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030 - Home At Last · North and South

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty 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 thirty. Home at last the saddest birds a season
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  Speaker 1: find to sing southwell, Never to fold the robe or
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  Speaker 1: secret pain, never weighed down by memory's clouds. Again to
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  Speaker 1: bow thy head, thou art gone home, Missus Hemans. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Thornton came to see missus Hale the next morning. She
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  Speaker 1: was much worse. One of those sudden changes, those great
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  Speaker 1: visible strides towards death, had been taken in the night,
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  Speaker 1: and her own family were startled by the gray, sunken
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  Speaker 1: look her features had assumed in that one twelve hours
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  Speaker 1: of suffering. Missus Thornton, who had not seen her for weeks,
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  Speaker 1: was softened all at once. She had come because her
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  Speaker 1: son asked it from her as a personal favor. But
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  Speaker 1: with all the proud, bitter feelings of her nature in
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  Speaker 1: arms against that family of which Margaret formed one, she
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  Speaker 1: doubted the reality of missus Hale's illness. She doubted any
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  Speaker 1: want beyond a momentary fancy on that lady's part, which
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  Speaker 1: should take her out of her previously settled course of
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  Speaker 1: employment for the day. She told her son that she
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  Speaker 1: wished they had never come near the place, that he
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  Speaker 1: had never got acquainted with them, that there had been
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  Speaker 1: no such useless languages as Latin and Greek ever invented.
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  Speaker 1: He bore all this pretty silently, but when she had
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  Speaker 1: ended her invective against the dead languages, he quietly returned
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  Speaker 1: to the short, curt decided expression of his wish that
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  Speaker 1: she should go and see Missus Hale, at the time
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  Speaker 1: appointed as most likely to be convenient to the invalid
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  Speaker 1: Missus Thornton submitted with as bad a grace as she
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  Speaker 1: could to her son's desire, all the time liking him
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  Speaker 1: the better for having it, and exaggerating in her own
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  Speaker 1: mind the same notion that he had of extraordinary goodness
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  Speaker 1: on his part in so perseveringly keeping up with the Hales,
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  Speaker 1: his goodness verging on weakness, as all the softer virtues did.
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  Speaker 1: In her mind, and her own contempt for mister and
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  Speaker 1: Missus Hale and positive dislike to Margaret were the ideas
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  Speaker 1: which occupied missus Thornton, till she was struck into nothingness.
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  Speaker 1: Before the dark shadow of the wings of the angel
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  Speaker 1: of Death. There lay Missus Hale, a mother like herself,
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  Speaker 1: a much younger woman than she was, on the bed
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  Speaker 1: from which there was no sign of hope that she
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  Speaker 1: might ever rise again. No more variety of light and
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  Speaker 1: shade for her in that darkened room, no power of action,
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  Speaker 1: scarcely change of movement, faint alternations of whispered sound and
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  Speaker 1: studious silence. And yet that man monotonous life seemed almost
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  Speaker 1: too much when Missus Thornton, strong and prosperous with life,
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  Speaker 1: came in. Missus Hale lay still, although from the look
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  Speaker 1: on her face she was evidently conscious of who it was.
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  Speaker 1: But she did not even open her eyes for a
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  Speaker 1: minute or two. The heavy moisture of tears stood on
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  Speaker 1: the eyelashes before she looked up. Then, with her hand
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  Speaker 1: groping feebly over the bedclothes for the touch of missus
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  Speaker 1: Thornton's large, firm fingers, she said scarcely above her breath.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Thornton had to stoop from her erectness to listen. Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: you have a daughter. My sister is in Italy. My
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  Speaker 1: child will be without a mother in a strange place
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  Speaker 1: if I die, will you? And her filmy wandering eyes
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  Speaker 1: fixed themselves with an intensity of wistfulness on Missus Thornton's
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  Speaker 1: face For a minute. There was no change in its rigidness.
