Speaker 4: Papa has told the gardener to take the wheelbarrow down
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Speaker 4: for her luggage. I'm not sure if he is not
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Speaker 4: gone himself, then.
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Speaker 3: Are not you going?
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Speaker 1: Asked Molly with a good deal of disappointment.
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Speaker 4: No, certainly not. She will be here almost directly, And besides,
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Speaker 4: I don't like to expose my feelings to every passer
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Speaker 4: by in high Street. You forget I have not seen
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Speaker 4: her for two years, and I hate scenes in the
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Speaker 4: market place.
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Speaker 1: She settled herself to her work again, and Molly, after
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Speaker 1: some consideration, gave up her own going and employed herself
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Speaker 1: in looking out of the downstairs window, which commanded the
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Speaker 1: approach from town.
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Speaker 3: Who she is, Who she is?
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Speaker 1: She cried out. At last. Her father was walking by
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Speaker 1: the side of a tall young lady. William the gardener
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Speaker 1: was wheeling along a great cargo of baggage. Molly flew
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Speaker 1: to the front door and had it wide open to
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Speaker 1: admit the newcomer. Some time before she arrived.
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Speaker 4: Well, here she is, Molly. This is Cynthia. Cynthia, Molly,
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Speaker 4: you're to be sisters, you know.
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Speaker 1: Molly saw the beautiful, tall, swaying figure against the light
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Speaker 1: of the open door, but could not see any of
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Speaker 1: the features that were for the moment in shadow. A
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Speaker 1: sudden gush of shyness had come over her just at
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Speaker 1: the instant, and quenched the embrace she would have given
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Speaker 1: a moment before. But Cynthia took her in her arms
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Speaker 1: and kissed her on both checks. Here's mamma, she said,
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Speaker 1: looking beyond Molly on to the stairs, where missus Gibson stood,
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Speaker 1: wrapped up in a shawl and shivering in the cold.
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Speaker 1: She ran past Molly and mister Gibson, who rather averted
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Speaker 1: their eyes from this first greeting between mother and child.
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Speaker 1: Missus Gibson said.
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Speaker 4: Why, how you were grown, darling? You look quite a woman.
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Speaker 1: And so I am, said Cynthia.
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Speaker 2: I was before I went away. I've hardly grown since.
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Speaker 2: Except it is always to be hoped in wisdom.
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Speaker 1: Yes, that we will hope, said Missus Gibson in a
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Speaker 1: rather meaning way. Indeed, there were evidently hidden allusions in
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Speaker 1: their seeming commonplace speeches. When they all came into the
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Speaker 1: full light and repose of the drawing room, Molly was
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Speaker 1: absorbed in the contemplation of Cynthia's beauty. Perhaps her features
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Speaker 1: were not regular, but the changes in her exps expressive
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Speaker 1: countenance gave one no time to think of that. Her
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Speaker 1: smile was perfect, her pouting charming. The play of the
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Speaker 1: face was in the mouth. Her eyes were beautifully shaped,
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Speaker 1: but their expression hardly seemed to vary in coloring. She
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Speaker 1: was not unlike her mother, only she had not so
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Speaker 1: much of the red haired tints in her complexion, and
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Speaker 1: her long shaped, serious gray eyes were fringed with dark
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Speaker 1: lashes instead of her mother's insipid flaxen ones. Molly fell
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Speaker 1: in love with her, so to speak, on the instant.
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Speaker 1: She sat there, warming her feet and hands, as much
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Speaker 1: at her ease as if she had been there all
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Speaker 1: her life, not particularly attending to her mother, who all
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Speaker 1: the time was studying either her or her dress, measuring
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Speaker 1: Molly and mister Gibson with grave observant looks, as if
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Speaker 1: guessing how she should like them.
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Speaker 5: There's hot breakfast ready for you in the dining room
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Speaker 5: when you are ready for.
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Speaker 1: It, said mister Gibson.
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Speaker 5: I'm sure you must want it after your night journey.
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Speaker 1: He looked round at his wife, at Cynthia's mother, but
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Speaker 1: she did not seem inclined to leave the warm room again.
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Speaker 4: Molly will take you to your room, darling, said she.
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Speaker 4: It is near hers, and she has got her things
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Speaker 4: to take off. I'll come down and sit in the
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Speaker 4: dining room while you are having your breakfast, but I
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Speaker 4: really am afraid of the cold now.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia rose and followed Molly upstairs. I'm so sorry there
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Speaker 1: isn't a fire for you, said Molly. But I suppose
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Speaker 1: it wasn't ordered, and of course I don't give any orders.
