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042 - Alone Alone · North and South

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty two of North and South. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Leanne Howlett. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty two, Alone Alone, When some beloved voice that
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  Speaker 1: was to you both sound and sweetness faileth suddenly, and
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  Speaker 1: silence against which you dare not cry aches round you
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  Speaker 1: like a strong disease, And new what hope? What help?
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  Speaker 1: What music will undo that silence? To your sense, missus Browning,
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  Speaker 1: The shock had been great. Margaret fell into a state
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  Speaker 1: of prostration, which did not show itself in sobs and tears,
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  Speaker 1: or even find the relief of words. She lay on
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  Speaker 1: the sofa with her eyes shut, never speaking, but when
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  Speaker 1: speken to and then replying in whispers. Mister Bell was perplexed.
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  Speaker 1: He dared not leave her. He dared not ask her
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  Speaker 1: to accompany him back to Oxford, which had been one
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  Speaker 1: of the plans he had formed on the journey to Milton.
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  Speaker 1: Her physical exhaustion was evidently too complete for her to
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  Speaker 1: undertake any such fatigue, putting the sight that she would
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  Speaker 1: have to encounter out of the question. Mister Bell sat
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  Speaker 1: over the fire, considering what he had better do. Margaret
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  Speaker 1: lay motionless and almost breathless by him. He would not
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  Speaker 1: leave her, even for the dinner which Dixon had prepared
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  Speaker 1: for him downstairs, and with sobbing hospitality, would fain have
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  Speaker 1: tempted him to eat. He had a plateful of something
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  Speaker 1: brought up to him. In general, he was particular and
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  Speaker 1: dainty enough, and knew well each shade of flavor in
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  Speaker 1: his food. But now the deviled chicken tasted like sawdust.
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  Speaker 1: He minced up some of the fowl for Margaret, and
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  Speaker 1: peppered and salted it well. But when Dixon, following his directions,
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  Speaker 1: tried to feed her, the language shake of head proved
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  Speaker 1: in such a state as Margaret was in, food would
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  Speaker 1: only choke, not nourish her. Mister Bell gave a great sigh,
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  Speaker 1: lifted up his stout, old limbs stiff with traveling from
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  Speaker 1: their easy position, and followed Dixon out of the room.
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  Speaker 1: I can't leave her. I must write to them at
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  Speaker 1: Oxford to see that the preparations are made. They can
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  Speaker 1: be getting on with these till I arrive. Can't missus
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  Speaker 1: Lennox come to her. I'll write and tell her she must.
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  Speaker 1: The girl must have some woman friend about her, if
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  Speaker 1: only to talk her into a good fit of crying.
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  Speaker 1: Dixon was crying enough for two but after wiping her
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  Speaker 1: eyes and steadying her voice, she managed to tell mister
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  Speaker 1: Bell that Missus Lennox was too near her confinement to
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  Speaker 1: be able to undertake any journey at present. Well, I
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  Speaker 1: suppose we must have missus Shaw. She's come back to England,
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  Speaker 1: isn't she? Yes, sir, she's come back. But I don't
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  Speaker 1: think she will like to leave Missus Lennox at such
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  Speaker 1: an interesting time, said Dixon, who did not much approve
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  Speaker 1: of a stranger entering the household to share with her
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  Speaker 1: at her ruling care of Margaret interesting time be Mister
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  Speaker 1: Bell restricted himself to coughing over the end of his sentence.
