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055 - Molly Gibsons Worth is Discovered · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter fifty four of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter fifty four,
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Speaker 1: Mollie Gibson's worth is discovered. Mister Gibson came in, rubbing
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Speaker 1: his hands after his frosty ride. Molly judged from the
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Speaker 1: look in his eye that he had been fully informed
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Speaker 1: of the present state of things at the hall by
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Speaker 1: some one. But he simply went up to and greeted
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Speaker 1: the Squire and waited to hear what was said to him.
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Speaker 1: The Squire was fumbling at the taper on the writing table,
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Speaker 1: and before he answered much he lighted it, and, signing
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Speaker 1: to his friend to follow him, he went softly to
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Speaker 1: the sofa and showed him the sleeping child, taking the
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Speaker 1: utmost care not to arouse it by flare or sound.
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Speaker 2: Well, this is a fine young gentleman.
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Speaker 1: Said mister Gibson, returning to the fire rather sooner than
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Speaker 1: the Squire expected.
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Speaker 2: And you've got the mother here. I understand missus Osborne Hamley,
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Speaker 2: as we must call her, poor thing. It's a sad
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Speaker 2: coming home to her, for I hear she knew nothing
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Speaker 2: of his death.
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Speaker 1: He spoke without exactly addressing any one so that either
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Speaker 1: Molly or the Squire might answer as they liked. The
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Speaker 1: Squire said, yes, she's.
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Speaker 3: Felt it a terrible shock. She's upstairs in the best bedroom.
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Speaker 3: I should like you to see her, Gibson, if she'll
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Speaker 3: let you. We must do our duty by her, for
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Speaker 3: my poor lad's sake. I wish he could have seen
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Speaker 3: his boy lying there. I do. I dare say it
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Speaker 3: preyed on him to have to keep it all to himself.
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Speaker 3: He might have known me, though, he might have known
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Speaker 3: my bark was worse than my bite. It's all over now, though,
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Speaker 3: and God forgive me if I was too sharp. I'm
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Speaker 3: punished now.
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Speaker 1: Molly grew impatient on the mother's behalf.
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Speaker 4: Papa, I feel as if she was very ill, perhaps
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Speaker 4: worse than we think. Will you go and see her
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Speaker 4: at once?
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson followed her upstairs, and the Squire came too,
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Speaker 1: Thinking that he would do his duty now, and even
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Speaker 1: feeling some self satisfaction at conquering his desire to stay
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Speaker 1: with the child, they went into the room where she
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Speaker 1: had been taken. She lay quite still in the same
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Speaker 1: position as at first. Her eyes were open and tearless,
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Speaker 1: fixed on the wall. Mister Gibson spoke to her, but
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Speaker 1: she did not answer. He lifted her hand to feel
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Speaker 1: her pulse, she never noticed.
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Speaker 2: Bring me some wine at once, and order some beef tea.
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Speaker 1: He said to Molly. But when he tried to put
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Speaker 1: the wine into her mouth, as she lay there on
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Speaker 1: her side, she made no effort to receive or swallow it,
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Speaker 1: and it ran out upon the pillow. Mister Gibson left
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Speaker 1: the room abruptly. Molly chafed the little inanimate hand. The
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Speaker 1: squire stood by in dumb dismay, touched in spite of
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Speaker 1: himself by the death in life of one so young
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Speaker 1: and who must have been so much beloved. Mister Gibson
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Speaker 1: came back, two steps at a time. He was carrying
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Speaker 1: the half awakened child in his arms. He did not
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Speaker 1: scruple to rouse him into yet further wakefulness, did not
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Speaker 1: grieve to hear him begin to wail and cry. His
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Speaker 1: eyes were on the figure upon the bed, which at
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Speaker 1: that sound quivered all through. And when her child was
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Speaker 1: laid at her back, and began caressingly to scramble yet closer,
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Speaker 1: Amy turned around and took him in her arms, and
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Speaker 1: lulled him and soothed him with the soft want of
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Speaker 1: mother's love. Before she lost this faint consciousness, which was
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Speaker 1: habit or instinct rather than thought. Mister Gibson spoke to