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Speaker 1: Harry's some hot water. Though, Stop a minute, said Cynthia,
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Speaker 1: getting hold of both Molly's hands and looking steadily into
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Speaker 1: her face, but in such a manner that she did
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Speaker 1: not dislike the inspection.
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Speaker 2: I think I shall like you. I am so glad
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Speaker 2: I was afraid I should not. We're all in a
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Speaker 2: very awkward position together, aren't we. I like your father's looks.
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Speaker 1: Though Molly could not help smiling at the way this
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Speaker 1: was said, Cynthia replied to her smile.
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Speaker 2: Ah, you may laugh, but I don't know that I
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Speaker 2: am easy to get on with, Mamma, and I didn't
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Speaker 2: suit when we were last together. But perhaps we are
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Speaker 2: each of us wiser.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 2: Now, please leave me for a quarter of an hour.
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Speaker 2: I don't want anything more.
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Speaker 1: Molly went into her own room, waiting to show Cynthia
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Speaker 1: down to the dining room, not that in the moderate
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Speaker 1: sized house there was any difficulty in finding the way.
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Speaker 1: A very little trouble in conjecturing would enable a stranger
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Speaker 1: to discover any room. But Cynthia had so captivated Molly
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Speaker 1: that she wanted to devote herself to the newcomer. Service.
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Speaker 1: Ever since she had heard of the probability of her
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Speaker 1: having a sister. She called her a sister. But whether
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Speaker 1: it was a Scotch sister or a sister a la
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Speaker 1: Mode de Bretagne would have puzzled most people. Molly had
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Speaker 1: allowed her fancy to dwell much on the idea of
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Speaker 1: Cynthia's coming, and in the short time since they had met,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia's unconscious power of fascination had been exercised upon her.
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Speaker 1: Some people have this power, of course, its effects are
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Speaker 1: only manifested in the susceptible. A schoolgirl may be found
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Speaker 1: in every school who attracts and influences all the others,
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Speaker 1: not by her virtues, nor her beauty, nor her sweetness,
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Speaker 1: nor her cleverness, but by something that can neither be
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Speaker 1: discret nor reasoned upon. It is the something alluded to
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Speaker 1: in the old lines.
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Speaker 2: Love me not for comely grace, for my pleasing eye
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Speaker 2: and face, no nor for my constant heart, for these
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Speaker 2: may change and turn to ill, and thus true love
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Speaker 2: may sever. But love me on, and know not why
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Speaker 2: so hast thou the same reason still to dote upon me.
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Speaker 1: Ever, a woman will have this charm not only over men,
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Speaker 1: but over her own sex. It cannot be defined, or rather,
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Speaker 1: it is so delicate a mixture of many gifts and
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Speaker 1: qualities that it is impossible to decide on the proportions
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Speaker 1: of each. Perhaps it is incompatible with very high principle,
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Speaker 1: as its essence seems to consist in the most exquisite
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Speaker 1: power of adaptation to varying people and still more various moods,
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Speaker 1: being all things to all men. At any rate, Molly
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Speaker 1: might soon have been aware that Cynthia was not remarkable
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Speaker 1: for unflinching morality, But the glamour thrown over her would
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Speaker 1: have prevented Molly from any attempt penetrating into and judging
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Speaker 1: her companion's character, even had such process as been the
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Speaker 1: least in accordance with her own disposition. Cynthia was very beautiful,
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Speaker 1: and was so well aware of this fact that she
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Speaker 1: had forgotten to care about it. No one with such
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Speaker 1: loveliness ever appeared so little conscious of it. Molly would
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Speaker 1: watch her perpetually as she moved about the room with
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Speaker 1: the free, stately step of some wild animal of the forest,
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Speaker 1: moving almost as it were, to the continual sound of music.
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Speaker 1: Her dress too, though now to our ideas, it would
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Speaker 1: be considered ugly and disfiguring, was suited to her complexion
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Speaker 1: and figure, and the fashion of it subdued within due
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Speaker 1: bounds by her exquisite taste. It was inexpensive enough, and
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Speaker 1: the changes in it were but few. Missus Gibson professed
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Speaker 1: herself shocked to find.