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  Speaker 1: It was stern and unmoved. Nay, but that the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of the sick woman were growing dim with the slow
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  Speaker 1: gathering tears. She might have seen a dark cloud cross
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  Speaker 1: the cold features. And it was no thought of her
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  Speaker 1: son or of her living daughter Fanny that surred her
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  Speaker 1: heart at last, but a sudden remembrance, suggested by something
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  Speaker 1: in the arrangement of the room of a little daughter
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  Speaker 1: dead in infancy long years ago, that like a sudden sunbeam,
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  Speaker 1: melted the icy crust behind which there was a real
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  Speaker 1: tender woman. You wish me to be a friend to,
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  Speaker 1: miss Hale, said Missus Thornton, in her measured voice that
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  Speaker 1: would not soften with her heart, but came out distinct
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  Speaker 1: and clear. Missus Hale, her eyes still fixed on Missus
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  Speaker 1: Thornton's face, pressed the hand that lay below hers on
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  Speaker 1: the coverlet she could not speak. Missus Thornton sighed, I
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  Speaker 1: will be a true friend if circumstances require it not
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  Speaker 1: a tender friend that I cannot be to her. She
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  Speaker 1: was on the point of adding, but she relented at
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  Speaker 1: the sight of her that poor, anxious face. It is
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  Speaker 1: not my nature to show affection even where I feel it,
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  Speaker 1: nor do I volunteer advice in general. Still, at your request,
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  Speaker 1: if it will be any comfort to you, I will
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  Speaker 1: promise you. Then came a pause. Missus Thornton was too
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  Speaker 1: conscientious to promise what she did not mean to perform,
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  Speaker 1: and to perform anything in the way of kindness on
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  Speaker 1: behalf of Margaret, more disliked at this moment than ever,
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  Speaker 1: was difficult, almost impossible, I promise, said she with grave severity,
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  Speaker 1: which after all inspired the dying woman with faith as
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  Speaker 1: in something more stable than life itself, flickering, flitting, wavering life.
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  Speaker 1: I promised that in any difficulty in which miss Hale
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  Speaker 1: call her Margaret gasped Missus Hale, in which she comes
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  Speaker 1: to me for help, I will help her with every
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  Speaker 1: power I have, as if she were my own daughter.
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  Speaker 1: I also promise that if ever I see her doing
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  Speaker 1: what I think is wrong. But Margaret never does wrong,
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  Speaker 1: not wilfully wrong, pleaded Missus Hale. Missus Thornton went on
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  Speaker 1: as before, as if she had not heard. If ever
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  Speaker 1: I see her doing what I believed to be wrong,
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  Speaker 1: such wrong not touching me or mine, in which case
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  Speaker 1: I might be supposed to have an interested motive, I
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  Speaker 1: will tell her of it, faithfully and plainly, as I
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  Speaker 1: should wish my own daughter to be told. There was
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  Speaker 1: a long pause. Missus Hale felt that this promise did
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  Speaker 1: not include all, and yet it was much. It had
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  Speaker 1: reservations in it which she did not understand. But then
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  Speaker 1: she was weak, dizzy, and tired. Missus Thornton was reviewing
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  Speaker 1: all the probable cases in which she had pledged herself
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  Speaker 1: to act. She had a fierce pleasure in the idea
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  Speaker 1: of telling Margaret unwelcome truths and the shape of performance
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  Speaker 1: of duty. Missus Hale began to speak, I thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I pray God to bless you. I shall never see
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  Speaker 1: you again in this world. But my last words are
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  Speaker 1: I thank you for your promise of kindness to my child,
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  Speaker 1: not kindness testified. Missus Thornton ungraciously truthful to the last,
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  Speaker 1: But having eased her conscience by saying these words, she
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  Speaker 1: was not sorry that they were not heard, She pressed
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  Speaker 1: missus Hale's soft, languid hand and rose up and went
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  Speaker 1: her way out of the house without seeing a creature.
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  Speaker 1: During the time that missus Thornton was having this interview
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  Speaker 1: with missus Hale, Margaret and Dixon were laying their heads
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  Speaker 1: together and consulting how they should keep Frederick's coming up
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  Speaker 1: profound secret to all out of the house. A letter
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  Speaker 1: from him might now be expected any day, and he
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  Speaker 1: would assuredly follow quickly on its heels. Martha must be
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  Speaker 1: sent away on her holiday. Dixon must keep stern guard
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  Speaker 1: on the front door, only admitting the few visitors that
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  Speaker 1: ever came to the house into mister Hale's room downstairs,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Hale's extreme illness giving her a good excuse for this.