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  Speaker 1: She could be content to be at Venice or Naples
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  Speaker 1: or some of those popish places at the last interesting time,
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  Speaker 1: which took place in Corfu. I think, And what does
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  Speaker 1: that little prosperous woman's interesting time signify in comparison with
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  Speaker 1: that poor creature there, that hopeless, homeless, friendless Margaret lying
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  Speaker 1: as still on that sofa as if it were an
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  Speaker 1: altar tomb, and she the stone statue on it. I
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  Speaker 1: tell you, missus Shaw shall come see that a room
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  Speaker 1: or whatever she wants is got ready for her by
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow night. I'll take care she comes accordingly. Mister Bell
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  Speaker 1: wrote a letter which missus Shaw declared, with many tears,
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  Speaker 1: to be so like one of her dear generals when
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  Speaker 1: he was going to have a fit of the gout,
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  Speaker 1: that she should always value and preserve it. If he
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  Speaker 1: had given her the option by requesting or urging her,
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  Speaker 1: as if a refusal were possible, she might not have
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  Speaker 1: come true. And sincere as with her sympathy with Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: it needed the sharp, uncourteous command to make her conquer
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  Speaker 1: her visin Ershey and allow herself to be packed by
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  Speaker 1: her maid. After the latter had completed the boxes, Edith
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  Speaker 1: all cap shawls and tears came out to the top
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  Speaker 1: of the stairs as Captain Lennox was taking her mother
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  Speaker 1: down to the carriage. Don't forget, mamma, Margaret must come
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  Speaker 1: and live with us. Charlto will go to Oxford on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: and you must send word by mister Bell to him
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  Speaker 1: when we're to expect you, and if you want Chalto,
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  Speaker 1: he can go on from Oxford to Milton. Don't forget, Mamma,
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  Speaker 1: you are to bring back Margaret. Edith re entered the
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  Speaker 1: drawing room. Mister Henry Lennox was there, cutting open the
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  Speaker 1: pages of a new review. Without lifting his head, he said,
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  Speaker 1: if you don't like Sholto to be so long absent
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  Speaker 1: from you, Edith, I hope you will let me go
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  Speaker 1: down to Milton and give what assistance I can. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, said Edith. I dare say, old mister Bell
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  Speaker 1: will do everything he can, and more help may not
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  Speaker 1: be needed. Only one does not look for much savoir
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  Speaker 1: faire from a resident fellow. Dear darling Margaret, I want
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  Speaker 1: it be nice to have her here again. You were
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  Speaker 1: both great allies years ago, were we asked he indifferently,
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  Speaker 1: with an appearance of being interested in a passage in
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  Speaker 1: the review. Well perhaps not, I forget I was so
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  Speaker 1: full of Sholto. But doesn't it fall out well that
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  Speaker 1: if my uncle was to die, it should be just
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  Speaker 1: now when we are come home and settled in the
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  Speaker 1: old house and quite ready to receive Margaret poor thing.
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  Speaker 1: What a change it will be to her from Milton,
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  Speaker 1: I'll have new chintz for her bedroom and make it
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  Speaker 1: look new and bright, and cheer her up a little.
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  Speaker 1: In the same spirit of kindness, missus Shaw journeyed to Milton,
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  Speaker 1: occasionally dreading the first meeting and wondering how it would
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  Speaker 1: be got over, but more frequently planning how soon she
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  Speaker 1: could get Margaret away from that horrid place and back
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  Speaker 1: into the pleasant comforts of Harley Street. Oh dear, she
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  Speaker 1: said to her maid, look at those chimneys, my poor
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  Speaker 1: sister Hale. I don't think I could have rested at Naples.