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Speaker 1: her in French. The child's one word of maman had
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Speaker 1: given him this clue. It was the language sure to
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Speaker 1: be most intelligible to her dulled brain, and, as it happened,
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Speaker 1: only mister Gibson did not think of that it was
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Speaker 1: the language in which she had been commanded and had
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Speaker 1: learnt to obey. Mister Gibson's tongue was a little stiff
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Speaker 1: at first, but by and by he spoke it with
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Speaker 1: all his old readiness. He extorted from her short answers
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Speaker 1: at first, then longer ones, and from time to time
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Speaker 1: he plied her with little drops of wine until some
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Speaker 1: further nourishment should be at hand. Molly was struck by
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Speaker 1: her father's low tones of comfort and sympathy, although she
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Speaker 1: could not follow what was said quickly enough to catch
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Speaker 1: the meaning of what passed by and by. However, when
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Speaker 1: her father had done all that he could and they
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Speaker 1: were once more downstairs, he told them more about her
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Speaker 1: journey than they yet knew. The hurry, the sense of
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Speaker 1: acting in defiance of a prohibition. The overmastering anxiety, the
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Speaker 1: broken night, and fatigue of the journey had ill prepared
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Speaker 1: her for the shock at last, and mister Gibson was
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Speaker 1: seriously alarmed for the consequences. She had wandered strangely in
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Speaker 1: her replies to him. He had perceived that she was wandering,
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Speaker 1: and had made great efforts to recall her senses. But
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Speaker 1: mister Gibson foresaw that some bodily illness was coming on,
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Speaker 1: and stopped late that night arranging many things with Molly
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Speaker 1: and the Squire. One. The only comfort arising from her
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Speaker 1: state was the probability that she would be entirely unconscious
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Speaker 1: by the morrow, the day of the funeral. Worn Out
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Speaker 1: by the contending emotions of the day, the Squire seemed
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Speaker 1: now unable to look beyond the wrench and trial of
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Speaker 1: the next twelve hours. He sat with his head in
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Speaker 1: his hands, declining to go to bed, refusing to dwell
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Speaker 1: on the thought of his grandchild, not three hours ago,
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Speaker 1: such a darling in his eyes. Mister Gibson gave some
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Speaker 1: instructions to one of the maid servants as to the
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Speaker 1: watch she was to keep by missus Osborne Hamley and
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Speaker 1: insisted on Molly's going to bed. When she pleaded the
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Speaker 1: apparent necessity of her staying up, he said.
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Speaker 2: Now, Molly, look how much less trouble the dear old
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Speaker 2: Squire would give if he would obey orders. He is
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Speaker 2: only adding to anxiety by indulging himself. One pardons everything
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Speaker 2: to extreme grief. However, but you will have enough to
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Speaker 2: do to occupy all your strength for the days to come.
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Speaker 2: And go to bed you must now. I only wish
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Speaker 2: I saw my way as clearly through other things as
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Speaker 2: I do to your nearest duty. I wish I'd never
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Speaker 2: let Roger go wandering off. He'll wish it too, poor fellow.
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Speaker 2: Did I tell you Cynthia is going off in hot
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Speaker 2: haste to her uncle Kirkpatrick's. I suspect a visit to
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Speaker 2: him will stand in lieu of going out to Russia
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Speaker 2: as a governess.
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Speaker 4: I'm sure she was quite serious in wishing for that.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, at the time, I've no doubt she thought
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Speaker 2: she was sincere and intending to go. But the great
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Speaker 2: thing was to get out of the unpleasantness of the
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Speaker 2: present time and place, and Uncle Kirkpatricks will do this
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Speaker 2: as effectually and more pleasantly than a situation at Nishni
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Speaker 2: Novgorode in an ice palace.
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Speaker 1: He had given Molly's thoughts a turn, which was what
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Speaker 1: he wanted to do. Mollie could not help remembering mister
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Speaker 1: Henderson and his offer, and all the consequent hints and
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Speaker 1: wondering and wishing.
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Speaker 4: What did she wish? Or had she been falling asleep.
