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The Shuttle Chapter 17 - Townlinson and Sheppard · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER XVII. TOWNLINSON AND SHEPHERD During the whole course of
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  Speaker 1: her interesting life, and she had always found life interesting,
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  Speaker 1: Betty Vanderpool decided that she had known no experience more
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  Speaker 1: absorbing than this morning spent in going over the long-closed
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  Speaker 1: and deserted portions of the neglected house. She had never
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  Speaker 1: seen anything like the place, or as full of suggestions.
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  Speaker 1: The greater part of it had simply been shut up
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  Speaker 1: and left to time and weather, both of which had
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  Speaker 1: had their effects. The fine old red roof, having lost tiles,
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  Speaker 1: had fallen into leaks that let in rain, which had
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  Speaker 1: stained and rotted walls, plaster and woodwork. Wind and storm
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  Speaker 1: had beaten through broken window panes and done their worst
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  Speaker 1: with such furniture and hangings as they found, to whip
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  Speaker 1: and toss and leave damp and spotted with mould. They
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  Speaker 1: passed through corridors and up and down short or long
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  Speaker 1: stairways with stained or faded walls. and sometimes with cracked
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  Speaker 1: or fallen plastering and wainscoting. Here and there the oak
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  Speaker 1: flooring itself was uncertain. The rooms, whether large or small,
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  Speaker 1: all presented a like aspect of potential beauty and comfort,
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  Speaker 1: utterly uncared for and forlorn. There were many rooms, but
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  Speaker 1: none more than scantily furnished, and a number of them
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  Speaker 1: were stripped bare. Betty found herself wondering how long a
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  Speaker 1: time it had taken the belongings of the big place
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  Speaker 1: to dwindle and melt away into such bareness. There was
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  Speaker 1: a time, I suppose, when it was all furnished, she said.
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  Speaker 1: All these rooms were shut up when I came here,
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  Speaker 1: Rosie answered. I suppose things worth selling have been sold.
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  Speaker 1: When pieces of furniture were broken in one part of
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  Speaker 1: the house, they were replaced by things brought from another.
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  Speaker 1: No one cared. Nigel hates it all. He calls it
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  Speaker 1: a rat hole. He detests the country everywhere, but particularly
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  Speaker 1: this part of it. After the first year, I'd learned
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  Speaker 1: better than to speak to him of spending money on repairs.
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  Speaker 1: A good deal of money should be spent on repairs,
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  Speaker 1: reflected Betty, looking about her. She was standing in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of a room whose walls were hung with the
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  Speaker 1: remains of what had been chintz, covered with a pattern
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  Speaker 1: of loose clusters of moss rosebuds. The dampness had rotted it,
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  Speaker 1: until in some places it had fallen away in strips
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  Speaker 1: from its fastenings. A quaint embroidered couch stood in one corner,
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  Speaker 1: and as Betty looked at it a mouse crept from
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  Speaker 1: underneath the tattered valance, stared at her in alarm, and
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  Speaker 1: suddenly darted back again in terror of intrusion so unusual.
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  Speaker 1: A casement window swung open on a broken hinge, and
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  Speaker 1: a strong branch of ivy, having forced its way inside,
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  Speaker 1: had thrown a covering of leaves over the deep ledge,
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  Speaker 1: and was beginning to climb the inner woodwork. Through the
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  Speaker 1: casement was to be seen a heavenly spread of country,
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  Speaker 1: whose rolling lands were clad softly in green pastures and
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  Speaker 1: thick-branched trees.' This is the Rosebud Boudoir,' said Lady Anstruthers,
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  Speaker 1: smiling faintly, All the rooms have names. I thought them
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  Speaker 1: so delightful when I first heard them. The damask room,
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  Speaker 1: the tapestry room, the white wainscot room, my lady's chamber.