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Speaker 4: That Cynthia had but four gowns, when she might have
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Speaker 4: stopped herself so well and brought over so many useful
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Speaker 4: French patterns if she had but patiently waited for her
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Speaker 4: mother's answer to the letter which she had sent announcing
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Speaker 4: habitann by the opportunity Madame had found for her.
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Speaker 1: Molly was hurt for Cynthia at all these speeches. She
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Speaker 1: thought they implied that the pleasure which her mother felt
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Speaker 1: in seeing her a fortnight sooner after her two years
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Speaker 1: absence was inferior to that which she would have received
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Speaker 1: from a bundle of silver paper patterns. But Cynthia took
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Speaker 1: no apparent notice of the frequent recurrence of these small complaints. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: she received much of what her mother said with a
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Speaker 1: kind of complete indifference that made Missus Gibson hold her
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Speaker 1: rather in awe, and she was much more communicative to
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Speaker 1: Molly than to her own child with regard to dress. However,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia soon showed that she was her mother's own daughter
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Speaker 1: in the manner in which she could use her deft
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Speaker 1: and nimble fingers. She was a capital workwoman, and unlike Molly,
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Speaker 1: who excelled in plain sewing but had no notion of
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Speaker 1: dressmaking or millinery, she could repeat the fashions she had
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Speaker 1: only seen in passing along the streets of Boulogne, with
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Speaker 1: one or two pretty rapid movements of her hands as
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Speaker 1: she turned and twisted the ribbons and gauze her mother
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Speaker 1: furnished her with. So she refurbished Missus Gibson's wardrobe, doing
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Speaker 1: it all in a sort of contemptuous manner, the source
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Speaker 1: of which Molly could not quite make out. Day after day,
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Speaker 1: the course of these small frivolities was broken in upon
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Speaker 1: by the news mister Gibson brought of Missus Hamley's nearer
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Speaker 1: approach to death. Molly, very often, sitting by Cynthia and
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Speaker 1: surrounded by ribbon and wire and net, heard the bulletins
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Speaker 1: like the toll of a funeral bell at a marriage feast.
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Speaker 1: Her father sympathized with her. It was the loss of
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Speaker 1: a dear friend to him too, but he was so
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Speaker 1: accustomed to death that it seemed to him but as
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Speaker 1: it was the natural end of all things human. To Molly,
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Speaker 1: the death of some one she had known well and
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Speaker 1: loved so much was a sad and gloomy phenomenon. She
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Speaker 1: loathed the small vanities with which she was surrounded, and
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Speaker 1: would wander out into the frosty garden and pace the walk,
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Speaker 1: which was both sheltered and concealed by evergreens, at length.
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Speaker 1: And yet it was not so long, not a fortnight
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Speaker 1: since Molly had left the hall, the end came. Missus
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Speaker 1: Hamley had sunk out of life as gradually as she
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Speaker 1: had sunk out of consciousness, and her place in this world.
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Speaker 1: The quiet waves closed over her, and her place knew
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Speaker 1: her no more.
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Speaker 5: They all sent their love to you, Molly, said her father.
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Speaker 5: Roger said, he knew how you would feel it.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson had come in very late and was having
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Speaker 1: a solitary dinner in the dining room. Molly was sitting
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Speaker 1: near him to keep him company. Cynthia and her mother
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Speaker 1: were upstairs. The latter was trying on a head dress
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Speaker 1: which Cynthia had made for her. Molly remained downstairs after
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Speaker 1: her father had gone out afresh on his final round
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Speaker 1: among his town patients. The fire was growing very low
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Speaker 1: and the lights were waning. Cynthia came softly in, and,
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Speaker 1: taking Molly's listless hand that hung down by her side,
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Speaker 1: sat at her feet on the rug, chafing her chilly
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Speaker 1: fingers without speaking. The tender action thawed the tears that
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Speaker 1: had been gathering heavily at Molly's heart, and there came
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Speaker 1: down her cheeks.
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Speaker 2: He loved her dearly, did you not, Molly?
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Speaker 1: Ye hurts, sobbed Molly. And then there was a silence.
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Speaker 2: Had you known her long?
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Speaker 3: No, not a year? But I had seen a great
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Speaker 3: deal of her. I was almost like a daughter to her,
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Speaker 3: she said, so, yet I never beat her goodbye or anything.
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Speaker 3: Her mind became weak and confused.
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Speaker 2: She had only sons, I think.
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Speaker 3: No, only mister Osborne and mister Roger Hamley. She had
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Speaker 3: a daughter once, Fanny. Sometimes in her illness she used
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Speaker 3: to call me Fanny.