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Speaker 1: Before she had quite ascertained this point she was asleep
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Speaker 1: in reality. After this, long days passed over in a
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Speaker 1: monotonous round of care, for no one seemed to think
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Speaker 1: of Molly's leaving the hall during the woeful illness that
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Speaker 1: befell missus Osborne Hamley. It was not that her father
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Speaker 1: allowed her to take much active part in the nursing.
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Speaker 1: The squire gave him carte blanche, and he engaged two
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Speaker 1: efficient hospital nurses to watch over the unconscious Amy, but
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Speaker 1: Mollie was needed to receive the finer directions as to
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Speaker 1: her treatment and diet. It was not that she was
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Speaker 1: wanted for the care of the little boy. The squire
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Speaker 1: was too jealous of the child's exclusive love for that,
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Speaker 1: and one of the housemaids was employed in the actual
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Speaker 1: physical care of him. But he needed someone to listen
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Speaker 1: to his incontinence of language, both when his passionate regret
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Speaker 1: for his dead son came uppermost, and also when he
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Speaker 1: had discovered some extraordinary charm in that son's child, and
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Speaker 1: again when he was oppressed with the uncertainty of Amy's
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Speaker 1: long continued illness. Molly was not so good or bewitching
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Speaker 1: a listener to ordinary conversation as Cynthia, but where her
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Speaker 1: heart was interested, her sympathy was deep and unfailing. In
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Speaker 1: this case, she only wished that the Squire could really
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Speaker 1: feel that Amy was not the encumbrance which he evidently
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Speaker 1: considered her to be, not that he would have acknowledged
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Speaker 1: the fact if it had been put before him. In
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Speaker 1: plain words. He fought against the dim consciousness of what
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Speaker 1: was in his mind. He spoke repeatedly of painations when
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Speaker 1: no one but himself was impatient. He would often say
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Speaker 1: that when she grew better, she must not be allowed
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Speaker 1: to leave the hall until she was perfectly strong. When
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Speaker 1: no one was even contemplating the remotest chance of her
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Speaker 1: leaving the child, excepting only himself, Molly once or twice
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Speaker 1: asked her father if she might not speak to the
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Speaker 1: Squire and represent the hardship of sending her away, the
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Speaker 1: improbability that she would consent to quit her boy, and
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Speaker 1: so on. But mister Gibson only replied.
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Speaker 2: Wait quietly, time enough, when nature and circumstance have had
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Speaker 2: their chance and have failed.
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Speaker 1: It was well that Molly was such a favorite with
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Speaker 1: the old servants, for she had frequently to restrain and
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Speaker 1: to control. To be sure, she had her father's authority
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Speaker 1: to back her, and they were aware that where her
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Speaker 1: own comfort, ease, or pleasure was concerned, she never interfered,
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Speaker 1: but submitted to their will. If the Squire had known
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Speaker 1: of the want of attendance, to which she submitted with
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Speaker 1: the most perfect meekness. As far as she herself was
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Speaker 1: the only sufferer, he would have gone into a towering rage.
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Speaker 1: But Molly hardly thought of it, so anxious was she
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Speaker 1: to do all she could for others, and to remember
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Speaker 1: the various charges which her father gave her in his
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Speaker 1: daily visits, and to remember ages which her father gave
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Speaker 1: her in his daily visits. Perhaps he did not spare
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Speaker 1: her enough. She was willing and uncomplaining. But one day
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Speaker 1: after Missus Osborne Hamley had taken the turn as the
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Speaker 1: nurses called it when she was lying weak as a
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Speaker 1: new born baby, but with her faculties all restored and
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Speaker 1: her fever gone, when spring buds were blooming out and
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Speaker 1: spring birds sang merrily. Molly answered to her father's sudden
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Speaker 1: questioning that.
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Speaker 4: She felt unaccountably wary that I had ached heavily, and
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Speaker 4: that she was aware of a sluggishness of thought which
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Speaker 4: it required a painful effort to overcome.
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Speaker 1: Don't go on, said mister Gibson, and with a quick
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Speaker 1: pang of anxiety, almost of remorse, lie.
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Speaker 2: Down here with your back to the light. I'll come
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Speaker 2: back and see you before I go.
