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040 - Ch 40 - Out of Tune · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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Speaker 1: chapter forty out of Tune. I have no wrong where
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Speaker 1: I can claim, no right not tain me fro where
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Speaker 1: I have nothing had yet of my woe. I cannot
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Speaker 1: be so quiet, namely since that another may be glad
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Speaker 1: with that, that thus in sorrow makes me sad. Wyatt
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Speaker 1: Margaret had not expected much pleasure to herself from mister
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Speaker 1: Bell's visit. She had only looked forward to it on
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Speaker 1: her father's account. But when her godfather came, she at
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Speaker 1: once fell into the most natural position of friendship in
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Speaker 1: the world. He said she had no merit in being
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Speaker 1: what she was, a girl so entirely after his own heart.
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Speaker 1: It was an hereditary power which she had to walk
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Speaker 1: in and take priss session of his regard. While she,
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Speaker 1: in reply, gave him much credit for being so fresh
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Speaker 1: and young under his fellow's cap and gown, fresh and
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Speaker 1: young in warmth and kindness, I mean, I'm afraid I
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Speaker 1: must own that I think your opinions are the oldest
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Speaker 1: and mustiest I have met with this long time here,
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Speaker 1: this daughter of yours Hale. Her residence at Milton has
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Speaker 1: quite corrupted her. She's a Democrat, a Red Republican, a
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Speaker 1: member of the Peace Society, a socialist Papa. It's all
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Speaker 1: because I'm standing up for the progress of commerce. Mister
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Speaker 1: Bell would have had it kept still at exchanging wild
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Speaker 1: beast skins for acorns. No, No, I'd dig the ground
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Speaker 1: and grow potatoes, and I'd shave the wild beast skins
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Speaker 1: and make the wool into broadcloth. Don't exaggerate, missy, but
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Speaker 1: I'm tired of this bustle. Everybody's rushing over everybody in
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Speaker 1: their hurry to get rich. It's not every one who
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Speaker 1: can sit comfortably in a set of college rooms and
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Speaker 1: let his riches grow without any exertion of his own.
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Speaker 1: No doubt, there's many a man here who would be
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Speaker 1: thankful if his property would increase as yours has done,
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Speaker 1: without his taking any trouble about it, said mister Hale.
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Speaker 1: I don't believe they would. It's the bustle and the
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Speaker 1: struggle they like. As for sitting still and learning from
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Speaker 1: the past, or shaping out the future by faithful work
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Speaker 1: done in a prophetic spirit, why pooh, I don't believe
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Speaker 1: there's a man in Milton who knows how to sit still,
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Speaker 1: and it is a great art. Milton people, I suspect
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Speaker 1: think Oxford men don't know how to move. It would
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Speaker 1: be a very good thing if they mixed a little more.
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Speaker 1: It might be good for the miltoners. Many things might
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Speaker 1: be good for them, which would be very disagreeable for
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Speaker 1: other people. Are you not a Milton man yourself? Asked Margaret.
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Speaker 1: I should have thought you would have been proud of
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Speaker 1: your town. I confess I don't see what there is
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Speaker 1: to be proud of. If you'll only come to Oxford, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I will show you a place to glory in well,
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Speaker 1: said mister Hale. Mister Thornton is coming to drink tea
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Speaker 1: with us to night, and he is as proud of
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Speaker 1: Milton as you of Oxford. You two must try and
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Speaker 1: make each other a little more liberal minded. I don't
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Speaker 1: want to be more liberal minded, thank you, said mister Bell.
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Speaker 1: Is mister Thornton coming to tea? Papa, asked Margaret in
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Speaker 1: a low voice, Either to tea or soon after? He
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Speaker 1: could not tell. He told us not to wait. Mister
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Speaker 1: Thornton had determined that he would make no inquiry of
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Speaker 1: his mother as to how far she had put her
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Speaker 1: project into execution. Of speaking to Margaret about the impropriety
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Speaker 1: of her conduct, he felt pretty sure that if this
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Speaker 1: interview took place, his mother's account of what passed at
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Speaker 1: it would only annoy and chagrin him, though he would
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Speaker 1: all the time be aware of the coloring which it
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Speaker 1: received by passing through her mind. He shrank from hearing
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Speaker 1: Margaret's very name mentioned. He while he blamed her, while
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Speaker 1: he was jealous of her, while he renounced her, he
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Speaker 1: loved her sorely in spite of himself. He dreamt of her.