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Speaker 1: The two girls were silent for some time, both gazing
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Speaker 1: into the fire. Cynthia spoke, first.
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Speaker 2: I wish I could love people as you do, Molly.
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Speaker 3: Don't you?
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Speaker 1: Said? The other in surprise.
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Speaker 2: No, A good number of people love me, I believe,
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Speaker 2: or at least they think they do. But I never
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Speaker 2: seem to care much for anyone. I do believe I
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Speaker 2: love you, little Molly, whom I have only known for
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Speaker 2: ten days, better than any one, not.
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Speaker 1: Than your mother, said Molly in grave astonishment. Yes, and
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Speaker 1: my mother replied Cynthia, half smiling.
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Speaker 2: It's very shocking, I dare say, but it is so. Now,
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Speaker 2: don't go and condemn me. I don't think love for
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Speaker 2: one's mother quite comes by nature. And remember how much
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Speaker 2: I have been separated from mine. I loved my father,
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Speaker 2: if you will.
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Speaker 1: She continued, with the force of truth in her tone,
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Speaker 1: and then she stopped.
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Speaker 2: But he died when I was quite a little thing,
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Speaker 2: and no one believes that I remember him. I heard
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Speaker 2: Mamma say to a collar, not a fortnight after his funeral.
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Speaker 2: Oh no, Cynthia is too young. She has quite forgotten him.
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Speaker 2: And I bit my lips to keep from crying out. Papa, Papa,
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Speaker 2: have I, But it's of no use. Well, then Mamma
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Speaker 2: had to go out as a governess. She couldn't help it,
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Speaker 2: poor thing. But she didn't much care for parting with me.
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Speaker 2: I was a trouble, I dare say. So I was
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Speaker 2: sent to school at four years old, first one school
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Speaker 2: and then another, and in the holidays Mamma went to
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Speaker 2: stay at grand houses, and I was generally left with
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Speaker 2: the schoolmistress's. Once I went to the towers and Mamma
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Speaker 2: lectured me continue. And yet I was very naughty, I believe,
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Speaker 2: and so I never went again, and I was very
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Speaker 2: glad of it, for it was a horrid place.
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Speaker 1: That it was, said Molly, who remembered her own day
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Speaker 1: of tribulation there.
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Speaker 2: And once I went to London to stay with my
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Speaker 2: uncle Kirkpatrick. He is a lawyer and getting on now,
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Speaker 2: But then he was poor enough and had six or
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Speaker 2: seven children. It was winter time and we were all
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Speaker 2: shut up in a small house in Doughty Street. But
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Speaker 2: after all that wasn't so bad.
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Speaker 3: But then you lived with your momma when she began
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Speaker 3: to school at Ashcombe. Mister Preston told me that when
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Speaker 3: I stay that day at the manor house, what did
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Speaker 3: he tell you.
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Speaker 1: Asked Cynthia, almost fiercely.
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Speaker 3: Nothing but that, oh, yes, he praised your beauty and
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Speaker 3: wanted me to tell you what he had said, I
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Speaker 3: should have hated you if you had said Cynthia, of course,
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Speaker 3: I never thought of doing such a thing, replied Molly.
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Speaker 3: I didn't like him, and Lady Harriet spoke of him
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Speaker 3: the next day, as if he wasn't a person to
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Speaker 3: be liked.
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Speaker 1: Cynthia was quite silent at length.
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Speaker 3: She said, I wish I was good, So do I.
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Speaker 1: Said Molly, simply. She was thinking again of missus Hemley.
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Speaker 3: Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom
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Speaker 3: in the dust.
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Speaker 1: And goodness just then seemed to her to be the
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Speaker 1: only enduring thing in the world.
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Speaker 2: Nonsense, Molly, you are good at least If you're not good,
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Speaker 2: what am I? There's a rule of three sam for
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Speaker 2: you to do, But there's no use talking. I am
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Speaker 2: not good and I never shall be.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 2: Perhaps I might be a heroine still, but I shall
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Speaker 2: never be a good woman, I know.
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Speaker 3: Do you think it is easier to be a heroine.
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Speaker 2: Yes, as far as one knows of heroines from history.
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Speaker 2: I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then
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Speaker 2: a relaxation, but steady every day goodness is beyond me.
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Speaker 2: I must be a moral kangaroo.
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Speaker 1: Molly could not follow Cynthia's ideas, she could not distract
17:43
Speaker 1: herself from the thoughts of the sorrowing group at the hall.