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  Speaker 1: If Mary Higgins was required as a help to Dixon
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  Speaker 1: in the kitchen, she was to hear and see as
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  Speaker 1: little of Frederick as possible, and he was, if necessary,
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  Speaker 1: to be spoken of to her under the name of
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  Speaker 1: mister Dickinson. But her sluggish and incurious nature was the
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  Speaker 1: greatest safeguard of all. They resolved that Martha should leave
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  Speaker 1: them that very afternoon for this visit to her mother.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret wished that she had been sent away on the
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  Speaker 1: previous day, as she fancied it might be thought strange
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  Speaker 1: to give a servant a holiday when her mistress's state
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  Speaker 1: required so much attendance. Poor Margaret all that afternoon she
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  Speaker 1: had to act the part of a Roman daughter and
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  Speaker 1: give strength out of her own scanty stock to her father.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Hale would hope, would not despair between the attacks
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  Speaker 1: of his wife's malady. He buoyed himself up in every
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  Speaker 1: respite from her pain, and believed that it was the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of ultimate recovery. And so when the paroxysms came on,
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  Speaker 1: each more severe than the last, they were fresh agonies
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  Speaker 1: and greater disappointments to him. This afternoon he sat in
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  Speaker 1: the drawing room, unable to bear the solitude of his
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  Speaker 1: study or to employ himself in any way. He buried
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  Speaker 1: his head in his arms, which lay folded on the table.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret's heart ached to see him, yet as he did
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  Speaker 1: not speak, she did not like to volunteer any attempt
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  Speaker 1: at comfort. Martha was gone, Dixon sat with missus Hale
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  Speaker 1: while she slept. The house was very still and quiet,
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  Speaker 1: and darkness came on without any movement to procure candles.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret sat at the window, looking out at the lamps
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  Speaker 1: in the street, but seeing nothing, only alive. To her
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  Speaker 1: father's heavy sighs, she did not like to go down
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  Speaker 1: for lights, lest the tacit restraint of her presence being withdrawn,
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  Speaker 1: he might give way to more violent emotion without her
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  Speaker 1: being at hand to comfort him. Yet she was just
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  Speaker 1: thinking that she ought to go and see after the
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  Speaker 1: well doing of the kitchen fire, which there was nobody
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  Speaker 1: but herself to attend to. When she heard the muffled
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  Speaker 1: ring was so violent a pull that the wires jingled
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  Speaker 1: all through the house, though the positive sound was not great.
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  Speaker 1: She started up past her father, who had never moved
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  Speaker 1: at the veiled, dull sound, returned and kissed him tenderly,
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  Speaker 1: and still he never moved nor took any notice of
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  Speaker 1: her fond embrace. Then she went down softly through the
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  Speaker 1: dark to the door. Dixon would have put the chain
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  Speaker 1: on before she opened it, but Margaret had not a
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  Speaker 1: thought of fear in her preoccupied mind. A man's tall
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  Speaker 1: figure stood between her and the luminous street. He was
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  Speaker 1: looking away, but at the sound of the latch he
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  Speaker 1: turned quickly round. Is this, mister Hale's, said he, in
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  Speaker 1: a clear, full, delicate voice. Margaret trembled all over. At
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  Speaker 1: first she did not answer, and a moment she sighed
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  Speaker 1: out Frederick and stretched out both her hands to catch
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  Speaker 1: his and draw him in. Oh, Margaret, said he, holding
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  Speaker 1: her off by her shoulders, after they had kissed each other,
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  Speaker 1: as if even in that darkness, he could see her
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  Speaker 1: face and read in its expression a quicker answer to
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  Speaker 1: his question than words could give. My mother is she alive? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: she is alive, dear dear brother, she as ill as
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  Speaker 1: she can be. She is but alive. She is alive,
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  Speaker 1: thank God, said he. Papa is utterly prostrate with this
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  Speaker 1: great grief. You expect me, don't you. No, we have
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  Speaker 1: had no letter that I have come before it. But
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  Speaker 1: my mother knows I am coming. Oh, we all knew
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  Speaker 1: you would come. But wait a little step in here,
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  Speaker 1: give me your hand. What is this? Oh? Your carpet bag.
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  Speaker 1: Dixon has shut the shutters. But this is Papa's study,
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  Speaker 1: and I can take you to a chair to rest
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  Speaker 1: yourself for a few minutes while I go and tell him.