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  Speaker 1: It almost broke my heart when I saw what they
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  Speaker 1: looked like. It would be very interesting, Betty commented slowly,
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  Speaker 1: to make them look as they ought to look. A
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  Speaker 1: remote fear rose to the surface of the expression in
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  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruther's eyes. She could not detach herself from certain
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  Speaker 1: recollections of Nigel, of his opinions of her family. of
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  Speaker 1: his determination not to allow it to enter as a
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  Speaker 1: factor in either his life or hers. And Betty had
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  Speaker 1: come to Stornham, Betty whom he had detested as a child,
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  Speaker 1: and in the course of two days she had seemed
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  Speaker 1: to become a new part of the atmosphere, and to
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  Speaker 1: make the dead despair of the place begin to stir
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  Speaker 1: with life. What other thing than this was happening, as
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  Speaker 1: she spoke of making such rooms as the Rosebud Boudoir
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  Speaker 1: look as they ought to look, and said the words
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  Speaker 1: not as if they were part of a fantastic vision,
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  Speaker 1: but as if they expressed a perfectly possible thing. Betty
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  Speaker 1: saw the doubt in her eyes, and in a measure
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  Speaker 1: guessed at its meaning. The time to pause for argument had, however,
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  Speaker 1: not arrived. There was too much to be investigated, too
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  Speaker 1: much to be seen. She swept her on her way.
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  Speaker 1: They wandered on through some forty rooms, more or less.
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  Speaker 1: They opened doors and closed them. They unbarred shutters and
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  Speaker 1: let the sun stream in on dust and dampness and cobwebs.
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  Speaker 1: the comprehension of the situation which betty gained was as
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  Speaker 1: valuable as it was enlightening the descent into the lower
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  Speaker 1: part of the house was a new experience betty had
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  Speaker 1: not before seen huge flagged kitchens vaulted servants halls stone
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  Speaker 1: passages butteries and dairies the substantial masonry of the walls
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  Speaker 1: and arched ceilings the stone stairway and the seemingly endless
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  Speaker 1: offices were interestingly remote in idea from such domestic modernities
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  Speaker 1: as chance views of up-to-date american household workings had provided
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  Speaker 1: her in the huge kitchen itself an elderly woman rolling
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  Speaker 1: pastry paused to curtsy to them with stolid curiosity in
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  Speaker 1: her heavy-featured face in her character as single-handed cook mrs
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  Speaker 1: noakes had sent up uninviting meals to lady anstruthers for
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  Speaker 1: several years but she had not seen her ladyship below
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  Speaker 1: stairs before. And this was the unexpected arrival, the young
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  Speaker 1: lady there had been talk of from the moment of
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  Speaker 1: her appearance. Mrs. Noakes admitted with the grudgingness of a
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  Speaker 1: person of uncheerful temperament that looks like that always would
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  Speaker 1: make talk. A certain degree of vague mental illumination led
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  Speaker 1: her to agree with Robert the footman that the stranger's
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  Speaker 1: effectiveness was perhaps also not altogether a matter of good looks,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly it was not an affair of clothes. Her
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  Speaker 1: brightish blue dress of rough cloth was nothing particular, notwithstanding
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  Speaker 1: the fit of it. There was something else about her.
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  Speaker 1: She looked round the place, not with the casual indifference
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  Speaker 1: of a fine young lady, carelessly curious to see what
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  Speaker 1: she had not seen before, but with an alert questioning interest.'
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  Speaker 1: What a big place!' she said to her ladyship.' What
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  Speaker 1: substantial walls! What huge joints must have been roasted before
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  Speaker 1: such a fireplace!' She drew near to the enormous antiquated cooking-place.