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Speaker 1: He dreamt she came dancing towards him with outspread arms,
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Speaker 1: and with a lightness and gaiety, which made him loathe
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Speaker 1: her even while it allured him. But the impression of
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Speaker 1: this figure of Margaret, with all Margaret's character taken out
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Speaker 1: of it, as completely as if some evil spirit had
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Speaker 1: got possession of her form, was so deeply stamped upon
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Speaker 1: his imagination that when he wakened, he felt hardly able
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Speaker 1: to separate the Ulna from the Duessa, and the dislike
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Speaker 1: he had to. The latter seemed to envelop and disfigure
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Speaker 1: the former. Yet he was too proud to acknowledge his weaknes.
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Speaker 1: By avoiding the sight of her, he would neither seek
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Speaker 1: an opportunity of being in her company nor avoid it.
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Speaker 1: To convince himself of his power of self control, he
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Speaker 1: lingered over every piece of business this afternoon. He forced
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Speaker 1: every movement into unnatural slowness and deliberation, and it was
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Speaker 1: consequently past eight o'clock before he reached mister Hale's. Then
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Speaker 1: there were business arrangements to be transacted in the study
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Speaker 1: with mister Bell, and the latter kept on sitting over
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Speaker 1: the fire and talking wearily, long after all business was transacted,
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Speaker 1: and when they might just as well have gone upstairs.
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Speaker 1: But mister Thornton would not say a word about moving
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Speaker 1: their quarters. He chafed and chafed, and thought mister Bell
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Speaker 1: a most prosy companion, while mister Bell returned the compliment
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Speaker 1: in secret by considering mister Thornton about as brusque and
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Speaker 1: curt a fellow as he had ever met with, and
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Speaker 1: terribly gone off both in intelligence and manner. At last,
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Speaker 1: some slight noise in the room above suggested the desirableness
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Speaker 1: of moving. There, they found Margaret with a letter open
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Speaker 1: before her eagerly discussing its contents with her father. On
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Speaker 1: the entrance of the gentleman. It was immediately put aside,
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Speaker 1: but mister Thornton's eager senses caught some few words of
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Speaker 1: mister Hale's to mister Bell a letter from Henry Lennox.
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Speaker 1: It makes Margaret very hopeful, mister Bell nodded. Margaret was
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Speaker 1: read as a rose when mister Thornton looked at her.
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Speaker 1: He had the greatest mind in the world to get
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Speaker 1: up and go out of the room that very instant,
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Speaker 1: and never set foot in the house again. We were thinking,
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Speaker 1: said mister Hale, that you and mister Thornton had taken
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Speaker 1: Margaret's advice and were each trying to convert each other.
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Speaker 1: You were so long in the study, and you thought
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Speaker 1: there would be nothing left of us but an opinion
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Speaker 1: like the Kilkenny cat's tale. Pray, whose opinion did you
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Speaker 1: think would have the most obstinate vitality. Mister Thornton had
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Speaker 1: not a notion what they were talking about, and disdained
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Speaker 1: to inquire. Mister Hale politely enlightened him. Mister Thornton, we
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Speaker 1: were accusing mister Bell this morning of a kind of
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Speaker 1: Oxonian medieval bigotry against his native town. And we, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I believe, suggested that it would do him good to
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Speaker 1: associate a little with Milton manufacturers. I beg your pardon.
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Speaker 1: Margaret thought it would do the Milton manufacturers good to
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Speaker 1: associate a little more with Oxford men, Now, wasn't it so, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I believe, I thought it would do both good to
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Speaker 1: see a little more of the other. And I did
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Speaker 1: not know it was my idea any more than Papa's.
