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020 - Men And Gentlemen · North and South

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of North and South. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Leanne Howlett. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, Men and gentlemen, old and young boy. Let
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  Speaker 1: them all eat, I have it. Let him have ten
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  Speaker 1: tire of teeth, apiece, I care not, rollo, Duke of Normandy.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret went home so painfully occupied with what she had
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  Speaker 1: heard and seen that she hardly knew how to rouse
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  Speaker 1: herself up to the duties which awaited her, the necessity
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  Speaker 1: for keeping up a constant flow of cheerful conversation for
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  Speaker 1: her mother, who, now that she was unable to go out,
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  Speaker 1: always looked to Margaret's return from the shortest walk as
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  Speaker 1: bringing in some news. And when your factory friend come
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  Speaker 1: on Thursday to see you dressed, she was so ill,
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  Speaker 1: I never thought of asking her, said Margaret dolefully. Dear,
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  Speaker 1: everybody is ill now, I think, said missus Hale, with
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  Speaker 1: a little of the jealousy which one invalid is apt
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  Speaker 1: to feel of another. But it must be very sad
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  Speaker 1: to be ill in one of those little back streets,
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  Speaker 1: her kindly nature prevailing, and the old Helstone habits of
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  Speaker 1: thought returning. It's bad enough here? What could you do
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  Speaker 1: for her? Margaret? Mister Thornton has sent me some of
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  Speaker 1: his old port wine since you went out. Would a
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  Speaker 1: bottle of that do her good? Think you? No, Mamma,
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe they are very poor. At least they
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  Speaker 1: don't speak as if they were. And at any rate,
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  Speaker 1: Bessy's illness is consumption. She won't want wine. Perhaps I
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  Speaker 1: might take her a little preserve made of our dear
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  Speaker 1: Helstone fruit. No, there's another family to whom I should
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  Speaker 1: like to give. Oh, Mamma, mamma, how am I to
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  Speaker 1: dress up in my finery and go off and away
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  Speaker 1: to smart parties? After the sorrow I have seen to day,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Margaret, bursting the bounds she had preordained for herself
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  Speaker 1: before she came in and telling her mother of what
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  Speaker 1: she had seen and heard at Higgins's cottage. It distressed
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  Speaker 1: missus Hale excessively. It made her restlessly irritated till she
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  Speaker 1: could do something. She directed Margaret to pack up a
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  Speaker 1: basket in the very drawing room to be sent there
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  Speaker 1: and then to the family, and was almost angry with
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  Speaker 1: her for saying that it would not signify if it
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  Speaker 1: did not go till morning, as she knew Higgins had
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  Speaker 1: provided for their immediate wants, and she herself had left
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  Speaker 1: money with Bessy Missus. Hale called her unfeeling for saying this,
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  Speaker 1: and never gave herself breathing time till the basket was
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  Speaker 1: sent out of the house. Then she said, after all,
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  Speaker 1: we may have been doing wrong. It was only the
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  Speaker 1: last time mister Thornton was here that he said those
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  Speaker 1: were no true friends who helped to prolong the struggle
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  Speaker 1: by assisting the turnouts. And this boucher Man was a turnout,
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  Speaker 1: was he not? The question was referred to mister Hale
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  Speaker 1: by his wife when he came upstairs fresh from giving
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  Speaker 1: a lesson to mister Thornton, which had ended in conversation,
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  Speaker 1: as was their wont Margaret did not care if their
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  Speaker 1: gifts had prolonged the strike. She did not think far
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  Speaker 1: enough for that in her present excited state. Mister Hale
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  Speaker 1: listened and tried to be as calm as a judge.
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  Speaker 1: He recalled all that had seemed so clear, not half
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  Speaker 1: an hour before, as it came out of mister Thornton's lips.
