Latest / Wives and Daughters / 029 - Rivalry

Transcript

029 - Rivalry · Wives and Daughters

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: eight Rivalry. For some days after the ball, Cynthia seemed
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: languid and was very silent. Molly, who had promised herself
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: fully as much enjoyment in talking over the past gaiety
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with Cynthia as in the evening itself, was disappointed when
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: she found that all conversation on the subject was rather
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: evaded than encouraged. Missus Gibson, it is true, was ready
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to go over the ground as many times as any
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: one liked. But her words were always like ready made
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: clothes and never fitted individual thoughts. Anybody might have used them,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and with a change of proper names, they might have
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: served to describe any ball. She repeatedly used the same
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: language in speaking about it till Molly knew the sentences
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and their sequence, even to irritation.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Ah, mister Osborne, you should have been there, I said
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: to myself many a time, how you really should have
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: been there? You and your brother?
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Of course, I thought of you very often during the evening.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Did you now that I call very kind of you, Cynthia, Darling?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Do you hear what mister Osborne Hamley was saying.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: As Cynthia came into the room.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Just then he thought of us all in the evening
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of the ball.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: He did better than merely remember.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Us, then, said Cynthia, with her soft, slow smile.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: We owe him thanks for those beautiful flowers.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Mamma oh, said Osborne.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: You must not thank me exclusively. I believe it was
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: my thought, but Roger took all the trouble of it.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I consider the thought as everything, said Missus Gibson. Thought
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: is spiritual, while action is merely material.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: This fine sentence took the speaker herself by surprise, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: in such conversation as was then going on, it is
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: not necessary to accurately define the meaning of everything that
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: is said.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I'm afraid the flowers were too late to be of much.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Use, though, continued Osborne.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: I met Preston the next morning, and of course we
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: talked about the ball. I was sorry to find he
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: had been forehand with us.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: He only sent one nosegay, and that was for Cynthia,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: said Molly, looking up from her work. And it did
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: not come till after we had received the flowers from Hamley.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Molly caught a sight of Cynthia's face before she bent
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: down again to her sewing. It was scarlet in color,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and there was a flash of anger in her eyes.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Both she and her mother hastened to speak as soon
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: as Molly had finished, but Cynthia's voice was choked with passion,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and Missus Gibson had the word.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Ah, Mister Preston's bouquet was just one of those formal
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: affairs any one can buy at a nursery garden, which
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: always strike me as having no sentiment in them. I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: would far rather have two or three lilies of the
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: valley gathered for me by a person I like, than
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the most expensive bouquet that could be bought.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Mister Preston had no business to speak, as if.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: He had forestalled you, said Cynthia.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: It came just as we were ready to go, and
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: I put it under the fire directly.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Cynthia, my dear love, said Missus Gibson, who had never
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: heard of the fate of the flowers until now.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: What an idea of yourself you will give, mister Osborne Hamley.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: But be sure I can quite understand, and did you
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: inherit my feeling, my prejudice sentimental I grant against bought flowers.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Cynthia was silent for a moment.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: Then she said, I use some of your flowers, mister Hamley,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: to dress Molly's hair. It was a great temptation, for
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: the color so exactly matched her choral ornaments. But I
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: believe she thought it treacherous to disturb the arrangement, so
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: I ought to take all the blame on myself.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: The arrangement was my brother's, as I told you, but
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I am sure he would have preferred seeing them in
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: miss Gibson's hair rather than in the blazing fire. Mister
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Preston comes far the worst off.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Osborne was rather amused at the whole affair, and would
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: have liked to probe Cynthia's motives a little further. He
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: did not hear Molly saying, in her softer voice, as
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: if she were talking to herself.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: I will mind just as they were sent for.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Missus. Gibson came in with a total change of subject.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Speaking of lilies of the valley. Is it true that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: they grow wild in hurst Wood? It is not the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: season for them to be in flower yet, but when
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: it is, I think we must take a walk there
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: with our luncheon and a basket a little picnic. In fact,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: you'll join us, won't you.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Turning to Osborne, I think it's.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: A charming plan. You could ride to Hollingford and put
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: up your horse here, and we could have a long
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: day in the woods and all come home to dinner,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: dinner with a basket of lilies in the middle of
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: the table.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I should like it very much, said Osborne.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: But I may not be at home. Roder is more
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: likely to be here, I believe at that time a month.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Hence he was thinking of the visit to London to
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: sell his palms, and the run down to Winchester, which
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: he anticipated afterwards. The end of May had been the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: period fixed for this pleasure for some time, not merely
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: in his own mind, but in writing to his wife.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Oh but you must be with us. We must wait
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: for mister Osborne Hamley, must we not, Cynthia.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid the lilies won't wait, replied Cynthia.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Well then we must put it off till dog rose
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: and honeysuckle time. You will be at home, then, won't you?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Or does the London season present too many attractions?