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  Speaker 1: She groped her way to the taper and the lucifer matches.
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  Speaker 1: She suddenly felt shy when the little light made them visible.
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  Speaker 1: All she could see was that her brother's face was
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  Speaker 1: unusually dark in complexion, and she caught the stealthy look
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  Speaker 1: of a pair of remarkably long cut blue eyes that
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  Speaker 1: suddenly twinkled up with the droll consciousness of their mutual
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  Speaker 1: purpose of inspecting each other. But though the brother and
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  Speaker 1: sister had an instant of sympathy and the reciprocal glances,
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  Speaker 1: they did not exchange a word. Only Margaret felt sure
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  Speaker 1: that she should like her brother as a companion as
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  Speaker 1: much as she already loved him as a near relation.
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  Speaker 1: Her heart was wonderfully lighter as she went upstairs. The
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  Speaker 1: sorrow was no less in reality, but it became less
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  Speaker 1: oppressive from having someone in precisely the same relation to
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  Speaker 1: it as that in which she stood. Not her father's
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  Speaker 1: desponding attitude had power to damp her. Now he lay
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  Speaker 1: across the table, helpless as ever, but she had the
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  Speaker 1: spell by which to rouse him. She used it, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: too violently in her own great relief, Papa said, she
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  Speaker 1: throwing her arms fondly round his neck, pulling his weary
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  Speaker 1: head up. In fact, with her gentle violence till it
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  Speaker 1: rested in her arms, and she could look into his
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  Speaker 1: eyes and let them gain strength and assurance from hers. Papa,
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  Speaker 1: guess who was here? He looked at her, she saw
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  Speaker 1: the idea of the truth glimmering to their filmy sadness,
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  Speaker 1: and be dismissed thence as a wild imagination. He threw
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  Speaker 1: himself forward and hid his face once more in his
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  Speaker 1: stretched out arms, resting upon the table. As heretofore she
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  Speaker 1: heard him whisper. She bent tenderly down to listen. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know, don't tell me it is Frederick, not Frederick.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot bear it. I am too weak, and his
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  Speaker 1: mother is dying. He began to cry and wail like
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  Speaker 1: a child. It was so different to all which Margaret
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  Speaker 1: had hoped and expected that she turned sick with disappointment
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  Speaker 1: and was silent for an instant. Then she spoke again,
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  Speaker 1: very differently, not so exultingly, far more tenderly and carefully. Papa,
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  Speaker 1: is Frederick. Think of mamma, how glad she will be?
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  Speaker 1: And oh, for her sake, how glad we ought to
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  Speaker 1: be for his sake too, our poor poor boy. Her
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  Speaker 1: father did not change his attitude, but he seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be trying to understand the fact. Where is he asked, He,
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  Speaker 1: at last, his face still hidden in his prostrate arms,
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  Speaker 1: in your study quite alone. I lighted the taper and
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  Speaker 1: ran up to tell you he is quite alone and
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  Speaker 1: will be wondering why I will go to him, broke
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  Speaker 1: in her father, and he lifted himself up and leant
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  Speaker 1: on her arm as on that of a guide. Margaret
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  Speaker 1: led him to the study door, but her spirits were
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  Speaker 1: so agitated that she felt she could not bear to
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  Speaker 1: see the meeting. She turned away and ran upstairs and
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  Speaker 1: cried most heartily. It was the first time she had
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  Speaker 1: dared to allow herself this relief for days. The strain
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  Speaker 1: had been terrible, as she now felt. But Frederick was come.
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  Speaker 1: He the one precious brother, was there safe amongst them again.
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  Speaker 1: She could hardly believe it. She stopped her crying and
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  Speaker 1: opened her bedroom door. She heard no sound of voices,
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  Speaker 1: and almost feared she might have dreamt. She went downstairs
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  Speaker 1: and listened at the study door. She heard the buzz
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  Speaker 1: of voices, and that was enough. She went into the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen and stirred up the fire and lighted the house,
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  Speaker 1: and prepared for the wanderer's refreshment. How fortunate it was
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  Speaker 1: that her mother slept. She knew that she did. From
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  Speaker 1: the candle lighter thrust through the keyhole of her bedroom door.