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Speaker 1: And off he went in search of the squire. He
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Speaker 1: had a good long walk before he came upon mister
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Speaker 1: Hamley in a field of spring wheat, where the women
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Speaker 1: were weeding, his little grandson, holding to his finger in
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Speaker 1: the intervals of short walks of inquiry into the dirtiest places,
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Speaker 1: which was all his sturdy little limbs could manage.
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Speaker 3: Well, Gibson, And how goes the patient better? I wish
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Speaker 3: we could get her out of doors such fine day
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Speaker 3: as it is. It would make her strong as soon
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Speaker 3: as anything I used to beg My poor lad, come
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Speaker 3: out more. Maybe I worried him, but the air is
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Speaker 3: the finest thing for strengthening that I know of. Though
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Speaker 3: perhaps he'll not thrive in English airs if she'd been
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Speaker 3: born here, and shall not be quite right till she
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Speaker 3: gets back to her natives. Please, wherever that is.
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Speaker 2: I don't know. I begin to think we shall get
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Speaker 2: her quite round here, and I don't know that she
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Speaker 2: could be in a better place. But it's not about her.
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Speaker 2: May I order the carriage for my molly.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson's voice sounded as if he was choking a
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Speaker 1: little as he said these last words. To be sure,
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Speaker 1: said the Squire, setting the child down. He had been
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Speaker 1: holding him in his arms the last few minutes, but
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Speaker 1: now he wanted all his eyes to look into mister
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Speaker 1: Gibson's face, I say, said he, catching hold of mister
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Speaker 1: Gibson's arm.
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Speaker 3: What's the matter, man, don't switch up your face like that.
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Speaker 1: But to speak, nothing's the matter, said mister Gibson hastily.
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Speaker 2: Only I want her at home under my own eye.
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Speaker 1: And he turned away to go to the house. But
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Speaker 1: the Squire left his field and his waders and kept
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Speaker 1: at mister Gibson's side. He wanted to speak, but his
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Speaker 1: heart was so full he did not know what to say.
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Speaker 1: I say, Gibson, he got out at last.
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Speaker 3: Lord, Molly is like her a child of mine. Then
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Speaker 3: AE stranger and I reckon weave all on us being
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Speaker 3: coming too hard upon her. You don't think there's much amiss,
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Speaker 3: do you?
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Speaker 2: How can I tell?
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Speaker 1: Said mister Gibson, almost savagely. But any hastiness of temper
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Speaker 1: was instinctively understood by the Squire, and he was not offended,
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Speaker 1: though he did not speak again till they reached the house.
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Speaker 1: Then he went to order the carriage and stood by,
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Speaker 1: sorrowful enough while the horses were being put in.
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Speaker 3: He felt as if he should not know what to
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Speaker 3: do without Molly. He had never known her value, he.
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Speaker 1: Thought till now. But he kept silence on this view
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Speaker 1: of the case, which was a praiseworthy effort on the
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Speaker 1: part of one who usually let bystanders see and hear
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Speaker 1: as much of his passing feelings as if he had
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Speaker 1: had a window in his breast. He stood by while
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Speaker 1: mister Gibson helped the faintly, smiling, tearful Molly into the carriage.
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Speaker 1: Then the Squire mounted on the step and kissed her hand,
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Speaker 1: But when he tried to thank her and bless her,
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Speaker 1: he broke down, and as soon as he was once
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Speaker 1: more safely on the ground, mister Gibson cried out to
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Speaker 1: the coachman to drive on, and so Molly left Hamley Hall.
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Speaker 1: From time to time her father rode up to the
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Speaker 1: window and made some little cheerful and apparently careless remark.
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Speaker 1: When they came within two miles of Hollingford, he put
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Speaker 1: spurs to his horse and rode briskly past the carriage windows,
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Speaker 1: kissing his hand to the occupant as he did so.
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Speaker 1: He went on to prepare her home for Molly. When
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Speaker 1: she arrived, Missus Gibson was ready to greet her. Mister
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Speaker 1: Gibson had given one or two of his bright imperative orders,
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Speaker 1: and Missus Gibson was feeling rather.
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Speaker 5: Lonely without either of her two dear girls at home.
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Speaker 1: As she phrased it to herself as well as to others.