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I don't know exactly when door roses are in flower.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Not no, and you a poet, don't you remember the lines?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: It was the time of roses. We plucked them as
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: we passed.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, but that doesn't specify the time of year. That
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: is the time of roses. And I believe my movements
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: are guided more by the lunar calendar than the floral.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: You had better take my brother for your companion. He
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: is practical in his love of flowers. I am only theoretical.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Does that fine word theoretical imply that you are ignorant?
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Asked Cynthia.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Of course we shall be happy to see your brother,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: but why can't we have you too? I confess to
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: a little timidity in the presence of one so deep
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: and learned as your brother is. From all accounts, give
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: me a little charming ignorance, if we must call it
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: by that hard word.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Osborne bowed. It was very pleasant to him to be
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: petted and flattered, even though he knew all the time
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: that it was only flattery. It was an agreeable contrast
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to the home that was so dismal to him. To
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: come to this house, where the society of two agreeable
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: girls and the soothing syrup of their mother's speeches awaited him.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Whenever he liked to come to say nothing of the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: difference that struck upon his senses. Poetical though he might
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: esteem himself of a sitting room full of flowers and
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: tokens of women's presence, where all the chairs were easy
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and all the tables well covered with pretty things, to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the great drawing room at home, where the draperies were
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: threadbare and the seats uncomfortable, and no sign of feminine presence.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Ever now lent a grace to the stiff arrangement of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the furniture. Then the meals, light and well cooked, suited
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: his taste and delicate appetite, so much better than the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: rich and heavy viarms prepared by the servants at the hall.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Osborne was becoming a little afraid of falling into the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: habit of paying too frequent visits to the Gibsons, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: that not because he feared the consequences of his intercourse
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: with the two young ladies, for he never thought of
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: them excepting as friends. The fact of his marriage was
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: constantly present to his mind, and Aimee too securely enthroned
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: in his heart for him to remember that he might
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: be looked upon by others in the light of a
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: possible husband, but the reflection forced itself upon him occasionally
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: whether he was not trespassing too often on hospitality, which
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he had at present no means of returning. But missus Gibson,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: in her ignorance of the true state of affairs, was
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: secretly exultant in the attraction which made him come so
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: often and lounge away the hours in her house and garden.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: She had no doubt that it was Cynthia who drew
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: him thither, and if the latter had been a little
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: more amenable to reason, her mother would have made more
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: frequent allusions than she did to the crisis which she
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: thought was approaching. But she was restrained by the intuitive
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: conviction that if her daughter became conscious of what was impending,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and was made aware of Missus Gibson's cautious and quiet
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: efforts to forward the catastrophe, the wilful girl would oppose
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: herself to it with all her skill and power. As
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: it was, Missus Gibson trusted that Cynthia's affections would become
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: engaged before she knew where she was, and that in
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: that case she would not attempt to frustrate her mother's
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: delicate scheming. Even though she did perceive it, but Cynthia
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: had come across too many varieties of flirtation, admiration, and
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: even passionate love to be for a moment at fault.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: As to the quiet, friendly nature of Osborne's attentions, she
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: received him always as a sister might a brother. It
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: was different when Roger return from his election as Fellow
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of Trinity. The trembling diffidence, the hardly suppressed ardor of
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: his manner made Cynthia understand before long with what kind
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of love she had now to deal. She did not
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: put it into so many words, no, not even in
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: her secret heart, but she recognized the difference between Roger's
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: relation to her and Osborne's long before Missus Gibson found
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it out. Molly was, however, the first to discover the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: nature of Roger's attention the first time they saw him