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Speaker 1: And so you see, mister Thornton, we ought to have
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Speaker 1: been improving each other downstairs, instead of talking over vanished
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Speaker 1: families of Smith's and Harrisons. However, I am willing to
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Speaker 1: do my part. Now. I wonder when you, Milton men,
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Speaker 1: intend to live. All your lives seemed to be spent
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Speaker 1: in gathering together the materials for life. By living, I
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Speaker 1: suppose you mean enjoyment, Yes, enjoyment. I don't specify of what,
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Speaker 1: because I trust we should both consider mere pleasure as
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Speaker 1: very poor enjoyment. I would rather have the nature of
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Speaker 1: enjoyment to find well. Enjoyment of leisure, enjoyment of the
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Speaker 1: power and influence which money gives you are all striving
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Speaker 1: for money? What do you want it for? Mister Thornton
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Speaker 1: was silent. Then he said, I really don't know, but
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Speaker 1: money is not what I strive for. It is a
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Speaker 1: home question. I shall have to lay myself open to
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Speaker 1: such a catechist, and I am not sure that I
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Speaker 1: am prepared to do it. No, said mister Hale, don't
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Speaker 1: let us be personal in our catechism. You are neither
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Speaker 1: of you representative men. You are each of you too
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Speaker 1: individual for that. I am not sure whether to consider
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Speaker 1: that a compliment or not. I should like to be
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Speaker 1: the representative of Oxford, with its beauty and its learning
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Speaker 1: and its proud old history. What do you say, Margaret
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Speaker 1: ought I to be flattered. I don't know Oxford, but
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Speaker 1: there is a difference between being the representative of a
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Speaker 1: city and the representative man of its inhabitants. Very true,
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Speaker 1: miss Margaret. Now I remember you were against me this morning,
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Speaker 1: and were quite Miltonian and manufacturing in your preferences. Margaret
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Speaker 1: saw the quick glance of surprise that mister Thornton gave her,
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Speaker 1: and she was annoyed at the construction which he might
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Speaker 1: put on this speech of mister Bell's. Mister Bell went on, Ah,
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Speaker 1: I wish I could show you our High Street, our
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Speaker 1: Radcliffe Square. I am leaving out our colleges, just as
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Speaker 1: I give mister Thornton leave to omit his factories. In
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Speaker 1: speaking of the charms of Milton, I have a right
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Speaker 1: to abuse my birthplace. Remember I am a Milton man.
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Speaker 1: Mister Thornton was annoyed more than he ought to ben
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Speaker 1: at all that mister Bell was saying. He was not
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Speaker 1: in a mood for joking. At another time he could
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Speaker 1: have enjoyed mister Bell's half testy condemnation of a town
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Speaker 1: where the life was so at variance with every habit
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Speaker 1: he had formed. But now he was galled enough to
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Speaker 1: attempt to defend what was never meant to be seriously attacked.
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Speaker 1: I don't set up Milton as a model of a
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Speaker 1: town not in architecture, slyly, asked mister Bell. No, we've
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Speaker 1: been too busy to attend to mere outward appearances. Don't
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Speaker 1: say mere outward appearances, said mister Hale gently. They impress
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Speaker 1: us all from childhood upward, every day of our life.
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Speaker 1: Wait a little while, said mister Thornton. Remember we're of
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Speaker 1: a different race from the Greeks, to whom beauty was everything,
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Speaker 1: and to whom mister Bell might speak of a life
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Speaker 1: of leisure and serene enjoyment, much of which entered in
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Speaker 1: through their outward senses. I don't mean to despise them
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Speaker 1: any more than I would ape them. But I belong
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Speaker 1: to Teutonic blood. It is a little mingled in this
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Speaker 1: part of England to what it is in others. We
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Speaker 1: retain much of their language, we retain more of their spirit.
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Speaker 1: We do not look upon life as a time for enjoyment,
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Speaker 1: but as a time for action and exertion. Our glory
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Speaker 1: and our beauty arise out of our inward strength, which
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Speaker 1: makes us victorious over material resistance and over greater difficulties.
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Speaker 1: Still we are Teutonic up here in Darkshire. In another way,
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Speaker 1: we hate to have laws made for us at a distance.
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Speaker 1: We wish people would allow us to right ourselves instead
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Speaker 1: of continually meddling with their imperfect legislation. We stand up
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Speaker 1: for self government and oppose centralization. In short, you would
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Speaker 1: like the Hepta key back again. Well, at any rate,
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Speaker 1: I revoke what I said this morning that you Milton
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Speaker 1: people did not reverence the past. You are regular worshippers
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Speaker 1: of thor If we do not reverence the past as
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Speaker 1: you do in Oxford, it is because we want something
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Speaker 1: which can apply to the present more directly. It is
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Speaker 1: fine when the study of the past leads to a
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Speaker 1: prophecy of the future, but to men groping in new circumstances.
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Speaker 1: It would be finer if the words of experience could
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Speaker 1: direct us how to act in what concerns us most
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Speaker 1: intimately and immediately, which is full of difficulties that must
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Speaker 1: be encountered, and upon the mode in which they are
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Speaker 1: met and conquered, not merely pushed aside for the time
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Speaker 1: depends our future. Out of the wisdom of the past
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Speaker 1: help us over the present. But no people can speak
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Speaker 1: of utopia much more easily than of the next day's duty.