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Speaker 5: Why my sweet Molly, this is an unexpected pleasure. Only
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Speaker 5: this morning I said to Papa, when do you think
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Speaker 5: we shall see our Molly back? He did not say much.
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Speaker 5: He never does, you know, But I am sure he
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Speaker 5: thought directly of giving me this surprise, this pleasure. You're
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Speaker 5: looking a little what shall I call it? I remember
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Speaker 5: such a pretty line of poetry. Oh call her fair,
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Speaker 5: not pale, So we'll call you fair.
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Speaker 2: You'd better not call her anything, but let her get
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Speaker 2: to her own room and have a good rest as
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Speaker 2: soon as possible. Haven't you got a trashy novel or
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Speaker 2: two in the house? That's the literature to send her
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Speaker 2: to sleep.
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Speaker 1: He did not leave her till he had seen her
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Speaker 1: laid on a sofa in a darkened room, with some slight,
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Speaker 1: pretensive reading in her hand. Then he came away, leading
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Speaker 1: his wife, who turned round at the door to kiss
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Speaker 1: her hand to Molly and make a little face of
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Speaker 1: unwillingness to be dragged.
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Speaker 2: Away now, Hyacinth, said he.
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Speaker 1: As he took his wife into the drawing room.
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Speaker 2: She will need much care. She has been overworked, and
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Speaker 2: I've been a fool. That's all. We must keep her
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Speaker 2: from all worry and care. But I won't answer for
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Speaker 2: it that she'll not have an illness for all.
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Speaker 5: That poor thing. She does look worn out. She is
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Speaker 5: something like me. Her feelings are too much for her.
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Speaker 5: But now she is come home. She shall find us
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Speaker 5: as cheerful as possible. I can answer for myself, and
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Speaker 5: you really must brighten up your doleful face, my dear,
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Speaker 5: nothing so bad for Invalids as the appearance of depression
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Speaker 5: in those around them. I have had such a pleasant
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Speaker 5: letter from Cynthia to day. Uncle Kirkpatrick really seems to
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Speaker 5: make so much of her. He treats her just like
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Speaker 5: a daughter. He has given her a ticket for the
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Speaker 5: concerts of ancient music, and mister Henderson has been to
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Speaker 5: call on her in spite of all that has gone before.
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Speaker 1: For an instant, mister Gibson thought that it was easy
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Speaker 1: enough for his wife to be cheerful, with the pleasant
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Speaker 1: thought and evident anticipations she had in her mind, but
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Speaker 1: a little more difficult for him to put off his
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Speaker 1: doleful looks while his own child lay in a state
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Speaker 1: of suffering and illness, which might be the precursor of
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Speaker 1: a still worse malady. But he was always a man
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Speaker 1: for immediate action, as soon as he had resolved on
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Speaker 1: the course to be taken, and he knew that.
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Speaker 2: Some must watch while some must sleep, so runs the
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Speaker 2: world away.
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Speaker 1: The illness which he apprehended came upon Molly, not violently
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Speaker 1: or acutely, so that there was any immediate danger to
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Speaker 1: be dreaded, but making a long pull upon her strength,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to lessen day by day, until at last
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Speaker 1: her father feared that she might become a permanent invalid.
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Speaker 1: There was nothing very decided or alarming to tell Cynthia,
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Speaker 1: and Missus Gibson kept the dark side from her. In
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Speaker 1: her letters.
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Speaker 5: Molly was feeling the spring weather, or Molly had been
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Speaker 5: a good deal over done with her stay at the hall,
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Speaker 5: and was resting.
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Speaker 1: Such little sentences told nothing of Molly's real state. But then,
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Speaker 1: as Missus Gibson said to herself, it would be a
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Speaker 1: pity to disturb Cynthia's pleasure by telling her much about Molly. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: there was not much to tell. One day was so
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Speaker 1: like another. But it so happened that Lady Harriet, who
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Speaker 1: came whenever she could to sit awhile with Molly, at
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Speaker 1: first against Missus Gibson's will, and afterwards with her full consent,
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Speaker 1: for reasons of her own, Lady Harriet wrote a letter
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Speaker 1: to Cynthia, to which she was urged by Missus Gibson.