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: after the ball. It came out to her observant eyes.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Cynthia had not been looking well since that evening. She
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: went slowly about the house, pale and heavy eyed, and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: fond as she usually was of exercise in the free
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: fresh air. There was hardly any persuading her now to
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: go out for a walk. Molly watched this fading with
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: tender anxiety. But to all her questions as to whether
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: she had felt over fatigued with her dancing, whether anything
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: had occurred to annoy her, and all such inquiries, she
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: replied in languid negatives. Once Molly touched on mister Preston's
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: name and found that this was a subject on which
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Cynthia was raw. Now Cynthia's face lighted up with spirit,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and her whole body showed her ill repressed agitation. But
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: she only said a few sharp words expressive of anything
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: but kindly feeling towards the gentleman, and then bade Molly
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: never name his name to her again. Still, the latter
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: could not imagine that he was more than intensely distasteful
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: to her friend as well as to herself. He could
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: not be the cause of Cynthia's present indisposition. But this
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: indisposition lasted so many days without change or modification that
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: even Missus Gibson noticed it, and Molly became positively uneasy.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson considered Cynthia's quietness and languor as the natural
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: consequence of dancing with everybody who asked her at the ball,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: partners whose names were in the Red Book, would not
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: have produced half the amount of fatigue, according to Missus
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Gibson's judgment. Apparently, and if Cynthia had been quite well,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: very probably she would have hit the blot in her
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: mother's speech with one of her touches of sarcasm. Then again,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: when Cynthia did not rally, Missus Gibson grew impatient and
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: accused her of being fanciful and lazy. At length, and
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: partly at Molly's insistence, there came an appeal to mister
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Gibson and a professional exam emanation of the supposed invalid
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: which Cynthia hated more than anything, especially when the verdict
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was that there was nothing very much the matter, only
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: a general lowness of tone and depression of health and spirits,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: which would soon be remedied by tonics. And meanwhile, she
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: was not to be roused to exertion.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: If there is one thing I dislike.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Said Cynthia to mister Gibson, after he had pronounced tonics
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to be the cure for her present state, it is the.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Way doctors have of giving tablespoons full of nauseous mixtures
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: as a certain remedy for sorrows.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: And cares.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: She laughed up in his face as she spoke. She
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: had always a pretty word and smile for him, even
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: in the midst of her loss of spirits.
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: Come you acknowledge you have sorrows by that speech. We'll
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: make a bargain. If you'll tell me your sorrows and cares,
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: I'll try and find some other remedy for them, then
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: giving you what you are pleased to term my nauseous mixtures.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: No, said Cynthia Coloring.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: I never said I had sorrows and cares. I spoke generally.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: What should I have a sorrow about? You and Molly
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: are only too kind to me?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Her eyes filling with tears, Well.
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: Well, we'll not talk of such gloomy things, and you
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: shall have some sweet emulsion to disguise the taste of
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: the bitters I shall be obliged to fall back upon.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Please don't if you but knew how I dislike emulsions
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: and disguises. I do want bitters, and if I sometimes,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: if I'm obliged to, if I'm not truth for myself,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: I do like truth in others at least sometimes.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: She ended her sentence with another smile, but it was
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: rather faint. And watery. Now, the first person out of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the house to notice Cynthia's change of look and manner
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was Roger Hamley, and yet he did not see her until,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: under the influence of the nauseous mixture she was beginning
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to recover. But his eyes were scarcely off her during
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the first five minutes. He was in the room. All
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the time he was trying to talk to missus Gibson
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: in reply to her civil platitudes. He was studying Cynthia,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: And at the first convenient pause, he came and stood
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: before Molly so as to interpose his person between her
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and the rest of the room, for some visitors had
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: come in subsequent to his entrance.