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Speaker 1: And yet when that duty is all done by others
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Speaker 1: who so ready to cry, fie for shame. And all
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Speaker 1: this time, I don't see what you are talking about,
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Speaker 1: would you, Milton, men condescend to send up your to
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Speaker 1: day's difficulty to Oxford. You have not tried us yet.
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Speaker 1: Mister Thornton laughed outright at this. I believe I was
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Speaker 1: talking with reference to a good deal that has been
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Speaker 1: troubling us of late. I was thinking of the strikes
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Speaker 1: we have gone through, which are troublesome and injurious things
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Speaker 1: enough as I am finding to my cost. And yet
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Speaker 1: this last strike under which I am smarting, has been respectable.
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Speaker 1: A respectable strike, said mister Bell. That sounds as if
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Speaker 1: you were far gone in the worship of thor Margaret felt,
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Speaker 1: rather than saw that mister Thornton was chagrined by the
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Speaker 1: repeated turning into jest of what he was feeling as
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Speaker 1: very serious. She tried to change the conversation from a
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Speaker 1: subject about which one party cared little, while to the
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Speaker 1: other it was deeply because personally interesting. She forced herself
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Speaker 1: to say something. Edith says she finds the printed calicoes
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Speaker 1: in Corfu better and cheaper than in London? Does she
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Speaker 1: said her father. I think that must be one of
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Speaker 1: Edith's exaggerations. Are you sure of it, Margaret? I am sure,
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Speaker 1: she says so. Papa. Then I am sure of the fact,
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Speaker 1: said mister Bell. Margaret, I go so far in my
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Speaker 1: idea of your truthfulness that it shall cover your cousin's character.
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Speaker 1: I don't believe a cousin of yours could exaggerate, is
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Speaker 1: miss Hale so remarkable? For truth? Said mister Thornton bitterly.
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Speaker 1: The moment he had done so, he could have bitten
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Speaker 1: his tongue out. What was he and why should he
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Speaker 1: stab her with shame in this way? How evil he
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Speaker 1: was to night, possessed by ill humor at being detained
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Speaker 1: so long from her, irritated by the mention of some
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Speaker 1: name because he thought it belonged to a more successful lover,
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Speaker 1: now ill tempered, because he had been unable to cope
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Speaker 1: with a light heart against one who was trying, by
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Speaker 1: gay and careless speeches, to make the evening pass pleasantly away,
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Speaker 1: a kind old friend to all parties, whose manner by
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Speaker 1: this time might be well known to mister Thornton, who
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Speaker 1: had been acquainted with him for many years, And then
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Speaker 1: to speak to Margaret as he had done. She did
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Speaker 1: not get up and leave the room, as she had
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Speaker 1: done in former days when his abruptness or his temper
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Speaker 1: had annoyed her. She sat quite still. After the first
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Speaker 1: momentary glance of grieved surprise that made her eyes look
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Speaker 1: like some child's who has met with an unexpected rebuff,
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Speaker 1: they slowly dilated into mournful, reproachful sadness. And then they fell,
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Speaker 1: and she bent over her work and did not speak again.
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Speaker 1: But he could not help looking at her, and he
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Speaker 1: saw a sigh tremble over her body, as if she
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Speaker 1: quivered in some unwonted chill. He felt as the mother
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Speaker 1: would have done in the midst of her rocking it
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Speaker 1: and rating it, had she been called away. Before her slow,
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Speaker 1: confiding smile, implying perfect trust in mother's love, had proved
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Speaker 1: the renewing of its love. He gave short, sharp answers.