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  Speaker 1: people were not very practical when this was built she
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  Speaker 1: said it looks as if it must waste a great
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  Speaker 1: deal of coal is it she looked at mrs noakes
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  Speaker 1: do you like it there was a practical directness in
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  Speaker 1: the question for which mrs noakes was not prepared until
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  Speaker 1: this moment it had apparently mattered little whether she liked
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  Speaker 1: things or not the condition of her implements of trade
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  Speaker 1: was one of her grievances the ancient fireplace and ovens
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  Speaker 1: the bitterest it's out of order miss she answered and
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  Speaker 1: they don't use em like that in these days i
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  Speaker 1: thought not said miss vanderpoel she made other inquiries as
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  Speaker 1: direct and significant of the observing eye and her passage
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  Speaker 1: through the lower part of the establishment left mrs noakes
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  Speaker 1: and her companions in a strange but not unpleasurable state
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  Speaker 1: of ferment think of a young lady that's never had
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  Speaker 1: nothing to do with kitchens going straight to that shameful
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  Speaker 1: old fireplace and seeing what it meant to the woman
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  Speaker 1: what's got to use it do you like it she
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  Speaker 1: says If she'd been a cook herself, she couldn't have
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  Speaker 1: put it straighter. She's got eyes. She's been using them
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  Speaker 1: all over the place, said Robert. Her and her ladyship's
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  Speaker 1: been into rooms that's not been opened for years. More
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  Speaker 1: shame to them that should have opened them, remarked Mrs. Noakes.
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  Speaker 1: Her ladyship's a poor listless thing, but her spirit was
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  Speaker 1: broken long ago. This one'll mend it for her, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: said the man-servant. I wonder what's going to happen. Well,
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  Speaker 1: she's got a look with her, the new one, as
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  Speaker 1: if where she was things would be likely to happen.
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  Speaker 1: you look out the place won't seem so dead and
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  Speaker 1: alive if we've got something to think of and expect
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  Speaker 1: who are the solicitors sir nigel employs betty had asked
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  Speaker 1: her sister when their pilgrimage through the house had been
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  Speaker 1: completed messrs townlinson shepherd a firm which for several generations
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  Speaker 1: had transacted the legal business of much more important estates
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  Speaker 1: than stornham held its affairs in hand lady anstruthers knew
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  Speaker 1: nothing of them but that they evidently did not approve
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  Speaker 1: of the conduct of their client Nigel was frequently angry
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  Speaker 1: when he spoke of them. It could be gathered that
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  Speaker 1: they had refused to allow him to do things he
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  Speaker 1: wished to do, sell things or borrow money on them.
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  Speaker 1: I think we must go to London and see them,
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  Speaker 1: Betty suggested. Rosie was agitated. Why should one see them?
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  Speaker 1: What was there to be spoken of? Their going, Betty explained,
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  Speaker 1: would be a sort of visit of ceremony, in a
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  Speaker 1: measure of precaution, since Sir Nigel was apparently not to
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  Speaker 1: be reached, having given no clue as to where he
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  Speaker 1: intended to go. It might be discreet to consult Messrs.
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  Speaker 1: Townlinson and Shepherd with regard to the things it might
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  Speaker 1: be well to do, the repairs it appeared necessary to
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  Speaker 1: make at once. If Messrs. Townlinson and Shepherd approved of
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  Speaker 1: the doing of such work, Sir Nigel could not resent
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  Speaker 1: their action and say that in his absence liberties had
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  Speaker 1: been taken. Such a course seemed businesslike and dignified. It
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  Speaker 1: was what Betty felt that her father would do. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: could be complained of which was done with the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: and under the sanction of the family solicitors. then there
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  Speaker 1: are other things we must do we must go to
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  Speaker 1: shops and theatres it will be good for you to
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  Speaker 1: go to shops and theatres rosy i have nothing but
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  Speaker 1: rags to wear answered lady anstruthers reddening then before we
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  Speaker 1: go we will have things sent down people can be
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  Speaker 1: sent from the shops to arrange what we want the
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  Speaker 1: magic of the name standing for great wealth could it
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  Speaker 1: was true bring to them not only the contents of