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: Molly, how ill your sister is looking? What is it?
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: Has she had advice? You must forgive me, But so
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: often those who live together in the same house don't
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: observe the first approaches of illness.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Now, Molly's love for Cynthia was fast and unwavering. But
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: if anything tried it, it was the habit Roger had
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: fallen into of always calling Cynthia Molly's sister. In speaking
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: to the latter, from any one else, it would have
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: been a matter of indifference. To her and hardly to
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: be noticed. It vexed both ear and heart when Roger
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: used the expression, and there was a curtness of manner
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: as well as of words in her reply.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: Oh, she was all retired by the ball. Papa has
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: seen her and says she will be all right very soon.
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: I wonder if she wants change of air.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Said Roger meditatively.
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: I wish, I do. Wish we could have her at
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: the hall, you and your mother too, of course, but
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: I don't see how it would be possible, or else
• 12:55
  Speaker 7: how charming it would be.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Molly felt as if her visit to the hall under
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: such circumstances would be altogether so different an affair to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: all her former ones that she could hardly tell if
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: she should like it or not.
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: Roger went on, you got our flowers in time, did
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: you not. Ah, you don't know how often I thought
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: of you that evening. And you enjoyed it too, didn't you.
• 13:16
  Speaker 7: You had plenty of agreeable partners, and all that makes
• 13:19
  Speaker 7: a first ball delightful. I heard that your sister danced
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: every dance.
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: It was very.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Pleasant, said Molly quietly. But after all, I'm not sure
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: if I want to go to another just yet, there
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: seems to be so much trouble connected with a ball Ah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: You are thinking of your sister and her not being well.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: No, I was not, said Molly, rather bluntly.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: I was thinking of the dress, and the dressing and
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: awariness the next day.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: He might think her unfeeling if he liked she felt
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: as if she had only too much feeling just then,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: for it was bringing on her a strange contraction of heart.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: But he was too inherently good himself to put any
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: harsh construction on her speech. Just before he went away,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: while he was a still holding her hand and wishing
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: her good bye, he said to her, in a voice
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: too low to be generally heard.
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: Is there anything I could do for your sister? We
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: have plenty of books, as you know, if she cares
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: for reading.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Then, receiving no affirmative look or word from Molly in
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: reply to this suggestion, he went on, or flowers.
• 14:17
  Speaker 7: She likes flowers. Oh, and our forced strawberries are just ready.
• 14:23
  Speaker 7: I will bring some over tomorrow.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I am sure she will like them, said Molly. For
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: some reason or other unknown to the Gibsons, a longer
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: interval than usual occurred between Osborne's visits, while Roger came
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: almost every day, always with some fresh offering, by which
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: she openly sought to relieve Cynthia's indisposition, as far as
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: it lay in his power. Her manner to him was
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: so gentle and gracious that Missus Gibson became alarmed lest
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: in spite of his uncouthness, as she was pleased to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: term it, he might come to be preferred to Osborne,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: who was so strangely neglecting his own interests in Missus
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Gibson's opinion. In her quiet way, she contrived to pass
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: many slights upon Roger, But the dark rebounded from his
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: generous nature that could not have imagined her motives, and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: fastened themselves on Molly. She had often been called naughty
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: and passionate when she was a child, and she thought
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: now that she began to understand that she really had
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a violent temper. What seemed neither to hurt Roger nor
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: annoy Cynthia made Molly's blood boil. And now she had
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: once discovered Missus Gibson's wish to make Roger's visits shorter
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and less frequent. She was always on the watch for
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: indications of this desire. She read her stepmother's heart when
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the latter made allusions to the squire's loneliness, now that
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Osborne was absent from the hall, and that Roger was
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: so often away amongst his friends during the.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Day, mister Gibson and I should be so delighted if
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: you could have stopped to dinner. But of course we
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: cannot be so selfish as to ask you to stay.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: When we remember how your father would be left alone,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: we were saying yesterday, we wondered how he bore his solitude,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: poor old gentleman.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Or as soon as Roger came with his bunch of
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: early roses, it was desirable for Cynthia to go and
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: rest in her own room, while Molly had to accompany
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: missus Gibson on some improvised errand or call. Still, Roger,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: whose object was to give pleasure to Cynthia, and who
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: had from his boyhood been always certain of mister Gibson's
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: friendly regard, was slow to perceive that he was not wanted.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: If he did not see Cynthia, that was his loss.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: At any rate, he heard how she was and left