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Speaker 1: It fell out in this manner one day, when Lady
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Speaker 1: Harriet was sitting in the drawing room for a few
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Speaker 1: minutes after she had been with Molly, she said.
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Speaker 6: Really, Claire, I spend so much time in your house
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Speaker 6: that I'm going to establish a work basket here. Mary
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Speaker 6: has infected me with her notability, and I'm going to
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Speaker 6: work Mamma a footstool. It is to be a surprise,
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Speaker 6: so if I do it here, she will know nothing
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Speaker 6: about it. Only I cannot match the gold beads I
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Speaker 6: want for the pansies in this dear little town and Hollingford.
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Speaker 6: Who could send me down stars and planets if I
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Speaker 6: asked him, I make no doubt could no more match
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Speaker 6: beads than my.
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Speaker 5: Dear Lady Harriet. You forget Cynthia. Think what a pleasure
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Speaker 5: it would be to her to do anything for you?
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Speaker 6: Would it? Then she shall have plenty of it. But
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Speaker 6: mind it is you who have answered for her. She
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Speaker 6: shall get me wool too. How good I am to
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Speaker 6: confer so much pleasure on a fellow creature. But seriously,
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Speaker 6: do you think I might write and give her a
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Speaker 6: few commissions? Neither Agnes nor Mary are in town.
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Speaker 5: I am sure she would be delighted.
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Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, who also took into consideration the reflection
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Speaker 1: of aristocratic honor that would fall upon Cynthia if she
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Speaker 1: had a letter from Lady Harriet while at mister Kirkpatrick's.
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Speaker 1: So she gave the address and Lady Harriet wrote all.
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Speaker 1: The first part of the letter was taken up with
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Speaker 1: apology and commissions, but then never doubting but that Cynthia
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Speaker 1: was aware of Molly's state, she went on to say, I.
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Speaker 6: Saw Molly this morning twice. I have been forbidden admittance
20:14
Speaker 6: as she was too ill to see any one out
20:16
Speaker 6: of her own family. I wish we could begin to
20:19
Speaker 6: perceive a change for the better, but she looks more
20:21
Speaker 6: fading every time, and I fear Mister Gibson considers it
20:25
Speaker 6: a very anxious case.
20:28
Speaker 1: The day but one after this letter was dispatched, Cynthia
20:31
Speaker 1: walked into the drawing room at home with as much
20:34
Speaker 1: apparent composure as if she had left it not an
20:36
Speaker 1: hour before. Missus Gibson was dozing but believing herself to
20:41
Speaker 1: be reading. She had been with Molly the greater part
20:44
Speaker 1: of the morning, and now after her lunch and the
20:47
Speaker 1: invalid's pretense of early dinner, she considered herself entitled to
20:51
Speaker 1: some repose. She started up as Cynthia came in.
20:55
Speaker 5: Cynthia, dear child, where have you come from? Why in
20:58
Speaker 5: the world have you come? My poor nerves? My heart
21:01
Speaker 5: is quite fluttering. But to be sure, it's no wonder
21:04
Speaker 5: with all this anxiety I have to undergo? Why have
21:06
Speaker 5: you come back?
21:08
Speaker 7: Because of the anxiety you speak of? Mamma, I never knew.
21:11
Speaker 7: You never told me how ill Molly was.
21:14
Speaker 5: Nonsense. I beg your pardon, my dear, but it's really nonsense.
21:18
Speaker 5: Molly's illness is only nervous, mister Gibson, says, a nervous fever.
21:22
Speaker 5: But you must remember, nerves a mere fancy, and she's
21:24
Speaker 5: getting better. Such a pity for you to have left
21:27
Speaker 5: your uncle's Who told you about Molly?
21:30
Speaker 7: Lady Harriet? She wrote about some wool I.
21:33
Speaker 5: Know, I know, but you might have known. She always
21:36
Speaker 5: exaggerates things. Not but what I have been almost worn
21:39
Speaker 5: out with nursing. Perhaps after all, it is a very
21:42
Speaker 5: good thing that you have come, my dear, And now
21:44
Speaker 5: you shall come down into the dining room and have
21:46
Speaker 5: some lunch, and tell me all the Hyde Park Street
21:48
Speaker 5: news into my room. Don't go into yours. Yet Molly
21:51
Speaker 5: is so sensitive to noise.