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  Speaker 1: shops but the people who showed them and were ready
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  Speaker 1: to carry out any orders The name of Vanderpool already
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  Speaker 1: stood in London for inexhaustible resource. Yes, it was simple
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  Speaker 1: enough to send for politely subservient saleswomen to bring what
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  Speaker 1: one wanted. The being reminded in everyday matters of the
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  Speaker 1: still real existence of the power of this magic was
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  Speaker 1: the first step in the rebuilding of Lady Anstruthers. To
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  Speaker 1: realise that the wonderful and yet simple necromancy was gradually
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  Speaker 1: encircling her again had its parallel in the taking of
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  Speaker 1: a tonic whose effect was cumulative. She herself did not
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  Speaker 1: realize the working of it but betty regarded it with
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  Speaker 1: interest she saw it was good for her merely to
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  Speaker 1: look on at the unpacking of the new york boxes
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  Speaker 1: which the maid sent for from london brought down with
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  Speaker 1: her as the woman removed from tray after tray the
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  Speaker 1: tissue paper in folded layers of garments lady anstruthers sat
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  Speaker 1: and watched her with normal simply feminine interest growing in
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  Speaker 1: her eyes The things were made with the absence of
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  Speaker 1: any limit in expenditure, the freedom with delicate stuffs and
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  Speaker 1: priceless laces, which belonged only to her faint memories of
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  Speaker 1: a lost past. Nothing had limited the time spent in
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  Speaker 1: the embroidering of this apparently simple linen frock and coat.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing had restrained the hand holding the scissors which had
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  Speaker 1: cut into the lace which adorned in appliques and filmy
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  Speaker 1: frills this exquisitely charming ball-dress.' It is looking back so far,'
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  Speaker 1: she said, waving her hand towards them with an odd gesture.
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  Speaker 1: to think that it was once all like that. She
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  Speaker 1: got up and went to the things, turning them over
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  Speaker 1: and touching them with a softness, almost expressing a caress.
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  Speaker 1: The names of the makers stamped on bands and collars,
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  Speaker 1: the names of the streets in which their shops stood,
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  Speaker 1: moved her. She heard again the once familiar rattle of
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  Speaker 1: wheels and the rush and roar of New York traffic.
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  Speaker 1: Fetty carried on the whole matter with lightness. She talked
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  Speaker 1: easily and casually, giving local colour to what she said.
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  Speaker 1: she described the abnormally rapid growth of the places her
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  Speaker 1: sister had known in her teens the new buildings new
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  Speaker 1: theatres new shops new people the later mode of living
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  Speaker 1: much of it learned from england through the unceasing weaving
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  Speaker 1: of the shuttle changing changing changing that is what it
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  Speaker 1: is always doing america we have not reached repose yet
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  Speaker 1: one wonders how long it will be before we shall
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  Speaker 1: now we are always hurrying breathlessly after the next thing
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  Speaker 1: the new one which we always think will be the
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  Speaker 1: better one Other countries build themselves slowly. In the days
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  Speaker 1: of their building the pace of life was a march.
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  Speaker 1: When America was born the march had already begun to hasten,
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  Speaker 1: and as a nation we began in our first hour
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  Speaker 1: at the quickening speed. Now the pace is a race.
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  Speaker 1: New York is a kaleidoscope. I myself can remember it
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  Speaker 1: a wholly different thing. One passes down a street one
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  Speaker 1: day and the next there's a great gap where some
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  Speaker 1: building is being torn down. A few days later A
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  Speaker 1: tall structure of some sort is touching the sky. It's wonderful,
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  Speaker 1: but it doesn't tend to calm the mind. That's why
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  Speaker 1: we cross the Atlantic so much. The sober, quiet, loving
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  Speaker 1: blood our forebears brought from older countries goes in search
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  Speaker 1: of rest. Mixed with other things, I feel in my
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  Speaker 1: own being a resentment against newness and disorder and an
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  Speaker 1: insistence on the atmosphere of long-established things. But for years
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  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers had been living in the atmosphere of long-established things.
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  Speaker 1: and felt no insistence upon it. She yearned to hear
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  Speaker 1: of the great changing western world, of the great changing city.