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  Speaker 1: And then he made an unsatisfactory compromise. His wife and
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  Speaker 1: daughter had not only done quite right in this instance,
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  Speaker 1: but he did not see for a moment how they
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  Speaker 1: could have done otherwise. Nevertheless, as a general rule, it
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  Speaker 1: was very true what mister Thornton said that as the strike,
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  Speaker 1: if prolonged, must end in the master's bringing hands from
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  Speaker 1: a distance. If indeed the final result were not, as
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  Speaker 1: it had often been before, the invention of some machine
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  Speaker 1: which would diminish the need of hands at all, why
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  Speaker 1: it was clear enough that the kindest thing was to
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  Speaker 1: refuse all help which might bolster them up in their folly.
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  Speaker 1: But as to this Boucher, he would go and see
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  Speaker 1: him the first thing in the morning and try and
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  Speaker 1: find out what could be done for him. Mister Hale
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  Speaker 1: went the next morning as he proposed. He did not
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  Speaker 1: find Boucher at home, but he had a long talk
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  Speaker 1: with his wife, promised to ask for an infirmary order
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  Speaker 1: for her, and, seeing the plenty provided by missus Hale
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  Speaker 1: and somewhat lavishly used by the children who were masters
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  Speaker 1: downstairs in their father's absence, he came back with a
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  Speaker 1: more consoling and cheerful account than Margaret had dared to hope. For. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: what she had said the night before had prepared her
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  Speaker 1: father for so much worse a state of things, that,
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  Speaker 1: by a reaction of his imagination, he described all as
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  Speaker 1: better than it really was. But I will go again
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  Speaker 1: and see the man himself, said mister Hale, I hardly
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  Speaker 1: know as yet how to compare one of these houses
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  Speaker 1: with our helstone cottages. I see furniture here which our
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  Speaker 1: laborers would never have thought of buying, and food commonly
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  Speaker 1: used which they would consider luxuries. Yet for these very
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  Speaker 1: families there seems no other resource, now that their weekly
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  Speaker 1: wages are stopped, but the pawnshop. One had need to
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  Speaker 1: learn a different language and measure by a different standard.
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  Speaker 1: Up here in Milton. Bessy too was rather better this day. Still,
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  Speaker 1: she was so weak that she seemed to have entirely
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  Speaker 1: forgotten her wish to see Margaret dressed, if indeed that
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  Speaker 1: had not been the feverish desire of a half delirious state.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret could not help comparing this strange dressing of hers
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  Speaker 1: to go where she did not care to be. Her
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  Speaker 1: heart heavy with various anxieties with the old merry girlish
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  Speaker 1: toilettes that she and Edith had performed scarcely more than
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  Speaker 1: a year ago. Her only pleasure now and decking herself out,
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  Speaker 1: was in thinking that her mother would take delight in
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  Speaker 1: seeing her dressed. She blushed when Dixon, throwing the drawing
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  Speaker 1: room door open, made an appeal for admiration. Miss Hale
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  Speaker 1: looks well, ma'am, doesn't she? Missus Shaw's coral couldn't have
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  Speaker 1: come in better. It just gives the right touch of color, ma'am. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Margaret, you would have been too pale. Margaret's black
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  Speaker 1: hair was too thick to be plaited. It needed rather
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  Speaker 1: to be twisted round and round and have its fine
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  Speaker 1: silkiness compressed into massive coils that encircled her head like
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  Speaker 1: a crown, and then were gathered into a large spiral
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  Speaker 1: knot behind. She kept its weight together by two large
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  Speaker 1: coral pins like small arrows for length. Her white silk
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  Speaker 1: sleeves were looped up with strings of the same material,
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  Speaker 1: and on her neck, just below the face of her
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  Speaker 1: curved and milk white throat, there lay heavy coral beads.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Margaret how I should like to be going with
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  Speaker 1: you to one of the old Barrington assemblies, taking you
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  Speaker 1: as Lady Beresford used to take me. Margaret kissed her
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  Speaker 1: mother for this little burst of maternal vanity, but she
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  Speaker 1: could hardly smile at it. She felt so much out
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  Speaker 1: of spirits. I would rather stay at home with you
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  Speaker 1: much rather, Mamma, nonsense, darling. Be sure you notice the
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  Speaker 1: dinner well. I shall like to hear how they manage
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  Speaker 1: these things in Milton, particularly the second course. Dear, look
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  Speaker 1: what they have instead of game. Missus Hale would have
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  Speaker 1: been moreton interested. She would have been astonished if she
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  Speaker 1: had seen the sumptuousness of the dinner table and its appointments. Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: with her London cultivated taste, felt the number of delicacies
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  Speaker 1: to be oppressive. One half of the quantity would have
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  Speaker 1: been enough, and the effect lighter and more elegant. But
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  Speaker 1: it was one of Missus Thornton's rigorous laws of hospitality
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  Speaker 1: that of each separate dainty enough should be provided for
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  Speaker 1: all the guests to partake if they felt inclined. Careless
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  Speaker 1: to obstemiousness. In her daily habits, it was part of
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  Speaker 1: her pride to set a feast before such of her
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  Speaker 1: guests as cared for it. Her son shared this feeling.