21:53
Speaker 1: While Cynthia ate her lunch, Missus Gibson went on questioning.
21:58
Speaker 5: And your aunt how is her cold? And Helen quite
22:00
Speaker 5: strong again? Margaret as pretty as ever. The boys are
22:04
Speaker 5: a taro, I suppose, and my old favorite mister Henderson.
22:08
Speaker 1: She could not manage to slip in this last inquiry. Naturally,
22:12
Speaker 1: in spite of herself there was a change of tone,
22:15
Speaker 1: an accent of eagerness. Cynthia did not reply on the instant.
22:20
Speaker 1: She poured herself out some water with great deliberation, and
22:24
Speaker 1: then said.
22:25
Speaker 7: My aunt is quite well, Helen is as strong as
22:27
Speaker 7: she ever is, and Margaret are very pretty. The boys
22:30
Speaker 7: are at harrow, and I conclude that mister Henderson is
22:33
Speaker 7: enjoying his usual health, for he was to dine at
22:35
Speaker 7: my uncle's to day.
22:37
Speaker 5: Take care, Cynthia, Look how you are cutting that gooseberry tart.
22:41
Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, with sharp annoyance, not provoked by Cynthia's
22:45
Speaker 1: present action, although it gave excuse for a little vent
22:49
Speaker 1: of temper.
22:51
Speaker 5: I can't think how you could come off in this
22:53
Speaker 5: sudden kind of way. I am sure it must have
22:55
Speaker 5: annoyed your uncle and aunt, I dare say, they'll never
22:57
Speaker 5: ask you again.
22:59
Speaker 7: On the conn I'm to go back there as soon
23:02
Speaker 7: as ever I can be easy to leave Molly.
23:05
Speaker 5: Easy to leave Molly Now, that really is nonsense and
23:08
Speaker 5: rather uncomplimentary to me. I must say, nursing her as
23:11
Speaker 5: I have been doing daily and almost nightly, for I
23:14
Speaker 5: have been waking times out of number by mister Gibson
23:17
Speaker 5: getting up and going to see if she has had
23:18
Speaker 5: her medicine properly.
23:20
Speaker 7: I'm afraid she has been very.
23:21
Speaker 1: Ill, asked Cynthia.
23:25
Speaker 5: Yes she has in one way, but not in another.
23:28
Speaker 5: It was what I call more tedious than an interesting illness.
23:32
Speaker 5: There is no immediate danger, but she lay much in
23:34
Speaker 5: the same state from day to day.
23:37
Speaker 1: I wish I had known, sighed Cynthia.
23:40
Speaker 7: Do you think I might go and see her?
23:42
Speaker 5: Now, I'll go and prepare her. You'll find her a
23:45
Speaker 5: good deal better than she has been. Ah, here's mister Gibson.
23:49
Speaker 1: He came into the dining room. Hearing voices. Cynthia thought
23:53
Speaker 1: that he looked much older. You, hear said, he coming
23:57
Speaker 1: forward to shake hands.
23:59
Speaker 2: Why how did you come.
24:01
Speaker 7: By the umpire? I never knew Molly had been so ill,
24:04
Speaker 7: or I would have come directly.
24:06
Speaker 1: Her eyes were full of tears. Mister Gibson was touched.
24:10
Speaker 1: He took her hand again and murmured, you're.
24:13
Speaker 2: A good girl, Cynthia.
24:15
Speaker 5: She's heard one of dear Lady Harriet's exaggerated accounts.
24:19
Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson.
24:21
Speaker 5: And come straight off. I tell her it's very foolish.
24:24
Speaker 5: But Molly is a great deal better.
24:25
Speaker 3: Now.
24:26
Speaker 1: Very foolish, said mister Gibson, echoing his wife's words, but
24:31
Speaker 1: smiling at Cynthia.
24:33
Speaker 2: But sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly better
24:36
Speaker 2: than wise people for their wisdom.
24:39
Speaker 5: I am afraid folly always annoys me, said his wife. However,
24:45
Speaker 5: Cynthia is here, and what is done is done very.