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  Speaker 1: If I had known what it was, I must have
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  Speaker 1: come and fetched her and Margaret away. And to herself
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  Speaker 1: she acknowledged that she had always thought her brother in
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  Speaker 1: law rather a weak man, but never so weak as
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  Speaker 1: now when she saw for what a place he had
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  Speaker 1: exchanged the lovely Helstone home. Margaret had remained in the
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  Speaker 1: same state, white, motionless, speechless, tearless. They had told her
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  Speaker 1: that her Aunt Shaw was coming, but she had not
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  Speaker 1: expressed either surprise or pleasure or dislike to the idea.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Bell, whose appetite had returned, and who appreciated Dixon's
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  Speaker 1: endeavors to gratify it in vain urged upon her to
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  Speaker 1: taste some sweetbread stewed with oysters. She shook her head
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  Speaker 1: with the same quiet obstinacy as on the previous day,
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  Speaker 1: and he was obliged to console himself for her rejection
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  Speaker 1: by eating them all himself. But Margaret was the first
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  Speaker 1: to hear the stopping of the cab that brought her
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  Speaker 1: aunt from the railway station. Her eyelids quivered, her lips
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  Speaker 1: colored and trembled. Mister Bell went down to meet missus Shaw,
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  Speaker 1: and when they came up, Margaret was standing trying to
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  Speaker 1: steady her dizzy self, And when she saw her aunt,
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  Speaker 1: she went forward to the arms open to receive her,
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  Speaker 1: and first found the passionate relief of tears on her
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  Speaker 1: aunt's shoulder. All thoughts of quiet, habitual love, of tenderness
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  Speaker 1: for years of relationship to the dead, all that inexplicable
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  Speaker 1: likeness in look, tone, and gesture that seemed to belong
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  Speaker 1: to one family, and which reminded Margaret so forcibly at
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  Speaker 1: this moment of her mother came in to melt and
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  Speaker 1: soften her numbed heart into the overflow of warm tears.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Bell stole out of the room and went down
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  Speaker 1: into the study, where he ordered a fire and tried
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  Speaker 1: to divert his thoughts by taking down and examining the
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  Speaker 1: different books. Each volume brought a remembrance or a suggestion
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  Speaker 1: of his dead friend. It might be a change of
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  Speaker 1: employment from his two days work of watching Margaret, but
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  Speaker 1: it was no change of thought. He was glad to
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  Speaker 1: catch the sound of mister Thornton's voice making inquiry at
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  Speaker 1: the door. Dixon was rather cavalierly dismissing him, for with
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  Speaker 1: the appearance of missus Shaw's maid came visions of former
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  Speaker 1: Grandeur of the Beresford blood of the station. So she
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  Speaker 1: was pleased to term it from which her young lady
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  Speaker 1: had been ousted, and to which she was now please
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  Speaker 1: God to be restored, these visions which she had been
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  Speaker 1: dwelling on with complacency in her conversation with Missus Shaw's maid,
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  Speaker 1: skillfully eliciting meanwhile, all the circumstances of state and consequence
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  Speaker 1: connected with the Harley Street establishment for the edification of
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  Speaker 1: listening Martha made Dixon rather inclined to be supercilious in
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  Speaker 1: her treatment of any inhabitant of Milton, So though she
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  Speaker 1: always stood rather in awe of mister Thornton. She was
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  Speaker 1: as curt as she durst be in telling him that
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  Speaker 1: he could see none of the inmates of the house
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  Speaker 1: that night. It was rather uncomfortable to be contradicted in
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  Speaker 1: her statement by mister Bell's opening the study door and
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  Speaker 1: calling out Thornton, is that you come in for a
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  Speaker 1: minute or two. I want to speak to you. So
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  Speaker 1: mister Thornton went into the study, and Dixon had to
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  Speaker 1: retreat into the kitchen and reinstate herself in her own
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  Speaker 1: esteem by a prodigious story of Sir John Beresford's coach
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  Speaker 1: and six when he was high Sheriff, I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what I wanted to say to you, after all, only
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  Speaker 1: it's dull enough to sit in a room where everything
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  Speaker 1: speaks to you of a dead friend. Yet Margaret and
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  Speaker 1: her aunt must have the drawing room to themselves. Is missus?
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  Speaker 1: Is her aunt? Come? Asked mister Thornton, Come, yes, maid,
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  Speaker 1: And all one would have thought she might have come
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  Speaker 1: by herself at such a time. And now I shall
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  Speaker 1: have to turn out and find my way to the Clarendon.