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  Speaker 1: He had never known, though he might have imagined and
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  Speaker 1: had the capability to relish any kind of society, but
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  Speaker 1: that which depended on an exchange of superb meals. And
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  Speaker 1: even now, though he was denying himself the personal expenditure
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  Speaker 1: of an unnecessary sixpence, and had more than once regretted
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  Speaker 1: that the invitations for this dinner had been sent out,
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  Speaker 1: still as it was to be, he was glad to
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  Speaker 1: see the old magnificence of preparation. Margaret and her father
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  Speaker 1: were the first to arrive. Mister Hale was anxiously punctual
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  Speaker 1: to the time specified. There was no one upstairs in
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  Speaker 1: the drawing room but missus Thornton and Fanny. Every cover
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  Speaker 1: was taken off, and the apartment blazed forth in yellow
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  Speaker 1: silke damask and a brilliantly flowered carpet. Every corner seemed
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  Speaker 1: filled up with ornament, until it became a weariness to
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  Speaker 1: the eye, and presented a strange contrast to the bald
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  Speaker 1: ugliness of the lookout into the great mill yard, where
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  Speaker 1: wide folding gates were thrown open for the admission of carriages.
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  Speaker 1: The mill loomed high on the left hand side of
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  Speaker 1: the windows, casting a shadow down from its many stories
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  Speaker 1: which darken the summer evening. Before its time. My son
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  Speaker 1: was engaged up to the last moment on business. He
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  Speaker 1: will be here directly, mister Hale. May I beg you
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  Speaker 1: to take a seat. Mister Hale was standing at one
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  Speaker 1: of the windows. As Missus Thornton spoke. He turned away, saying,
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  Speaker 1: don't you find such close neighborhood to the mill rather unpleasant?
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  Speaker 1: At times? She drew herself up. Never, I am not
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  Speaker 1: becomes so fine as the desire to forget the source
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  Speaker 1: of my son's wealth and power. Besides, there is not
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  Speaker 1: such another factory in Milton. One room alone is two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty square yards. I meant that the smoke
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  Speaker 1: and the noise, the constant going out and coming in
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  Speaker 1: of the work people, might be annoying. I agree with you,
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  Speaker 1: mister Hale, said Fanny. There is a continual smell of
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  Speaker 1: steam and oily machinery, and the noise is perfectly deafening.
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  Speaker 1: I have heard noise that was called music far more deafening.
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  Speaker 1: The engine room is at the street end of the factory,
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  Speaker 1: we hardly heard except in summer weather when all the
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  Speaker 1: windows are open. And as for the continual murmur of
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  Speaker 1: the work people, it disturbs me no more than the
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  Speaker 1: humming of a hive of bees. If I think of
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  Speaker 1: it at all, I connect it with my son and
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  Speaker 1: feel how all belongs to him, and that his is
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  Speaker 1: the head that directs it. Just now, there are no
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  Speaker 1: sounds to come from the mill. The hands have been
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  Speaker 1: ungrateful enough to turn out as perhaps you have heard.