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  Speaker 1: The traveler could be refreshed and bright, and the first
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  Speaker 1: excitement of the meeting with his father all be over
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  Speaker 1: before her mother became aware of anything unusual. When all
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  Speaker 1: was ready, Margaret opened the study door and went in
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  Speaker 1: like a serving maiden, with a heavy tray held in
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  Speaker 1: her extended arms. She was proud of serving Frederick. But he,
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  Speaker 1: when he saw her, sprang up in a minute and
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  Speaker 1: relieved her of her burden. It was a type a
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  Speaker 1: sign of all the coming relief which his presence would bring.
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  Speaker 1: The brother and sister arranged the table together, saying little,
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  Speaker 1: but their hands touching, and their eyes speak in the
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  Speaker 1: natural language of expression, so intelligible to those of the
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  Speaker 1: same blood. The fire had gone out, and Margaret applied
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  Speaker 1: herself to light it, for the evenings had begun to
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  Speaker 1: be chilly, and yet it was desirable to make all
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  Speaker 1: noises as distant as possible from missus Hale's room. Dixon says,
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  Speaker 1: it is a gift to light a fire, not an
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  Speaker 1: art to be acquired poet A nassatour non feet, murmured
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  Speaker 1: mister Hale, and Margaret was glad to hear a quotation
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  Speaker 1: once more, however, languidly given. Dear Old Dixon, how we
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  Speaker 1: shall kiss each other? Said Frederick. She used to kiss
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  Speaker 1: me and then look in my face to be sure
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  Speaker 1: I was the right person, and then set to again.
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  Speaker 1: But Margaret, what a bungler you are. I never saw
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  Speaker 1: such a little, awkward, good for nothing pair of hands.
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  Speaker 1: Run away and wash them, ready to cut bread and
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  Speaker 1: butter for me, and leave the fire. I'll manage it.
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  Speaker 1: Lighting fires is one of my natural accomplishments. So Margaret
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  Speaker 1: went away and returned, and passed in and out of
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  Speaker 1: the room in a glad restlessness that could not be
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  Speaker 1: satisfied with sitting still. The more wants Frederick had, the
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  Speaker 1: better she was pleased, and he understood all this by instinct.
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  Speaker 1: It was a joy snatched in the house of mourning,
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  Speaker 1: and the zest of it was all the more pungent
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  Speaker 1: because they knew, in the depths of their hearts what
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  Speaker 1: irremediable sorrow awaited them. In the middle. They heard Dixon's
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  Speaker 1: foot on the stairs. Mister Hale started from his languid
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  Speaker 1: posture in his great arm chair, from which he had
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  Speaker 1: been watching his children in a dreamy way, as if
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  Speaker 1: they were acting some drama of happiness, which it was
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  Speaker 1: pretty to look at, but which was distinct from reality,
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  Speaker 1: and in which he had no part. He stood up
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  Speaker 1: and faced the door, showing such a strange sudden anxiety
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  Speaker 1: to conceal Frederick from the sight of any person entering,
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  Speaker 1: even though it were the faithful Dixon, that a shiver
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  Speaker 1: came over Margaret's heart. It reminded her of the new
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  Speaker 1: fear in their lives. She caught at Frederick's arm and
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  Speaker 1: clutched it tight, while a stern thought compressed her brows
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  Speaker 1: and caused her to set her teeth. And yet they
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  Speaker 1: knew it was only Dixon's measured tread. They heard her
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  Speaker 1: walk the length of the passage into the kitchen. Margaret
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  Speaker 1: rose up. I will go to her and tell her,
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  Speaker 1: and I shall hear how Mamma is. Missus Hale was awake.
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  Speaker 1: She rambled at first, but after they had given her
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  Speaker 1: some tea, she was refreshed, though not disposed to talk.
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  Speaker 1: It was better that the knight should pass over before
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  Speaker 1: she was told of her son's arrival. Doctor Donaldson's appointed
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  Speaker 1: visit would bring nervous excitement enough for the evening, and
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  Speaker 1: he might tell them how to prepare her for seeing Frederick.