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  Speaker 1: You must not go to the Clarendon. We have five
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  Speaker 1: or six empty bedrooms at home, well aired, I think
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  Speaker 1: you may trust my mother for that. Then I'll only
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  Speaker 1: run upstairs and wish that wan girl good night, and
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  Speaker 1: make my bow to her aunt, and go off with
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  Speaker 1: you straight. Mister Bell was some time upstairs. Mister Thornton
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  Speaker 1: began to think it long, for he was full of
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  Speaker 1: business and had hardly been able to spare the time
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  Speaker 1: for running up to Crampton, inquiring how miss Hale was
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  Speaker 1: when they had sat out upon their walk. Mister Bell said,
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  Speaker 1: I was kept by those women in the drawing room.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Shaw is anxious to get home on account of
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  Speaker 1: her daughter, she says, and wants Margaret to go off
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  Speaker 1: with her at once. Now she is no more fit
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  Speaker 1: for traveling than I am for flying. Besides, she says,
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  Speaker 1: and very justly, that she has friends. She must see
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  Speaker 1: that she must wish goodbye to several people. And then
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  Speaker 1: her aunt worried her about old claims, and was she
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  Speaker 1: forgetful of old friends? And she said, with a great
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  Speaker 1: burst of crying, she should be glad enough to go
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  Speaker 1: from a place where she had suffered so much. Now
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  Speaker 1: I must return to Oxford tomorrow, and I don't know
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  Speaker 1: on which side of the scale to throw in my voice.
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  Speaker 1: He paused, as if asking a question, but he received
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  Speaker 1: no answer from his companion, the echo of whose thoughts
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  Speaker 1: kept repeating, where she had suffered so much? Alas, and
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  Speaker 1: that was the way in which this eighteen months in
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  Speaker 1: Milton to him, so unspeakably precious, down to its very bitterness,
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  Speaker 1: which was worth all the rest of life's sweetness, would
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  Speaker 1: be remembered. Neither loss of father nor loss of mother,
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  Speaker 1: dear as she was to mister Thornton, could have poisoned
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  Speaker 1: the remembrance of the weeks, the days, the hours when
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  Speaker 1: a walk of two miles, every step of which was
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  Speaker 1: pleasant as it brought him nearer and nearer to her,
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  Speaker 1: took him to her sweet presence, every step of which
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  Speaker 1: was rich, as each recurring moment that bore him away
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  Speaker 1: from her made him recall some fresh grace in her demeanor,
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  Speaker 1: or pleasant pungency in her character. Yes, whatever had happened
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  Speaker 1: to him external to his relation to her, he could
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  Speaker 1: never have spoken of that time when he could have
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  Speaker 1: seen her every day, when he had her within his grasp,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, as a time of suffering, it had
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  Speaker 1: been a royal time of luxury, to him, with all
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  Speaker 1: its stings and contumelies, compared to the poverty that crept
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  Speaker 1: round and eclipped the anticipation of the future down to
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  Speaker 1: sordid fact and life without an atmosphere of either hope
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  Speaker 1: or fear. Missus Thornton and Fanny were in the dining room,
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  Speaker 1: the latter in a flutter of small exultation, as the
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  Speaker 1: maid held up one glossy material after another to try
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  Speaker 1: the effect of the wedding dresses by candlelight. Her mother
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  Speaker 1: really tried to sympathize with her, but could not. Neither
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  Speaker 1: taste nor dress were in her line of subjects, and
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  Speaker 1: she heartily wished that Fanny had accepted her brother's offer
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  Speaker 1: of having the wedding clothes provided by some first rate
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  Speaker 1: London dressmaker, without the endless troublesome discussions and unsettled wavering
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  Speaker 1: that arose out of Fanny's desire to choose and superintend
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  Speaker 1: everything herself. Mister Thornton was only too glad to mark
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  Speaker 1: his grateful approbation of any sensible man who could be
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  Speaker 1: captivated by Fanny's second rate airs and graces by giving
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  Speaker 1: her ample means for providing herself with the finery which
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  Speaker 1: certainly rivaled, if it did not exceed, the lover in
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  Speaker 1: her estimation. When her brother and mister Bell came in,
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  Speaker 1: Fanny blushed and simpered and fluttered over the signs of
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  Speaker 1: her employment in a way which could not have failed
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  Speaker 1: to draw attention from any one else but mister Bell.