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  Speaker 1: But the very business of which I spoke when you
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  Speaker 1: entered had referenced to the steps he is going to
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  Speaker 1: take to make them learn their place. The expression on
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  Speaker 1: her face, always stern, deepened into dark anger as she
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  Speaker 1: said this, Nor did it clear away when mister Thornton
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  Speaker 1: entered the room, for she saw in an instant the
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  Speaker 1: weight of care and anxiety which he could not shake off.
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  Speaker 1: Although his guests received from him a greeting that appeared
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  Speaker 1: both cheerful and cordial, he shook hands with Margaret. He
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  Speaker 1: knew it was the first time their hands had met,
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  Speaker 1: though she was perfectly unconscious of the fact. He inquired
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  Speaker 1: after missus Hale and heard mister Hale's sanguine hopeful account,
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  Speaker 1: and glancing at Margaret to understand how far she agreed
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  Speaker 1: with her father, he saw that no dissenting shadow crossed
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  Speaker 1: her face, And as he looked with this intention, he
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  Speaker 1: was struck anew with her great beauty. He had never
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  Speaker 1: seen her in such dress before, and yet now it
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  Speaker 1: appeared as if such elegance of attire was so befitting
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  Speaker 1: her noble figure and lofty serenity of countenance, that she
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  Speaker 1: ought to go always thus apparelled. She was talking to
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  Speaker 1: Fanny about what he could not hear. But he saw
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  Speaker 1: his sister restless way of continually arranging some part of
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  Speaker 1: her gown, her wandering eyes now glancing here, now there,
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  Speaker 1: but without any purpose in her observation. And he contrasted
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  Speaker 1: them uneasily with the large, soft eyes that looked forth
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  Speaker 1: steadily at one object, as if from out their light
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  Speaker 1: being some gentle influence of repose. The curving lines of
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  Speaker 1: the red lips just parted in the interest of listening
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  Speaker 1: to what her companion said, The head a little bent forwards,
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  Speaker 1: so as to make a long sweeping line from the summit,
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  Speaker 1: where the light caught on the glossy raven hair, to
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  Speaker 1: the smooth ivory tip of the shoulder, the round white
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  Speaker 1: arms and tape. Her hands laid lightly across each other,
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  Speaker 1: but perfectly motionless in their pretty attitude. Mister Thornton sighed
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  Speaker 1: as he took in all this with one of his
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  Speaker 1: sudden comprehensive glances, and then he turned his back to
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  Speaker 1: the young ladies and threw himself, with an effort, but
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  Speaker 1: with all his heart and soul, into a conversation with
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  Speaker 1: mister Hale. More people came, more and more. Fanny left
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  Speaker 1: Margaret's sighed and helped her mother to receive her guests.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Thornton felt that in this influx no one was
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  Speaker 1: speaking to Margaret, and was restless under this apparent neglect.
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  Speaker 1: But he never went near her himself. He did not
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  Speaker 1: look at her. Only he knew what she was doing
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  Speaker 1: or not doing, better than he knew the movements of
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  Speaker 1: any one else in the room. Margaret was so unconscious
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  Speaker 1: of herself, and so much amused by watching other people,
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  Speaker 1: that she never thought whether she was left unnoticed or not.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody took her down to dinner. She did not catch
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  Speaker 1: the name, nor did he seem much inclined to talk
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  Speaker 1: to her. There was a very animated conversation going on
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  Speaker 1: among the gentlemen. The ladies, for the most part, were silent,
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  Speaker 1: employing themselves and taking notes of the dinner and criticizing
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  Speaker 1: each other's dresses. Margaret caught the clue to the general conversation,
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  Speaker 1: grew interested and listened attentively. Mister Horsfall, the stranger whose
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  Speaker 1: visit to the town was the original germ of the party,
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  Speaker 1: was asking questions relative to the trade and manufactures of
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  Speaker 1: the place, and the rest of the gentlemen. All milton
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  Speaker 1: Men were giving him answers and explanations. Some dispute arose,
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  Speaker 1: which was warmly contested. It was referred to mister Thornton,
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  Speaker 1: who had hardly spoken before, but who now gave an opinion,
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  Speaker 1: the grounds of which were so clearly stated that even
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  Speaker 1: the opponents yielded. Margaret's attention was thus called to her host.