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: her some little thing which he believed she would like,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and was willing to risk the chance of his own
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: gratification by calling four or five times in the hope
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: of seeing her once. At last, there came a day
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: when Missus Gibson went beyond her usual negative snubbiness, and
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: when in some unwonted fit of crossness, for she was
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a very placid tempered person in general, she was guilty
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: of positive rudeness. Cynthia was very much better. Tonics had
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: ministered to a mind diseased, though she hated to acknowledge it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Her pretty bloom and much of her lightheartedness had come back,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and there was no cause remaining for anxiety. Missus Gibson
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was sitting at her embroidery in the drawing room, and
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the two girls were at the window, Cynthia laughing at
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Molly's earnest endeavors to imitate the French accent in which
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the former had been reading a page of Voltaire. For
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: the duty or the farce of settling to improving reading
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: in the mornings was still kept up, although Lord Hollingford,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: the unconscious suggester of the idea, had gone back to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: town without making any of the efforts to see Molly
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: again that Missus Gibson had anticipated on the night of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the ball that al naschar vision had fallen to the ground.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: It was as yet early morning, a delicious, fresh, lovely
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: June day, the air redolent with the sense of flower
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: growth and bloom. And half the time the girls had
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: been ostensibly employed in the French reading, they had been
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: leaning out of the open window trying to reach a
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: cluster of climbing roses. They had secured them at last,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and the buds lay on Cynthia's lap, but many of
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the petals had fallen off, so though the perfume lingered
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: about the window seat, the full beauty of the flowers
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: had passed away. Missus Gibson had once or twice reproved
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: them for the merry noise they were making, which hindered
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: her in the business of counting the stitches in her pattern.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: And she had set herself a certain quantity to do
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that morning before going out, and was of that nature
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: which attaches infinite importance to fulfilling small resolutions made about
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: indifferent trifles without any reason whatever. Mister Roger Hamley was announced,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: so tiresome, said Missus Gibson, almost in his hearing, as
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: she pushed away away her embroidery frame. She put out
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: her cold, motionless hand to him with a half murmured
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: word of welcome, Still eyeing her lost embroidery, he took
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: no apparent notice and passed on to the window.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: How delicious, said he no need for any more Hamley roses.
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: Now yours are out.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I agree with you, said Missus Gibson, replying to him,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: before either Cynthia or Molly could speak. Though he addressed
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: his words to them.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: You have been very kind in bringing us flowers so long,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: but now our own are out, we need not trouble
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: you any more.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: He looked at her with a little surprise clouding his
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: honest face. It was perhaps more that the tone than
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the words. Missus Gibson, however, had been bold enough to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: strike the first blow, and she determined to go on
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: as opportunity offered. Molly would perhaps have been more pained
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: if she had not seen Cynthia's color rise. She waited
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: for her to speak, if need were for. She knew
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that Roger's defense, if defense were required, might be safely
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: entrusted to Cynthia's ready wit. He put out his hand
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: for the shattered cluster of roses that lay in Cynthia's lap.
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: At any rate, said he. My trouble. If missus Gibson
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: can say it has been a trouble to me, will
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: be overpaid. If I may have this.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: O lamce Veneu, said Cynthia, smiling as she gave it
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to him.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: I wish one could always buy a nosegay such as
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: you have brought us as cheaply.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: You forget the waste of time that I think we
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: must reckon as part of the payment, said her mother. Really,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: mister Hamley, we must learn to shut our doors on
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: you if you come so often and at such early hours.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I settle myself to my own employment regularly after breakfast
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: till lunch time. And it is my wish to keep
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Cynthia and Molly to a course of improving reading and
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: study so desirable for young people of their age, if
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: they are ever to become intelligent, companionable women. But with
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: early visitors it is quite impossible to observe any regularity
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: of habits.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: All this was said in that sweet, false tone which
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: had of late gone through Molly. Like the scraping of
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a slate pencil on a slate. Roger's face changed his
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: ruddy color grew paler for a moment, and he looked
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: grave and not pleased. In another moment, the wanted frankness
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: of expression returned. Why should not he, he asked himself,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: believe her it was early to call. It did interrupt
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: regular occupation. So he spoke and said.