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Speaker 1: He was uneasy and cross, unable to discern between jest
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Speaker 1: and earnest, anxious only for a look a word of hers,
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Speaker 1: before which to prostrate himself in penitent humility. But she
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Speaker 1: neither looked nor spoke. Her round taper fingers flew in
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Speaker 1: and out of her sewing, as steadily and swiftly, as
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Speaker 1: if that were the business of her life. She could
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Speaker 1: not care for him, he thought, or else the passionate
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Speaker 1: fervor of his wish would have forced her to raise
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Speaker 1: those eyes. If but for an instant to read the
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Speaker 1: late repentance in his he could have struck her before
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Speaker 1: he left, in order that by some strange, overt act
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Speaker 1: of rudeness, he might earn the privilege of telling her
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Speaker 1: the remorse that gnawed at his heart. It was well
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Speaker 1: that the long walk in the open air wound up
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Speaker 1: this evening for him. It sobered him back into grave
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Speaker 1: resolution that henceforth he would see as little of her
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Speaker 1: as possible, since the very sight of that face and form,
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Speaker 1: the very sounds of that voice, like the soft winds
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Speaker 1: of pure melody, had such power to move him from
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Speaker 1: his balance. Well, he had known what love was, a
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Speaker 1: sharp pang, a fierce experience, in the midst of whose
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Speaker 1: flames he was struggling. But through that furnace he would
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Speaker 1: fight his way out into the serenity of middle age,
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Speaker 1: all the richer and more human for having known this
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Speaker 1: great passion. When he had somewhat abruptly left the room,
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Speaker 1: Margaret rose from her seat and began silently to fold
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Speaker 1: up her work. The long seams were heavy and had
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Speaker 1: an unusual weight for her languid arms. The round lines
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Speaker 1: in her face took at lengthened, straighter form, and her
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Speaker 1: whole appearance was that of one who had gone through
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Speaker 1: a day of great fatigue. As the three prepared for bed.
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Speaker 1: Mister Bell muttered forth a little condemnation of mister Thornton.
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Speaker 1: I never saw a fellow so spoiled by success. He
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Speaker 1: can't bear a word, a jest of any kind. Everything
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Speaker 1: seems to touch on the soreness of his high dignity.
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Speaker 1: Formerly he was as simple and noble as the open day.
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Speaker 1: You could not offend him because he had no vanity.
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Speaker 1: He is not vain now, said Margaret, turning round from
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Speaker 1: the table and speaking with quiet distinctness to night. He
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Speaker 1: has not been like himself. Something must have annoyed him
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Speaker 1: before he came here. Mister Bell gave her one of
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Speaker 1: his sharp glances from above his spectacles. She stood it
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Speaker 1: quite calmly. But after she had left the room, he
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Speaker 1: suddenly asked, Hale, did it ever strike you that Thornton
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Speaker 1: and your daughter have what the French call a tendress
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Speaker 1: for each other? Never, said mister Hale, first startled and
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Speaker 1: then flurried by the new idea. No, I am sure
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Speaker 1: you are wrong. I am almost certain you are mistaken.
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Speaker 1: If there is anything, it is all on mister Thornton's side,
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Speaker 1: poor fellow. I hope and trust he is not thinking
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Speaker 1: of her, for I am sure she would not have him. Well,
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Speaker 1: I am a bachelor and have steered clear of love
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Speaker 1: affairs all my life, so perhaps my opinion is not
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Speaker 1: worth having, or else I should say there were very
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Speaker 1: pretty symptoms about her. Then I am sure you are wrong,
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Speaker 1: said mister Hale. He may care for her, though she
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Speaker 1: really has been almost rude to him at times, but
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Speaker 1: she why Margaret would never think of him. I'm sure
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Speaker 1: such a thing has never entered her head. Entering her
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Speaker 1: heart would do. But I merely threw out a suggestion
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Speaker 1: of what might be. I dare say I was wrong,
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Speaker 1: and whether I was wrong or right, I am very sleepy.
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Speaker 1: So having disturbed your night's rest, as I can see
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Speaker 1: with my untimely fancies, I'll betake myself with an easy
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Speaker 1: mind to my own. But mister Hale resolved that he
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Speaker 1: would not be disturbed by any such nonsensical idea, so
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Speaker 1: he lay awake, determining not to think about it. Mister
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Speaker 1: Bell took his leave the next day, bidding Margaret to
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Speaker 1: look to him as one who had a right to
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Speaker 1: help and protect her in all her troubles, of whatever
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Speaker 1: nature they might be. To mister Hale, he said that
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Speaker 1: Margaret of yours has gone deep into my heart. Take
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Speaker 1: care of her, for she is a very precious creature,
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Speaker 1: a great deal too good for Milton, only fit for Oxford.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the town I mean, not the men. I
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Speaker 1: can't match her, yet, when I can, I shall bring
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Speaker 1: my young man to stand side by side with your
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Speaker 1: young woman, just as the genie in the Arabian Nights
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Speaker 1: brought Prince Kramazan to match with the fairy's princess Badoura.