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  Speaker 1: His whole manner as master of the house and the
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  Speaker 1: entertainer of his friends, was so straightforward, yet simple and
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  Speaker 1: modest as to be thoroughly dignified. Margaret thought she had
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  Speaker 1: never seen him to so much advantage. When he had
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  Speaker 1: come to their house. There had been always something either
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  Speaker 1: of over eagerness or of that kind of vexed annoyance
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  Speaker 1: which seemed ready to presuppose that he was unjustly judged,
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  Speaker 1: and yet felt too proud to try and make himself
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  Speaker 1: better understood. But now among his fellows there was no
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  Speaker 1: uncertainty as to his position. He was regarded by them
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  Speaker 1: as a man of great force, of character, of power
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  Speaker 1: in many ways. There was no need to struggle for
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  Speaker 1: their respect. He had it and he knew it, and
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  Speaker 1: the security of this gave a fine, grand quietness to
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  Speaker 1: his voice and ways which Margaret had missed before. He
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  Speaker 1: was not in the habit of talking to ladies, and
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  Speaker 1: what he did say was a little formal. To Margaret herself,
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  Speaker 1: he hardly spoke at all. She was surprised to think
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  Speaker 1: how much she enjoyed this dinner. She knew enough now
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  Speaker 1: to understand many local interests, nay even some of the
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  Speaker 1: technical words employed by the eager mill owners. She silently
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  Speaker 1: took a very decided part in the question they were discussing.
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  Speaker 1: At any rate, they talked in desperate earnest, not in
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  Speaker 1: the used up style that wearied her so in the
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  Speaker 1: old London parties. She wondered that with all this dwelling
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  Speaker 1: on the manufactures and trade of the place. No allusion
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  Speaker 1: was made to the strike then pending. She did not
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  Speaker 1: yet know how coolly such things were taken by the masters,
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  Speaker 1: as having only one possible end. To be sure, the
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  Speaker 1: men were cutting their own throats, as they had done
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  Speaker 1: many a time before. But if they would be fools
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  Speaker 1: and put themselves into the hands of a rascally set
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  Speaker 1: of paid delegates, they must take the consequence. One or two.
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  Speaker 1: Thought Thornton looked out of spirits, and of course he
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  Speaker 1: must lose by this turnout. But it was an accident
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  Speaker 1: that might happen to themselves any day, and Thornton was
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  Speaker 1: as good to manage to strike as any one, for
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  Speaker 1: he was as iron a chap as any in Milton.
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  Speaker 1: The hands had mistaken their man in trying that dodge
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  Speaker 1: on him, and they chuckled inwardly at the idea of
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  Speaker 1: the workmen's discomfiture and defeat in their attempt to alter
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  Speaker 1: one iota of what Thornton had decreed. It was rather
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  Speaker 1: dull for Margaret. After dinner she was glad when the
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen came, not merely because she caught her father's eye
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  Speaker 1: to brighten her sleepiness up, but because she could listen
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  Speaker 1: to something larger and grander than the petty interests which
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  Speaker 1: the ladies had been talking about. She liked the exultation
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  Speaker 1: in the sense of power which these Milton men had.
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  Speaker 1: It might be rather rampant in its display and savor
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  Speaker 1: of boasting, but still they seemed to defy the old
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  Speaker 1: limits of possibility, and a kind of fine intoxication caused
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  Speaker 1: by the recollection of what had been achieved and what
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  Speaker 1: yet should be. If in her cooler moments she might
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  Speaker 1: not approve of their spirit in all things, still there
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  Speaker 1: was much to admire in their forgetfulness of themselves in
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  Speaker 1: the present, and their anticipated triumphs over all inanimate matter
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  Speaker 1: at some future time which none of them should live
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  Speaker 1: to see. She was rather startled when mister Thornton spoke
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  Speaker 1: to her close at her elbow. I could see you
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  Speaker 1: were on our side in our discussion at the dinner
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  Speaker 1: were You're not, Miss Hale, certainly, But then I know
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  Speaker 1: so little about it. I was surprised, however, to find
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  Speaker 1: from what mister Horsfall said that there were others who
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  Speaker 1: thought it so diametrically opposite a manner as the mister
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  Speaker 1: Morrison he spoke about. He cannot be a gentleman, is he?