24:49
Speaker 2: True, my dear. And now I'll run up and see
24:52
Speaker 2: my little girl and tell her the good news. You'd
24:55
Speaker 2: better follow me in a couple of minutes.
24:57
Speaker 1: This to Cynthia. Molly's delight at seeing her showed itself,
25:02
Speaker 1: first in a few happy tears, and then in soft
25:05
Speaker 1: caresses and inarticulate sounds of love. Once or twice she began,
25:10
Speaker 1: it is such a pleasure. And there she stopped short.
25:13
Speaker 1: But the eloquence of these five words sank deep into
25:17
Speaker 1: Cynthia's heart. She had returned just at the right time
25:21
Speaker 1: when Molly wanted the gentle philip of the society, of
25:24
Speaker 1: a fresh and yet a familiar person. Cynthia's tact made
25:28
Speaker 1: her talkative or silent, gay or grave, as the varying
25:32
Speaker 1: humor of Molly required. She listened too, with the semblance,
25:37
Speaker 1: if not the reality of unwearied interest, to Molly's continual
25:41
Speaker 1: recurrence to all the time of distress and sorrow at
25:44
Speaker 1: Hamley Hall, and to the scenes which had then so
25:47
Speaker 1: deeply impressed themselves upon her susceptible nature. Cynthia extinctively knew
25:53
Speaker 1: that the repetition of all these painful recollections would ease
25:56
Speaker 1: the oppressed memory, which refused to dwell on anthing but
26:00
Speaker 1: what had occurred at a time of feverish disturbance of health.
26:04
Speaker 1: So she never interrupted Mollie, as Missus Gibson had so
26:08
Speaker 1: frequently done with.
26:10
Speaker 5: You told me all that before, my dear, let us
26:12
Speaker 5: talk of something else, or really, I cannot allow you
26:16
Speaker 5: to be always dwelling on painful thoughts. Try and be
26:19
Speaker 5: a little more cheerful. Youth is gay you are young,
26:23
Speaker 5: and therefore you ought to be gay. That is put
26:26
Speaker 5: in a famous form of speech. I forget exactly what
26:28
Speaker 5: it is called.
26:31
Speaker 1: So Molly's health and spirits improved rapidly after Cynthia's return,
26:36
Speaker 1: and although she was likely to retain many of her
26:38
Speaker 1: invalid habits during the summer, she was able to take
26:42
Speaker 1: drives and enjoy the fine weather. It was only her
26:45
Speaker 1: as yet tender spirits that required a little management. All
26:50
Speaker 1: the Hollingford people forgot that they had ever thought of
26:52
Speaker 1: her except as a darling of the town, and each,
26:56
Speaker 1: in his or her way, showed kind interest in her
26:59
Speaker 1: father's child. Miss Browning and Miss Phoebe considered it quite
27:03
Speaker 1: a privilege that they were allowed to see her a
27:06
Speaker 1: fortnight or three weeks before any one else. Missus goodenough
27:10
Speaker 1: spectacles on nose, stirred dainty messes in a silver saucepan.
27:14
Speaker 1: For Molly's benefit, the Towers sent books and forced fruit,
27:18
Speaker 1: and new caricatures, and strange and delicate poultry. Humble patients
27:23
Speaker 1: of the doctor, as mister Gibson was usually termed, left
27:27
Speaker 1: the earliest cauliflowers they could grow in their cottage gardens
27:30
Speaker 1: with their duty for miss and last of all, though
27:34
Speaker 1: strongest in regard, most piteously eager in interest, came Squire
27:39
Speaker 1: Hamley himself. When she was at the worst. He rode
27:43
Speaker 1: over every day to hear the smallest detail facing even
27:47
Speaker 1: Missus Gibson, his abomination. If her husband was not at home,
27:52
Speaker 1: to ask and hear, and ask and hear till the
27:55
Speaker 1: tears were unconsciously stealing down his cheeks, every resource of
28:00
Speaker 1: his heart, or his house, or his lands was searched
28:04
Speaker 1: and tried if it could bring a moment's pleasure to her,
28:07
Speaker 1: And whatever it might be that came from him at
28:10
Speaker 1: her very worst time, it brought out a dim smile
28:14
Speaker 1: upon her face. End of Chapter fifty four