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  Speaker 1: He was there in the house, could be summoned at
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  Speaker 1: any moment. Margaret could not sit still. It was a
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  Speaker 1: relief to her to aid Dixon and all her preparations
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  Speaker 1: for Master Frederick. It seemed as though she never could
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  Speaker 1: be tired again. Each glimpse into the room where he
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  Speaker 1: sat by his father, conversing with him about she knew
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: not what nor cared to know, was an increase of
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: strength to her. Her own time for talking and hearing
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: would come at last, and she was too certain of
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: this to feel in a hurry to grasp it now.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: She took in his appearance and liked it. He had
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: delicate features, redeemed from effeminacy by the swarthiness of his
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: complexion and his quick intensity of expression. His eyes were
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: generally merry looking, but at times they in his mouth
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: so suddenly changed and gave her such an idea of
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: latent passion that it almost made her afraid. But this
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: look was only for an instant, and had in it
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: no doggedness, no vindictiveness. It was rather the instantaneous ferocity
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: of expression that comes over the countenances of all natives
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: of wild or southern countries, a ferocity which enhances the
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: charm of the childlike softness into which such a look
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: may melt away. Margaret might fear the violence of the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: impulse of nature, thus occasionally betrayed, but there was nothing
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: in it to make her distrust or recoil in the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: least from the newfound brother. On the contrary, all their
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: intercourse was peculiarly charming to her from the very first.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: She knew then how much responsibility she had had to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: bear from the exquisite sensation of relief which she felt
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: in Frederick's presence. He understood his father and mother, their
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: characters and their weaknesses, and went along with a careless freedom,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: which was yet most delicately careful not to hurt or
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: wound any of their feelings. He seemed to know instinctively
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: when a little of the natural brilliancy of his manner
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and conversation would not jar on the deep depression of
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: his father, or might relieve his mother's pain, whenever it
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: would have been out of tune and out of time.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: His patient, devotion and watchfulness came into play and made
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: him an admirable nurse. Then Margaret was almost touched into
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: tears by the illusions which he often made to their
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: childish days in the new Forest. He had never forgotten
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: her or Helstone either, all the time he had been
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: roaming among distant countries and foreign people. She might talk
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to him of the old spot, and never fear tiring him.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: She had been afraid of him before he came, even
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: while she had longed for his coming. Seven or eight
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: years had she felt produced such great changes in herself that,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: forgetting how much of the original Margaret was left, she
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: had reasoned that if her tastes and feelings had so
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: materially altered even her stay at home life, his wild career,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: with which she was but imperfectly acquainted, must have also
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: substituted another Frederick for the tall stripling in his middy's uniform,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: whom she remembered looking up to with such admiring awe.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: But in their absence they had grown nearer to each
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: other in age as well as in many other things.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: And so it was that the weight this sorrowful time
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: was lightened to Margaret. Other light than that of Frederick's presence,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: she had none for a few hours. The mother rallied
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: on seeing her son. She sat with his hand in hers.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: She would not part with it even while she slept,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: and Margaret had defeat eat him like a baby, rather
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: than that he should disturb her mother by removing a finger.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Missus Hale wakened while they were thus engaged. She slowly
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: moved her head round on the pillow and smiled at
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: her children as she understood what they were doing and
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: why it was done. I am very selfish, said she,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: But it will not be for long. Frederick bent down
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: and kissed the feeble hand that imprisoned his This state
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: of tranquility could not endure for many days, nor perhaps
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: for many hours, so doctor Donaldson assured Margaret. After the
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: kind doctor had gone away, she stole down to Frederick,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: who during the visit had been adjured to remain quietly
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: concealed in the back parlor usually Dixon's bedroom, but now
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: given up to him, Margaret told him what doctor Donaldson said.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I don't believe it, he exclaimed. She is very ill.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: She may be dangerously ill, and in immediate danger too,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: but I can't imagine that she could be as she
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: is if she were on the point of death. Margaret,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: she should have some other advice, some London doctor. Have
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: you never thought of that, yes, said Margaret, more than once.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: But I don't believe it would do any good. And
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you know we have not the money to bring any
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: great London surgeon down. And I am sure doctor Donaldson
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: is only second in skill to the very best, if
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: indeed he is to them. Frederick began to walk up
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and down the room impatiently. I have credit in Cadiz,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: said he, but none here owing to this wretched change
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of name. Why did my father leave Helstone? That was