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  Speaker 1: If he thought about her and her silks and satins
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  Speaker 1: at all, it was to compare her in them with
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  Speaker 1: the pale sorrow he had left behind him, sitting motionless
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  Speaker 1: with bent head and folded hands, in a room where
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  Speaker 1: the stillness was so great that you might almost fancy
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  Speaker 1: the rush in your strength ears was occasioned by the
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  Speaker 1: spirits of the dead, yet hovering round their beloved. For
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  Speaker 1: when mister Bell had first gone upstairs, Missus Shaw lay
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  Speaker 1: asleep on the sofa, and no sound broke the silence.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Thornton gave mister Bell her formal, hospitable welcome. She
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  Speaker 1: was never so gracious as when receiving her son's friends
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  Speaker 1: and her son's house, And the more unexpected they were,
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  Speaker 1: the more honor to her admirable housekeeping preparations for comfort.
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  Speaker 1: How is miss Hale, she asked about, as broken down
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  Speaker 1: by this last stroke as she can be. I am
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  Speaker 1: sure it is very well for her that she has
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  Speaker 1: such a friend as you. I wish I were her
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  Speaker 1: only friend, Madam. I dare say it sounds very brutal,
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  Speaker 1: But here have I been displaced and turned out of
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  Speaker 1: my post of comforter and adviser by a fine lady aunt.
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  Speaker 1: And there are cousins and what not claiming her in
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  Speaker 1: London as if she were a lap dog belonging to them.
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  Speaker 1: And she is too weak and miserable to have a
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  Speaker 1: will of her own. She must indeed be we, said
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  Speaker 1: missus Thornton, with an implied meaning which her son understood well.
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  Speaker 1: But where continued Missus Thornton. Have these relations been all
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  Speaker 1: this time? That Miss Hales appeared almost friendless, and has
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  Speaker 1: certainly had a good deal of anxiety to bear. But
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  Speaker 1: she did not feel interested enough in the answer to
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  Speaker 1: her question to wait for it. She left the room
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  Speaker 1: to make her household arrangements. They have been living abroad.
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  Speaker 1: They have some kind of claim upon her. I will
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  Speaker 1: do them that justice. The aunt brought her up, and
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  Speaker 1: she and the cousin have been like sisters. The thing
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  Speaker 1: vexing me, you see, is that I want her to
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  Speaker 1: take her for a child of my own. And I
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  Speaker 1: am jealous of these people who don't seem to value
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  Speaker 1: the privilege of their right. Now it would be different
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  Speaker 1: if Frederick claimed her. Frederick exclaimed, mister Thornton, who is he?
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  Speaker 1: What right? He stopped short in his vehement question. Frederick said,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: mister Bell in surprise, why don't you know he's her brother?
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  Speaker 1: Have you not heard? I have never heard his name before?
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  Speaker 1: Where is he? Who is he? Surely I told you
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  Speaker 1: about him when the family first came to Milton, the
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  Speaker 1: son who was concerned in that mutiny. I never heard
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  Speaker 1: of him till this moment. Where does he live in Spain?
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  Speaker 1: He's liable to be arrested the moment he sets foot
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  Speaker 1: on English ground, Poor fellow, he will grieve at not
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  Speaker 1: being able to attend his father's funeral. We must be
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  Speaker 1: content with Captain Lennox, for I don't know of any
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  Speaker 1: other relation to summon. I hope I may be allowed
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  Speaker 1: to go, certainly, thankfully, you're a good fellow. After all.