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  Speaker 1: Betty must tell her what the changes were, what were
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  Speaker 1: the differences in the streets, where had the new buildings
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  Speaker 1: been placed, how had Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue and
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  Speaker 1: Broadway altered? Were not Gramercy Park and Madison Square still
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  Speaker 1: green with grass and trees? Was it all different? Would
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  Speaker 1: she not know the old places herself? Though it seemed
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  Speaker 1: a lifetime since she had seen them, the years which
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  Speaker 1: had passed were really not so many it was good
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  Speaker 1: for her to talk and be talked to in this
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  Speaker 1: manner betty saw still handling her subject lightly she presented
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  Speaker 1: picture after picture some of them were of the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: feverish city itself the place quite passionately loved by some
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  Speaker 1: as passionately disliked by others she herself had fallen into
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  Speaker 1: the habit as she left childhood behind her of looking
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  Speaker 1: at it with interested wonder at its riot of life
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  Speaker 1: and power of huge schemes and almost superhuman labours of
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  Speaker 1: fortunes so colossal that they seemed monstrosities in their relation
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  Speaker 1: to the world People who in Rosalie's girlhood had lived
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  Speaker 1: in big ugly brownstone fronts had built for themselves or
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  Speaker 1: for their children houses such as, in other countries, would
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  Speaker 1: have belonged to nobles and princes, spending fortunes upon their building,
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  Speaker 1: filling them with treasures brought from foreign lands, from palaces,
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  Speaker 1: from art galleries, from collectors. Sometimes strange people built such
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  Speaker 1: houses and lived strange, lavish, ostentatious lives in them, forming
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  Speaker 1: an overstrained, abnormal, pleasure-chasing world of their own. The passing
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  Speaker 1: of even ten years in New York counted itself almost
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  Speaker 1: as a generation. The fashions, customs, belongings of twenty years
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  Speaker 1: ago were an air of almost picturesque antiquity. It does
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  Speaker 1: not take long to make an old New Yorker, she said.
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  Speaker 1: Each day brings so many new ones. There were indeed
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  Speaker 1: many new ones, Lady Anstruthers found. People who had been
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  Speaker 1: poor had become hugely rich. A few who had been
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  Speaker 1: rich had become poor. Possessions which had been large had
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: swelled to unnatural proportions. Out of the West had risen
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: fortunes more monstrous than all others. As she told one
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: story after another, Bettina realized, as she had done often before,
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  Speaker 1: that it was impossible to enter into description of the
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  Speaker 1: life and movements of the place without its curiously involving
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  Speaker 1: some connection with the huge wealth of it, with its influence,
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  Speaker 1: its rise, its swelling or waning. Somehow one cannot free
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  Speaker 1: oneself from it. This is the age of wealth and invention,
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  Speaker 1: but of wealth before all else. Sometimes one is tired,
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  Speaker 1: tired of it.'' You would not be tired of it if— well,
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  Speaker 1: if you were I,' said Lady Anstruthers, rather pathetically.' Perhaps not,'
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  Speaker 1: Betty answered,' perhaps not.' She herself had seen people who
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  Speaker 1: were not tired of it in the sense in which
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  Speaker 1: she was— the men and women, with worn or intently anxious faces,
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  Speaker 1: hastening with the crowds upon the pavements, all hastening somewhere,
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  Speaker 1: in chase of that small portion of the wealth which
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: they earned by their labour as their daily share. The
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  Speaker 1: same men and women surged towards elevated railroad stations to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: seize on places in the homeward-bound trains, or standing in
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: tired-looking groups waiting for the approach of an already overfull
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: street-car in which they must be packed together, and swinging
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: to the hanging straps to keep upon their feet. Their
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  Speaker 1: way of being weary of it would be different from hers.