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Speaker 1: I beg, you'll do no such thing, remember the misfortunes
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Speaker 1: that ensued. And besides, I can't spare Margaret. No. On
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Speaker 1: second thoughts, we'll have her to nurse us ten years
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Speaker 1: hence when we shall be two cross old Invalids. Seriously, Hale,
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Speaker 1: I wish you'd leave Milton, which is a most unsuitable
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Speaker 1: place for you, though it was my recommendation in the
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Speaker 1: first instance. If you would, I'd swallow my shadow of
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Speaker 1: doubts and take a college living, and you and Margaret
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Speaker 1: could come and live at the parsonage. You'd be a
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Speaker 1: sort of lay curate and take the unwashed off my hands,
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Speaker 1: and she to be our housekeeper. The village lady bountiful
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Speaker 1: by day and read us to sleep in the evenings.
21:44
Speaker 1: I could be very happy in such a life. What
21:47
Speaker 1: do you think of it? Never said mister Hale. Decidedly,
21:52
Speaker 1: My one great change has been made, and my price
21:55
Speaker 1: of suffering paid. Here I stay out my life, and
21:59
Speaker 1: here I will be buried and lost in the crowd.
22:04
Speaker 1: I don't give up my plan yet, only I won't
22:06
Speaker 1: bait you with it any more. Just now, where's the pearl? Come, Margaret?
22:12
Speaker 1: Give me a farewell kiss, and remember, my dear, where
22:15
Speaker 1: you may find a true friend as far as his
22:18
Speaker 1: capability goes. You are my child, Margaret. Remember that, and
22:22
Speaker 1: God bless you. So they fell back into the monotony
22:27
Speaker 1: of the quiet life they would henceforth lead. There was
22:30
Speaker 1: no invalid to hope and fear about, even the Higginses.
22:34
Speaker 1: So long a vivid interest seemed to have receded from
22:37
Speaker 1: any need of immediate thought. The Boucher children left motherless.
22:42
Speaker 1: Orphans claimed what of Margaret's care she could bestow, and
22:46
Speaker 1: she went pretty often to see Mary Higgins, who had
22:49
Speaker 1: charge of them. The two families were living in one house.
22:53
Speaker 1: The elder children were at humble schools, the younger ones
22:56
Speaker 1: were tended in Mary's absence at her work by the
22:59
Speaker 1: kind neighbor whose good sense had struck Margaret at the
23:02
Speaker 1: time of Boucher's death. Of course, she was paid for
23:05
Speaker 1: her trouble, and indeed, in all his little plans and
23:09
Speaker 1: arrangements for these orphan children, Nicholas showed a sober judgment
23:13
Speaker 1: and regulated method of thinking, which were at variance with
23:16
Speaker 1: his former, more eccentric jerks of action. He was so
23:20
Speaker 1: steady at his work that Margaret did not often see
23:23
Speaker 1: him during these winter months. But when she did, she
23:27
Speaker 1: saw that he winced away from any reference to the
23:29
Speaker 1: father of those children whom he had so fully and
23:32
Speaker 1: heartily taken under his care. He did not speak easily
23:36
Speaker 1: of mister Thornton, to tell the truth, said he. He
23:40
Speaker 1: fairly bamboozles me. He's two chaps. One chap I knowed
23:45
Speaker 1: of old, as were Measter all er t'other chap hasn't
23:48
Speaker 1: denounced a measter's flesh about him. How them two chaps
23:52
Speaker 1: is bound up in one body is a crudie for
23:54
Speaker 1: me to find out. I'll not be beat by it, though. Meanwhile,
23:59
Speaker 1: he comes here pretty often. That's how I know the
24:01
Speaker 1: chap that's a man, not a measter. And I reckon
24:05
Speaker 1: he's taken aback by me pretty much as I am
24:07
Speaker 1: by him. For he sits and listens and stares as
24:11
Speaker 1: if I were some strange beast newly caught in some
24:13
Speaker 1: of the zones. But I'm none daunted. It would take
24:17
Speaker 1: a deal to daunt me in my own house, as
24:19
Speaker 1: he sees. And I tell him some of my mind
24:22
Speaker 1: that I reckon he'd ha been the better for hearing
24:24
Speaker 1: when he were a younger man. And does he not answer, you,
24:29
Speaker 1: asked mister Hale. Well, I'll not say. The advantage is
24:33
Speaker 1: all on his side, for all I take credit for
24:36
Speaker 1: improving him above a bit. Sometimes he says a rough
24:39
Speaker 1: thing or two which is not agreeable to look at
24:41
Speaker 1: at first, but has a queer smack o truth in it.
24:44
Speaker 1: When ye come to chew it, he'll be comin to night.
