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032 - Ch 32 - Mischances · North and South (version 2)

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