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  Speaker 1: They would be weary only of hearing of the mountains
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  Speaker 1: of it which rolled themselves up, as it seemed, in
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  Speaker 1: obedience to some irresistible occult force. On the day after
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Stornham Village had learned that Her Ladyship and Miss Vanderpool
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  Speaker 1: had actually gone to London, the dignified firm of Tomlinson
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and Shepherd received a visit which created some slight sensation
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  Speaker 1: in their establishment, though it had not been entirely unexpected.
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  Speaker 1: It had indeed been heralded by a note from Miss
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  Speaker 1: Vanderpool herself, who had asked that the appointment be made.
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  Speaker 1: Men of Messrs. Tomlinson and Shepherd's indubitable rank in their
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  Speaker 1: profession could not fail to know the significance of the
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  Speaker 1: Vanderpool name. They knew and understood its weight perfectly well.
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  Speaker 1: When their client had married one of Reuben Vanderpool's daughters,
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  Speaker 1: they had felt that extraordinary good fortune had befallen him
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  Speaker 1: and his estate. Their private opinion had been that Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Vanderpool's knowledge of his son-in-law must have been limited, or
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  Speaker 1: that he had curiously lax American views of paternal duty.
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  Speaker 1: The firm was highly reputable, long established, strictly conservative, and
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  Speaker 1: somewhat insular in its point of view. It did not
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  Speaker 1: understand or seek to understand America. It had excellent reasons
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  Speaker 1: for thoroughly understanding Sir Nigel Anstruthers. Its opinions of him
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  Speaker 1: it reserved to itself. If Messrs. Townlinson and Shepherd had
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  Speaker 1: been asked to give a daughter into their client's keeping,
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  Speaker 1: they would have flatly refused to accept the honour proposed. Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Townlinson had indeed, at the time of the marriage, admitted
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  Speaker 1: in strict confidence to his partner that for his part
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  Speaker 1: he would have somewhat preferred to follow a daughter of
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  Speaker 1: his own to her tomb. After the marriage the firm
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  Speaker 1: had found the situation confusing and un-English. There had been
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  Speaker 1: trouble with Sir Nigel, who had plainly been disappointed. At
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  Speaker 1: first it had appeared that the American magnate had shown
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  Speaker 1: astuteness in refraining from leaving his son-in-law a free hand.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruther's fortune was her own and not her husband's. Mr. Townlinson,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: paying a visit to Stornham and finding the bride a gentle,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: childish-looking girl, whose most marked expression was one of growing timorousness,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: had returned with a grave face. He foresaw the result
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: if her family did not stand by her with firmness,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: which he also foresaw her husband would prevent if possible.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: It became apparent that the family did not stand by her,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: or were cleverly kept at a distance. There was a
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: long illness, which seemed to end in the seclusion from
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the world brought about by broken health. Then it was
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: certain that what Mr. Tomlinson had foreseen had occurred. The
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: inexperienced girl had been bullied into submission— Sir Nigel had
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: gained the free hand, whatever the means he had chosen
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: to employ. Most improper, most improper the whole affair. He
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: had a great deal of money, but none of it
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: was used for the benefit of the estate, his deformed
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: boy's estate. Advice, dignified remonstrance, resulted only in most disagreeable scenes. Messrs.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Townlinson and Sheppard could not exceed certain limits. The manner
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: in which the money was spent was discreditable. There were
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: avenues a respectable firm knew only by rumour. There were
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: insane gambling speculations which could only end in disaster. There
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: were things one could not decently concern oneself with. Lady
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Anstruther's family had doubtless become indignant and disgusted and had
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: dropped the whole affair. Sad for the poor woman, but
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: not unnatural. And now appears a Miss Vanderpool who wishes
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to appoint an interview with Messrs. Townlinson and Sheppard. What
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: does she wish to say? The family is apparently taking
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: the matter up. is this lady an elder or a
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: younger sister of lady anstruthers is she an older woman
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of that strong and rather trying american type one hears
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: of or is she younger than her ladyship a pretty indignant,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: totally unpractical girl, outraged by the state of affairs she
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: has discovered, foolishly coming to demand of Messrs. Townlinson and
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Shepherd an explanation of things they are not responsible for?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Will she perhaps lose her temper and accuse and reproach,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: or even, most unpleasant to contemplate, shed hysterical tears?' It
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: fell to Mr. Townlinson to receive her in the absence