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the blunder. It was no blunder, said Margaret gloomily. And
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: above all possible chances, avoid letting Papa hear anything like
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: which you have just been saying. I can see that
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: he is tormenting himself already with the idea that Mamma
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: would never have been ill if we had stayed at Helstone.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: And you don't know Papa's agonizing power of self reproach.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Frederick walked away as if he were on the quarter deck.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: At last, he stopped right opposite to Margaret and looked
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: at her drooping and desponding attitude for an instant, my
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: little Margaret, said, he caressing her. Let us hope as
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: long as we can, poor little woman, what is this face,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: all wet with tears? I will hope, I will, in
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: spite of a thousand doctors, bear up Margaret and be
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: brave enough to hope. Margaret choked and trying to speak,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and when she did it was very low. I must
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: try to be meek enough to trust, Oh, Frederick, Mamma
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: was getting to love me so and I was getting
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to understand her. And now death comes to snap us asunder. Come, come, come,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: let us go upstairs and do something rather than waste
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: time that made me so precious. Thinking has many a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: time made me sad darling, but doing never did in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: all my life. My theory is a sort of parody
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: on the maxim of get money, my son. Honestly, if
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: you can, but get money. My precept is do something,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: my sister, do good if you can, But at any rate,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: do something, not excluding mischief, said Margaret, smiling faintly through
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: her tears. By no means what I do exclude is
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the remorse afterwards. Blotch your misdeeds out. If you are
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: particularly conscientious by a good deed as soon as you can,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Just as we did a correct sum at school on
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: the slate where an incorrect one was only half rubbed out.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: It was better than wetting our sponge with our tears,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: both less loss of time where tears had to be
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: waited for, and a better effect at last. If Margaret
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: thought Frederick's theory rather a rough one at first, she
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: saw how he worked it out into continual production of kindness.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: In fact, after a bad night with his mother, for
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: he insisted on taking his churn as a sitter up.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: He was busy next morning before breakfast, contriving a leg
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: rest for Dixon, who was beginning to feel the fatigues
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: of watching. At breakfast time, he interested mister Hale with
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: a vivid, graphic rattling accounts of the wild life he
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: had led in Mexico, South America, and elsewhere. Margaret would
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: have given up the effort in despair to rouse mister
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Hale out of his dejection. It would even have affected
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: herself and rendered her incapable of talking at all. But
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: fred true to his theory, did something perpetually, and talking
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: was the only thing to be done. Besides eating at breakfast.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Before the night of that day, doctor Donaldson's opinion was
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: proved to be too well founded. Convulsions came on, and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: when they ceased, missus Hale was unconscious. Her husband might
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: lie by her, shaking the bed with his sobs. Her
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: son's strong arms might lift her tenderly up into a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: comfortable position. Her daughter's hands might bathe her face. But
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: she knew them not. She would never recognize them again
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: till they met in heaven. Before the morning came, all
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: was over. Then Margaret rose from her trembling in despondency
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and became as a strong angel of comfort to her
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: father and brother. For Frederick had broken down now, and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: all his theories were of no use to him. He
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: cried so violently when shut up alone in his little
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: room at night, that Margaret and Dixon came down in
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: affright to warn him to be quiet, for the house
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: partitions were but thin, and the next door neighbors might
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: easily hear his youthful, passionate sobs, so different from the slower,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: trembling agony of after life. When we become inured to
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: grief and dare not be rebellious against the inexorable doom.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Knowing who it is that decrees, Margaret sat with her
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: father in the room with the dead. If he had cried,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: she would have been thankful. But he sat by the
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: bed quite quietly. Only from time to time he uncovered
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the face and stroked it gently, making a kind of soft,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: inarticulate noise like that of some mother animal caressing her young.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: He took no notice of Margaret's presence. Once or twice
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: she came up to kiss him, and he submitted to it,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: giving her a little push away when she had done,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: as if for affection to disturbed him from his absorption
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: in the dead. He started when he heard Frederick's cries
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: and shook his head. Poor boy, poor boy, he said,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and took no more notice. Margaret's heart ached within her.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: She could not think of her own loss in thinking
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of her father's case. The night was wearing away and
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the day was at hand, when, without a word of preparation,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Margaret's voice broke upon the stillness of the room with
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: a clearness of sound that startled even herself. Let not
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: your heart be troubled, it said, And she went steadily
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: on through all that chapter of unspeakable consolation end of
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty. Recording by Leanne Howlett