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  Speaker 1: Thornton Hale liked you. He spoke to me only the
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  Speaker 1: other day about you at Oxford. He regretted he had
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  Speaker 1: seen so little of you lately. I am obliged to
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  Speaker 1: you for wishing to show him respect. But about Frederick
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: does he never come to England? Never? He was not
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  Speaker 1: over here about the time of missus Hale's death. No,
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  Speaker 1: why I was here then? I hadn't seen him for
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  Speaker 1: years and years, and if you remember I came. No,
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  Speaker 1: it was some time after that that I came. But
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  Speaker 1: poor Frederick Hale was not here then, What made you
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  Speaker 1: think he was? I saw a young man walking with
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  Speaker 1: miss Hale one day, replied mister Thornton. And I think
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  Speaker 1: it was about that time. Oh, that would be this
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  Speaker 1: young Lennox, the Captain's brother. He's a lawyer, and they
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  Speaker 1: were in pretty constant correspondence with him. And I remember
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  Speaker 1: mister Hale told me he thought he would come down,
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  Speaker 1: do you know, said mister Bell, wheeling round and shutting
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  Speaker 1: one eye, the better to bring the forces of the
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  Speaker 1: other to bear with. Keen scrutiny on mister Thornton's face,
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  Speaker 1: that I once fancied you had a little tenderness for Margaret.
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  Speaker 1: No answer, no change of countenance. And so did poor Hale,
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  Speaker 1: not at first, and not till I had put it
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  Speaker 1: into his head. I admired Miss Hale. Every one must
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  Speaker 1: do so. She is a beautiful creature, said mister Thornton,
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  Speaker 1: driven to bay by mister Bell's pernacious questioning, is that
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  Speaker 1: you can speak of her in that measured way, as
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  Speaker 1: simply a beautiful creature, only something to catch the eye.
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  Speaker 1: I did hope you had had nobleness enough in you
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  Speaker 1: to make you pay her the homage of the heart.
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  Speaker 1: Though I believe, in fact I know she would have
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  Speaker 1: rejected you. Still, to have loved her without return would
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  Speaker 1: have lifted you higher than all those be they who
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: they may, that have never known her to love beautiful creature. Indeed,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: do you speak of her as you would of a
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: horse or a dog. Mister Thornton's eyes glowed like red embers.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Mister Bell said, he before you speak, so you should
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: remember that all men are not as free to express
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: what they feel as you are. Let us talk of
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: something else. For though his heart leaped up as a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: a trumpet, called to every word that mister Bell had said,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: and though he knew that what he had said would
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: henceforward behind the thought of the old Oxford fellow closely
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: up with the most precious things of his heart, Yet
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: he would not be forced into any expression of what
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: he felt towards Margaret. He was no mocking bird of
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: praise to try, because another extolled what he reverenced, and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: passionately loved to outdo him in laudation. So he turned
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: to some of the dry matters of business that lay
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: between mister Bell Andham as landlord and tenant. What is
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: that heap of brick and mortar we came against in
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the yard? Anyr repairs wanted? No? None? Thank you? Are
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: you building on your own account? If you are, I'm
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: very much obliged to you. I'm building a dining room
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: for the men, I mean the hands. I thought you
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: were hard to please. If this room wasn't good enough
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: to satisfy you. A bachelor, I've got acquainted with a
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: strange kind of chap, and I put one or two
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: children in whom he is interested to school. So as
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I happened to be passing near his house one day,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I just went there about some trifling payment to be made,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and I saw such a miserable black frizzle of a dinner,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a greasy cinder of meat. At first set me a thinking,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: but it was not till provisions grew so high this
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: way that I bethought me how by buying things wholesale
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: and cooking a good quantity of provisions together, much money
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: might be saved and much comfort gained. So I spoke
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: to my friend or my enemy, the man I told
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you of, and he found fault with every detail of
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: my plan, And in consequence I laid it aside, both
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: as impracticable, and also because if I forced it into operation,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I should be interfering with the independence of my men.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: When suddenly this Higgins came to me and graciously signified
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: his approval of a scheme so nearly the same as
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: mine that I might fairly have claimed it, and moreover,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the approval of several of his fellow workmen, to whom
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: he had spoken. I was a little riled, I confessed
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: by his manner, and thought of throwing the whole thing
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: overboard a sink or swim. But it seemed childish to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: relinquish a plan which I had once thought wise and
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: well laid, just because I myself did not receive all
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the honor and consequence due to the originator. So I
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: coolly took the part assigned to me, which is something
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: like that of steward to a club. I buy in
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the provision's wholesale and provide a fitting matron or cook.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I hope you give good satisfaction in your new capacity.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Are you a good judge of potatoes and onions? But
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: I suppose missus Thornton assiss you in your marketing. Not
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: a bit, replied mister Thornton. She disapproves of the whole plan,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and now we never mention it to each other. But
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I managed pretty well, getting in great stocks from Liverpool
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and being served in butcher's meat by our own family butcher.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I can assure you the hot dinners, the matron turns out,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: are by no means to be despised. Do you taste
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: each dish as it goes in? In virtue of your office?