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: of Mr. Shepherd, who had been called to Northamptonshire to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: attend to great affairs. He was a stout, grave man
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: with a heavy, well-cut face, and when Bettina entered his
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: room his courteous reception of her reserved his view of
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the situation entirely. She was not of the mature and
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: rather alarming American type he had imagined possible. He felt
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: some relief in marking at once. She was also not
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the pretty, fashionable young lady who might have come to
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: scold him and ask silly, irrational questions. His ordinarily rather
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: unillumined countenance changed somewhat in expression when she sat down
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and began to speak. Mr. Townlinson was impressed by the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: fact that it was at once unmistakably evident that whatsoever
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: her reason for coming she had not presented herself to
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: ask irrelevant or unreasonable questions. Lady Anstruthers, she explained without
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: superfluous phrase, had no definite knowledge of her husband's whereabouts,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and it had seemed possible that Mrs Tomlinson and Shepard
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: might have received some information more recent than her own.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: The impersonal framing of this inquiry struck Mr Tomlinson as
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: being in remarkably good taste, since it conveyed no condemnation
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of Sir Nigel, and no desire to involve Mr Tomlinson
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: in expressing any. It refrained even from implying that the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: situation was an unusual one, which might be open to criticism.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Excellent reserve and great cleverness, Mr Tomlinson commented inwardly. There
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: were certainly few young ladies who would have clearly realised
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: that a solicitor cannot be called upon to commit himself
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: until he has had time to weigh matters and decide
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: upon them. His long and varied experience had included interviews
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: in which charming emotional women had expected him at once
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: to take sides. Miss Vanderpool exhibited no signs of expecting
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: anything of this kind, even when she went on with
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: what she had come to say. Stornham Court and its
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: surroundings were depreciating seriously in value through need of radical repairs, etc.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Her sister's comfort was naturally involved, and as Mr. Townlinson
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: would fully understand, her nephew's future. The sooner the process
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: of dilapidation was arrested, the better, and with the less difficulty.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: The present time was, without doubt, better than an indefinite future.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Miss Vanderpool, having fortunately been able to come to Stornham,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: was greatly interested, and naturally desirous of seeing the work begun.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Her father also would be interested. Since it was not
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: possible to consult Sir Nigel, it had seemed proper to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: consult his solicitors, in whose hands the estate had been
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: for so long a time. She was aware, it seemed,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: that not only Mr. Townlinson, but Mr. Townlinson's father, and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: also his grandfather, had legally represented the Anstruthers, as well
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: as many other families.' as there seemed no necessity for
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: any structural changes, and the work done was such as
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: could only rescue and increase the value of the estate,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: could there be any objection to its being begun without delay?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Certainly an unusual young lady. It would be interesting to
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: discover how well she knew Sir Nigel, since it seemed
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that only a knowledge of him, his temper, his bitter,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: irritable vanity, could have revealed to her the necessity of
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the precaution she was taking without even intimating that it
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: was a precaution. extraordinarily clever girl mr townlinson wore an
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: air of quiet business-like reflection you are aware miss vanderpoel
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: that the present income from the estate is not such
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: as would justify anything approaching the required expenditure yes i
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: am aware of that the expense would be provided for
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: by my father most generous on mr vanderpoel's part mr
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: townlinson commented the estate would of course increase greatly in
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: value Circumstances had prevented her father from visiting Stornham, Miss
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Vanderpool explained, and this had led to his being ignorant
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of a condition of things which he might have remedied.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: She did not explain what the particular circumstances which had
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: separated the families had been, but Mr. Townlinson thought he understood.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: The condition existing could be remedied now, if Messrs. Townlinson
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and Shepard saw no obstacles other than scarcity of money. Mr. Townlinson,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: summing up of the matter, expressed in effect that he
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: saw none. The estate had been a fine one in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: its day. During the last sixty years it had become
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: much impoverished. With conservative decorum of manner, he admitted that