24:47
Speaker 1: I reckon about them childers schooling. He's not satisfied with
24:51
Speaker 1: the make of it, and wants to examine em. What
24:55
Speaker 1: are they, began mister Hale. But Margaret, touching his arm,
25:00
Speaker 1: showed him her watch. It's nearly seven, she said. The
25:04
Speaker 1: evenings are getting longer. Now come Papa, she did not
25:08
Speaker 1: breathe freely till they were some distance from the house. Then,
25:12
Speaker 1: as she became more calm, she wished that she had
25:15
Speaker 1: not been in so great a hurry. For somehow they
25:18
Speaker 1: saw mister Thornton, but very seldom now, and he might
25:21
Speaker 1: have come to see Higgins, And for the old friendship's sake,
25:25
Speaker 1: she should like to have seen him to night. Yes,
25:29
Speaker 1: he came very seldom, even for the dull, cold purpose
25:32
Speaker 1: of lessons. Mister Hale was disappointed in his pupil's luke
25:36
Speaker 1: warmness about Greek literature, which had but a short time
25:40
Speaker 1: ago so great an interest for him. And now it
25:43
Speaker 1: often happened that a hurried note from mister Thornton would
25:46
Speaker 1: arrive just at the last moment, saying that he was
25:50
Speaker 1: so much engaged that he could not come to read
25:52
Speaker 1: with mister Hale that evening. And though other pupils had
25:55
Speaker 1: taken more than his place as to time, no one
25:59
Speaker 1: was like his friends scholar. In mister Hale's heart. He
26:02
Speaker 1: was depressed and sad at this partial cessation of an
26:05
Speaker 1: intercourse which had become dear to him, and he used
26:08
Speaker 1: to sit pondering over the reason that could have occasioned
26:11
Speaker 1: this change. He startled Margaret one evening as she sat
26:15
Speaker 1: at her work by suddenly asking, Margaret, have you ever
26:20
Speaker 1: any reason for thinking that mister Thornton cared for you?
26:24
Speaker 1: He almost blushed as he put this question, but mister
26:27
Speaker 1: Bell's scouted idea recurred to him, and the words were
26:30
Speaker 1: out of his mouth before he well knew what he
26:33
Speaker 1: was about. Margaret did not answer immediately, but by the
26:37
Speaker 1: bent drooping of her head, he guessed what her reply
26:40
Speaker 1: would be. Yes, I believe, oh, Papa, I should have
26:47
Speaker 1: told you. And she dropped her work and hid her
26:50
Speaker 1: face in her hands. No, dear, don't think that I
26:55
Speaker 1: am impertinently curious. I am sure you would have told
26:59
Speaker 1: me if you had felt that you could return his regard.
27:03
Speaker 1: Did he speak to you about it? No answer at first,
27:07
Speaker 1: but by and by a little gentle, reluctant yes, and
27:13
Speaker 1: you refused him a long sigh, a more helpless nervous attitude,
27:19
Speaker 1: and another yes. But before her father could speak, Margaret
27:24
Speaker 1: lifted up her face rosy with some beautiful shame, and
27:28
Speaker 1: fixing her eyes upon him, said, now, Papa, I have
27:32
Speaker 1: told you this, and I cannot tell you more. And
27:36
Speaker 1: then the whole thing is so painful to me. Every
27:39
Speaker 1: word in action connected with it is so unspeakably bitter
27:42
Speaker 1: that I cannot bear to think of it. Oh, Papa,
27:46
Speaker 1: I am sorry to have lost you this friend, but
27:49
Speaker 1: I could not help it. But oh, I am very sorry.
27:55
Speaker 1: She sat down on the ground and laid her head
27:57
Speaker 1: on his knees. I am sorry, my dear. Mister Bell
28:03
Speaker 1: quite startled me when he said some idea of the kind,
28:07
Speaker 1: mister Bell. Oh did mister Bell see it a little?
28:14
Speaker 1: But he took it into his head that you, how
28:17
Speaker 1: shall I say it, that you were not ungraciously disposed
28:20
Speaker 1: towards mister Thornton. I knew that could never be. I
28:24
Speaker 1: hoped the whole thing was but an imagination, but I
28:28
Speaker 1: knew too well what your real feelings were to suppose
28:31
Speaker 1: that you could ever like mister Thornton in that way.