17:46
Speaker 3: How I should like to see them all, and yet
17:49
Speaker 3: one can do nothing at such a time. Papa says
17:52
Speaker 3: the funeral is to be on Tuesday, and that after
17:55
Speaker 3: that Roger Hamley is to go back to Cambridge. It
17:59
Speaker 3: will see seem as if nothing has happened. I wonder
18:02
Speaker 3: how the Squire and mister Osborne Hamley will get on together.
18:05
Speaker 2: He's the eldest son, is he not. Why shouldn't he
18:08
Speaker 2: and his father get on well together?
18:10
Speaker 3: Oh? I don't know. That is to say I do know,
18:13
Speaker 3: but I think I ought not to tell.
18:15
Speaker 2: Don't be so pedantically truthful, Molly. Besides, your manner shows
18:19
Speaker 2: when you speak truth and when you speak falsehood without
18:22
Speaker 2: troubling yourself to use words. I knew exactly what your
18:25
Speaker 2: eye don't know meant. I never consider myself bound to
18:28
Speaker 2: be truthful, so I beg we may be unequal terms.
18:32
Speaker 1: Cynthia might well say that she did not consider herself
18:35
Speaker 1: bound to be truthful. She literally said what came uppermost,
18:39
Speaker 1: without caring very much whether it was accurate or not.
18:42
Speaker 1: But there was no ill nature, and in a general way,
18:45
Speaker 1: no attempt at procuring any advantage for herself in all
18:48
Speaker 1: her deviations, and there was often such a latent sense
18:51
Speaker 1: of fun in them that Molly could not help being
18:53
Speaker 1: amused with them. In fact, though she condemned them in theory,
18:57
Speaker 1: Cynthia's playfulness of men are glossed such fails over with
19:00
Speaker 1: a kind of charm. And yet at times she was
19:03
Speaker 1: so soft and sympathetic that Molly could not resist her,
19:07
Speaker 1: even when she affirmed the most startling things. The little
19:10
Speaker 1: account she made of her own beauty pleased mister Gibson extremely,
19:14
Speaker 1: and her pretty deference to him won his heart. She
19:17
Speaker 1: was restless, too, till she had attacked Molly's dress after
19:20
Speaker 1: she had remodeled her mother's.
19:22
Speaker 2: Now for you, sweet one.
19:23
Speaker 1: Said she, as she began on one of Molly's gowns.
19:26
Speaker 2: I've been working as connoisseur until now. Now I begin
19:29
Speaker 2: as amateur.
19:30
Speaker 1: She brought down her pretty artificial flowers, plucked out of
19:33
Speaker 1: her own best bonnet to put into Molly's, saying they
19:36
Speaker 1: would suit her complexion and that a knot of rippons
19:38
Speaker 1: would do well enough for her. All the time she worked,
19:41
Speaker 1: she sang. She had a sweet voice in singing as
19:44
Speaker 1: well as in speaking, and used to run up and
19:47
Speaker 1: down her gay French chansons without any difficulty. So flexible
19:51
Speaker 1: in the art was she, yet she did not seem
19:53
Speaker 1: to care for music. She rarely touched the piano on
19:56
Speaker 1: which Molly practiced with daily conscientiousness. Cynthia was always willing
20:01
Speaker 1: to answer questions about her previous life, though after the
20:04
Speaker 1: first she rarely alluded to it of herself. But she
20:07
Speaker 1: was a most sympathetic listener to all Molly's innocent confidences
20:11
Speaker 1: of joys and sorrows, sympathizing even to the extent of
20:14
Speaker 1: wondering how she could endure mister Gibson's second marriage, and
20:17
Speaker 1: why she did not take some active steps of rebellion.
20:21
Speaker 1: In spite of all this agreeable and pungent variety of
20:23
Speaker 1: companionship at home, Molly yearned after the Hamleys. If there
20:27
Speaker 1: had been a woman in that family, she would probably
20:30
Speaker 1: have received many little notes and heard numerous details which
20:33
Speaker 1: were now lost to her, or summed up in condensed
20:35
Speaker 1: accounts of her father's visits at the hall, which, since
20:38
Speaker 1: his dear patient was dead, were only occasional.