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: there had not been, since Sir Nigel's marriage, sufficient reason
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: for the neglect of dilapidations. The firm had strongly represented
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: to Sir Nigel that certain resources should not be diverted
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: from the proper object of restoring the property which was
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: entailed upon his son. The son's future should, beyond all,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: have been considered in the dispensing of his mother's fortune. He,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: by this time, comprehended fully that he need restrain no
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: dignified expression of opinion in his speech with this young lady.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: She had come to consult with him with as clear
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: a view of the proprieties and discretion as demanded by
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: his position as he had himself. And yet each, before
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the close of the interview, understood the point of view
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: of the other. What he recognised was that although she
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: had not seen Sir Nigel since her childhood, she had,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: in some astonishing way, obtained an extraordinary insight into his character,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: and it was this which had led her to take
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: her present step. She might not realise all she might
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: have to contend with, but her conservative and formal action
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: had surrounded her and her sister with a certain barrier
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of conventional protection, at once self-controlled, dignified, and astutely intelligent. Since,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: as you say, no structural changes are proposed, such as
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: an owner might resent, and as Lady Anstruthers is the
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: mother of the heir, and as Lady Anstruthers' father undertakes
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: to defray all expenditure, No sane man could object to
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: the restoration of the property. To do so would be
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to cause public opinion to express itself strongly against him.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Such action would place him grossly in the wrong. Then
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: he added with deliberation, realising that he was committing himself,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and feeling firmly willing to do so for reasons of
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: his own, Sir Nigel is a man who objects strongly
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to putting himself publicly in the wrong. Thank you, said
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Miss Vanderpool. He had said this of intention for her enlightenment,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and she was aware that he had done so.' This
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: will not be the first time that American fortunes have
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: restored English estates,' Mr. Townlinson continued amiably.' There have been
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: many notable cases of late years. We should be happy
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to place ourselves at your disposal at all times, Miss Vanderpool.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: We are obliged to you for your consideration in the matter.''
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you,' said Miss Vanderpool again. I wished to be
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: sure that I would not be infringing any English rule
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: I had no knowledge of.'' You will be infringing none.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: You have been most correct and courteous.' Before she went away, Mr.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Townlinson felt that he had been greatly enlightened as to
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: what a young lady might know and be. She gave
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: him singularly clear details as to what was proposed. There
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: was so much to be done that he found himself
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: opening his eyes slightly once or twice.' But, of course,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: if Mr. Vanderpool was prepared to spend money in a
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: lavish manner, it was all to the good so far
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: as the estate was concerned. They were stupendous, these people,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and after all the heir was his grandson. And how
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: striking it was that with all this power and readiness
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to use it was evidently combined, even in this beautiful
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: young person, the clearest business sense of the situation. What
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: was done would be for the comfort of Lady Anstruthers
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and the future of her son. Sir Nigel, being unable
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to sell either house or lands, could not undo it.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: When Mr. Townlinson accompanied his visitor to her carriage with
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: dignified politeness, he felt somewhat like an elderly solicitor who
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: had found himself drawn into the atmosphere of a sort
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: of intensely modern fairy tale. He saw two of his under-clerks,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: with the impropriety of middle-class youth, looking out of an
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: office window at the dark blue broom and the tall
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: young lady, whose beauty bloomed in the sunshines. He did
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: not on the whole wonder at, though he deplored, the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: conduct of the young men. But they, of course, saw
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: only what they colloquially described to each other as a
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: ribbon-antsome girl. They knew nothing of the interesting interview. He
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: himself returned to his private room in a musing mood,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: and thought it all over, his mind dwelling on various
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: features of the international situation, and more than once he
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: said aloud,' Most remarkable. Very remarkable indeed.' End of chapter
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: 17