28:34
Speaker 1: But I am very sorry. They were very quiet and
28:39
Speaker 1: still for some minutes, but on stroking her cheek in
28:43
Speaker 1: a caressing way. Soon after, he was almost shocked to
28:46
Speaker 1: find her face wet with tears. As he touched her,
28:50
Speaker 1: she sprang up and, smiling with forced brightness, began to
28:54
Speaker 1: talk of the lennoxes with such a vehement desire to
28:56
Speaker 1: turn the conversation that mister Hale was too tender hearted
29:00
Speaker 1: to try to force it back into the old channel.
29:04
Speaker 1: To morrow, Yes, to morrow they will be back in
29:07
Speaker 1: Harley Street. Oh how strange it will be. I wonder
29:11
Speaker 1: what room they will make into the nursery. Aunt Shaw
29:14
Speaker 1: will be happy with the baby, fancy Edith a mamma.
29:18
Speaker 1: And Captain Lennox. I wonder what he will do with
29:21
Speaker 1: himself now he has sold out. I'll tell you what
29:25
Speaker 1: said her father, anxious to indulge her in this fresh
29:28
Speaker 1: subject of interest. I think I must spare you for
29:32
Speaker 1: a fortnight, just to run up to town and see
29:34
Speaker 1: the travelers. You could learn more by half an hour's
29:38
Speaker 1: conversation with mister Henry Lennox about Frederick's chances than a
29:42
Speaker 1: dozen of these letters of his. So it would in
29:45
Speaker 1: fact be uniting business with pleasure. No, Papa, you cannot
29:51
Speaker 1: spare me, And what's more, I won't be spared. Then,
29:56
Speaker 1: after a long pause, she added, I am losing hope
29:59
Speaker 1: sadly about Frederick. He is letting us down gently. But
30:03
Speaker 1: I can see that mister Lennox himself has no hope
30:06
Speaker 1: of hunting up the witnesses under years and years of time. No,
30:11
Speaker 1: said she that bubble was very pretty and very dear
30:14
Speaker 1: to our hearts. But it has burst like many another,
30:18
Speaker 1: and we must console ourselves with being glad that Frederick
30:21
Speaker 1: is so happy, and with being a great deal to
30:24
Speaker 1: each other. So don't offend me by talking of being
30:27
Speaker 1: able to spare me, Papa, for I assure you you can't.
30:32
Speaker 1: But the idea of a change took root and germinated
30:35
Speaker 1: in Margaret's heart, although not in the way in which
30:38
Speaker 1: her father proposed it. At first, she began to consider
30:41
Speaker 1: how desirable something of the kind would be to her father,
30:44
Speaker 1: whose spirits, always feeble, now became too frequently depressed, and
30:49
Speaker 1: whose health, though he never complained, had been seriously affected
30:53
Speaker 1: by his wife's illness and death. There were the regular
30:56
Speaker 1: hours of reading with his pupils, but that all give
31:00
Speaker 1: and no receiving could no longer be called companionship as
31:03
Speaker 1: in the old days. When mister Thornton came to study
31:06
Speaker 1: under him, Margaret was conscious of the want under which
31:10
Speaker 1: he was suffering, unknown to himself, the want of a
31:13
Speaker 1: man's intercourse with men. At Helstone, there had been perpetual
31:17
Speaker 1: occasions for an interchange of visits with neighboring clergymen, and
31:21
Speaker 1: the poor laborers in the fields, or leisurely tramping home
31:25
Speaker 1: at eve or tending their cattle in the forest, were
31:28
Speaker 1: always at liberty to speak or be spoken to. But
31:31
Speaker 1: in Milton every one was too busy for quiet speech
31:35
Speaker 1: or any ripened intercourse of thought. What they said was
31:39
Speaker 1: about business, very present and actual, and when the tension
31:43
Speaker 1: of mind relating to their daily affairs was over, they
31:46
Speaker 1: sunk into fallow rest until next morning. The workman was
31:51
Speaker 1: not to be found after the day's work was done.
31:53
Speaker 1: He had gone away to some lecture, or some club,
31:57
Speaker 1: or some beer shop. According to his degree of character,
32:00
Speaker 1: mister Hale thought of trying to deliver a course of
32:02
Speaker 1: lectures at some of the institutions. But he contemplated doing
32:06
Speaker 1: this so much as an effort of duty, and with
32:09
Speaker 1: so little of the genial impulse of love towards his
32:11
Speaker 1: work and its end, that Margaret was sure that it
32:15
Speaker 1: would not be well done until he could look upon
32:17
Speaker 1: it with some kind of zest. End of Chapter forty