20:41
Speaker 5: Yes, the Squire is a good deal changed, but he's
20:44
Speaker 5: better than he was. There's an unspoken estrangement between him
20:48
Speaker 5: and Osbourne. One can see it in the silence and
20:51
Speaker 5: constraint of their manners, but outwardly they are friendly civil
20:55
Speaker 5: At any rate, the Squire will always respect Osborne as
20:59
Speaker 5: his and the future representative of the family. Osborne doesn't
21:05
Speaker 5: look well. He says he wants change. I think he's
21:09
Speaker 5: weary of the domestic dullness or domestic dissension. But he
21:13
Speaker 5: feels his mother's death acutely. It's a wonder that he
21:16
Speaker 5: and his father are not drawn together by their common loss.
21:20
Speaker 5: Roger's away at Cambridge too, examination for the mathematical tripos Altogether,
21:27
Speaker 5: the aspect of both people and place is changed. It
21:31
Speaker 5: is but natural.
21:32
Speaker 1: Such is perhaps the summing up of the news of
21:34
Speaker 1: the Hamleys, as contained in many bulletins. They always ended
21:38
Speaker 1: in some kind message to Molly, missus Gibson generally said,
21:43
Speaker 1: as a comment upon her husband's account of Osborne's melancholy, My.
21:46
Speaker 4: Dear, why don't you ask him to dinner here? A
21:49
Speaker 4: little quiet dinner. You know, Cookie's quite up to it,
21:52
Speaker 4: and we would all of us wear blacks and lilacs.
21:55
Speaker 4: He couldn't consider that as gaiety.
21:57
Speaker 1: Mister Gibson took no more notice of these suggests than
22:00
Speaker 1: by shaking his head. He had grown accustomed to his
22:03
Speaker 1: wife by this time, and regarded silence on his own
22:06
Speaker 1: part as a great preservative against long, inconsequential arguments. But
22:11
Speaker 1: every time that missus Gibson was struck by Cynthia's beauty, she.
22:15
Speaker 4: Thought it more and more advisable that mister Osborne Hamley
22:18
Speaker 4: should be cheered up by a quiet little dinner party.
22:21
Speaker 4: As yet, no one but the ladies of Hollingford and
22:24
Speaker 4: mister Ashton, the Vicar, that hopeless and impracticable old bachelor,
22:27
Speaker 4: had seen Cynthia, And what was the good of having
22:30
Speaker 4: a lovely daughter if there were none but old women
22:33
Speaker 4: to admire her.
22:34
Speaker 1: Cynthia herself appeared extremely indifferent upon the subject, and took
22:38
Speaker 1: very little notice of her mother's constant talk about the
22:41
Speaker 1: gaieties that were possible and the gaieties that were impossible.
22:44
Speaker 1: In Hollingford. She exerted herself just as much to charm
22:48
Speaker 1: the two miss Brownings as she would have done to
22:50
Speaker 1: delight Osborne Hamley or any other young heir that is
22:53
Speaker 1: to say she used no exertion, but simply followed her
22:57
Speaker 1: own nature, which was to attract every one of those
22:59
Speaker 1: she was thrown amongst. The exertion seemed rather to be
23:03
Speaker 1: to refrain from doing so, and to protest, as she
23:05
Speaker 1: often did, by slight words and expressive looks against her
23:08
Speaker 1: mother's words and humors alike, against her folly and her caresses.
23:13
Speaker 1: Molly was almost sorry for missus Gibson, who seemed so
23:16
Speaker 1: unable to gain influence over her child. One day, Cynthia
23:20
Speaker 1: read Molly's.
23:21
Speaker 2: Thought, I'm not good, and I told you so. Somehow
23:25
Speaker 2: I cannot forgive her for her neglect of me as
23:27
Speaker 2: a child, when I would have clung to her. Besides,
23:30
Speaker 2: I hardly ever heard from her when I was at school,
23:32
Speaker 2: and I know she put a stop to my coming
23:33
Speaker 2: over to her wedding. I saw the letter she wrote
23:35
Speaker 2: to Madame Lefevre. A child should be brought up with
23:38
Speaker 2: its parents if it is to think them infallible when
23:40
Speaker 2: it grows up.
23:41
Speaker 3: But though it may know that there must be faults,
23:44
Speaker 3: replied Molly, it ought to cover them over and try
23:47
Speaker 3: to forget their existence.
23:48
Speaker 2: It ought, But don't you see I have grown up
23:51
Speaker 2: outside the pale of duty in arts. Love me as
23:54
Speaker 2: I am, sweet one, for I shall never be better.
23:58
Speaker 1: End of chapter nineteen.