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  Speaker 1: I am not quite the person to decide on another's gentlemanliness,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Hale. I mean, I don't quite understand your application
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  Speaker 1: of the word, but I should say that this Morrison
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  Speaker 1: is no true man. I don't know who he is.
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  Speaker 1: I merely judge him from mister Horsfville's account. I suspect
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  Speaker 1: my gentleman includes your true man, and a great deal more,
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  Speaker 1: you would imply. I differ from you. A man is
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  Speaker 1: to me a higher and a completer being than a gentleman.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean, asked Margaret. We must understand the
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  Speaker 1: words differently. I take it that gentleman is a term
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  Speaker 1: that only describes a person in his relation to others.
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  Speaker 1: But when we speak of him as a man, we
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  Speaker 1: consider him not merely with regard to his fellow men,
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  Speaker 1: but in relation to himself, to life, to time, to eternity,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: A castaway lonely as Robinson Crusoe, a prisoner immurred in
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: a dungeon for life. Nay, even a saint in Patmos
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: has his endurance, his strength, his faith, best described by
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: being spoken of as a man. I am rather weary
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of this word gentlemanly, which seems to me to be
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: often inappropriately used, and often too with such exaggerated distortion
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of meaning, while the full simplicity of the noun man
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and the adjective manly are unacknowledged, that I am induced
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: to class it with the cant of the day. Margaret
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: thought a moment, but before she could speak her slow conviction,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: he was called away by some of the eager manufacturers,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: whose speeches she could not hear, though she could guess
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: at their import by the short, clear answers mister Thornton gave,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: which came steady and firm as the boom of a
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: distant minute gun. They were evidently talking of the turnout
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and suggesting what course had best be pursued. She heard
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: mister Thornton say that has been done. Then came a
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: hurried murmur, in which two or three joined All those
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: arrangements have been made, Some doubts were implied, some difficulties
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: named by mister Slickson, who took hold of mister Thornton's arm,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the better to impress his words. Mister Thornton moved slightly away,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: lifted his eyebrows a very little and then replied, I
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: take the risk. You need not join in it unless
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you choose. Still, some more fears were urged. I'm not
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: afraid of anything so dacardardly as incendiarism. We are open
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: in am and I can protect myself from any violence
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: that I apprehend, and I will assuredly protect all others
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: who come to me for work. They know my determination
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: by this time as well and as fully as you do.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Mister Horsfall took him a little on one side as
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Margaret conjectured to ask him some other question about the strike.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: But in truth it was to inquire who she herself
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: was so quiet, so stately and so beautiful. A Milton
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: lady asked he, as the name was given. No from
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the south of England, Hampshire, I believe, was the cold
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and different answer. Missus Slickson was catechising Fanny on the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: same subject. Who is that fine distinguished looking girl, a
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: sister of mister Horsefull's. Oh dear, No, that is mister
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Hale her father. Talking now to mister Stevens. He gives lessons,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: that is to say, he reads with young men. My
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: brother John goes to him twice a week, and so
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: he begged Mamma to ask them here in hopes of
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: getting him known. I believe we have some of their prospectuses,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: if you would like to have one. Mister Thornton, does
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: he really find time to read with a tutor in
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the midst of all his business and this abominable strike
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: in hand as well? Fanny was not sure from mister
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Slickson's manner whether she ought to be proud or ashamed
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: of her brother's conduct, And like all people who try
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and take other people's ought for the rule of their feelings,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: she was inclined to blush for any singularity of action.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Her shame was interrupted by the dispersion of the guests
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: end of chapter twenty, recorded by Leanne Howlett