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I hope you have a white wand I was very
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: scrupulous at first in confining myself to the mere purchasing part,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and even in that I rather obeyed the men's orders
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: conveyed through the housekeeper than went by my own judgment.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: At one time the beef was too large, at another
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the mutton was not fat enough. I think they saw
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: how careful I was to leave them free, and not
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: to intrude my own ideas upon them. So one day,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: two or three of the men, my friend Higgins among them,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: asked me if I would not come in and take
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a snack. It was a very busy day, but I
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: saw that the men would be hurt if, after making
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the advance, I didn't meet them halfway. So I went in,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and I never made a better dinner in my life.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: I told them my next neighbors. I mean, for I'm
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: no speech maker, how much I'd enjoyed it. And for
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: some time whenever that especial dinner recurred in their dietary,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I was sure to be met by these men with
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: a master. There's a hot pot for dinner to day
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: when you come. If they had not asked me, I
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: would no more have intruded on them than i'd have
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: gone to the mess at the barracks without invitation. I
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: should think you were rather a restraint on your host's conversation.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: They can't abuse the masters while you're there. I suspect
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: they take it out on non hot pot days. Well,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: hitherto we've steered clear of all vexed questions, But if
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: any of the old disputes came up again, I would
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: certainly speak out my mind next hot pot day. But
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: you are hardly acquainted with our Darkshire fellows. For all,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you're a Darkshire man yourself. They have such a sense
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of humor and such a racy mode of expression. I
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: am getting really to know some of them now, and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: they talk pretty freely before me. Nothing like the act
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of eating. For equalizing men, dying is nothing to it.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: The philosopher dies sententiously, the pharisee ostentatiously, the simple hearted humbly,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the poor idiot blindly as a sparrow falls to the ground.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: The philosopher, an idiot, publican, and pharisee all eat after
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the same fashion. Give it an equally good digestion. There's
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: theory for theory for you. Indeed, I have no theory.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I hate theories. I beg your pardon to show my penitence.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Will you accept a ten pound note towards your marketing
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and give the poor fellows a feast? Thank you, But
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I'd rather not. They pay me rent for the oven
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: in cooking places at the back of the mill, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: will have to pay more for the new dining room.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I don't want it to fall into a charity. I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: don't want donations. Once led in the principle, and I
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: should have people going and talking and spoiling the simplicity
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: of the whole thing. People will talk about any new plan.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: You can't help that. My enemies, if I have any,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: may make a philanthropic fuss about this dinner scheme. But
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you are a friend, and I expect you will pay
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: my experiment the respect of silence. It is but a
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: new broom at present, and sweeps clean enough. But by
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and bye we shall meet with plenty of stumbling blocks,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: no doubt. End of chapter forty two, recording by Leanne
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Howlett