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: Oh, I believe I have been very thoughtless. I'll not
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: come so early again. But I had some excuse to day.
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: My brother told me you had made a plan for
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: going to see hurst Wood when the roses were out,
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: and they are earlier than usual this year. I've been
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: round to see. He spoke of a long day there,
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: going before lunch.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: The plan was made with mister Osborne Hamley. I could
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: not think of going without.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Him, said missus Gibson coldly.
• 20:35
  Speaker 7: I had a letter from him this morning in which
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: he named your wish, and he says he fears he
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: cannot be at home till they are out of flower.
• 20:43
  Speaker 7: I dare say they are not much to see in reality,
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: but the day is so lovely. I thought that the
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: plan of going to Hurstwood would be a charming excuse
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: for being out of doors.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you, how kind you are, and so good too
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: in sacrificing your natural desire to be with your father
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: as much as possible.
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: I'm glad to say my father is so much better
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: than he was in the winter that he spends much
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: of his time out of doors in his fields. He
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: has been accustomed to go about alone, and I we
• 21:13
  Speaker 7: think that as a great return to his former habits,
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: as he can be induced to make, is the best
• 21:19
  Speaker 7: for him.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: And when do you return to Cambridge?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: There was some hesitation in Roger's manner, as he replied.
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: It is uncertain. You probably know that I am a
• 21:28
  Speaker 7: fellow of Trinity. Now I hardly yet know what my
• 21:31
  Speaker 7: future plans may be. I am thinking of going up
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: to London soon.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Ah, London is the true place for a young man.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, with decision, as if she had reflected
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: a good deal on the question.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: If it were not that we really are so busy
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: this morning, I should have been tempted to make an
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: exception to our general rule, one more exception, for your
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: early visits have made us make too many already. Perhaps, however,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: we may see you again before you go.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Certainly I shall come, replied he, rising to take his
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: leave and still holding the demolished roses in his hand. Then,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: addressing himself more especially to Cynthia, he added.
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: My stay in London will not exceed a fortnight or so.
• 22:09
  Speaker 7: Is there anything I can do for you?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Or are you turning a little to Molly? No, thank
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you very much, said Cynthia very sweetly, and then, acting
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: on a sudden impulse, she leant out of the window
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and gathered him some half opened roses.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: You deserve these. Do throw that poor shabby bunch away.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: His eyes brightened, his cheeks glowed. He took the offered buds,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: but did not throw away the other bunch at any rate.
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: I may come after lunch is over, and the afternoons
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: and evenings will be the most delicious time of day
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: a month.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Hence he said this to both Molly and Cynthia, but
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: in his heart he addressed it to the latter. Missus. Gibson,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: affected not to hear what he was saying, but held
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: out her limp hand once more to him.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I suppose we shall see you when you return, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: pray tell your brother how we are longing to have
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: a visit from him again.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: When he had left the room, Molly's heart was quite full.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: She had watched his face and read something of his feelings,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: his dis appointment at their non acquiescence in his plan
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: of a day's pleasure in Hurstwood, the delayed conviction that
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: his presence was not welcome to the wife of his
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: old friend, which had come so slowly upon him. Perhaps,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: after all these things touched Molly more keenly than they
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: did him. His bright look when Cynthia gave him the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: rose buds indicated a gush of sudden delight, more vivid
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: than the pain he had shown by his previous increase
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of gravity.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I can't think why he will come at such untimely hours.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, as soon as she heard him fairly
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: out of the house.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: It's different from Osborne. We are so much more intimate
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: with him. He came and made friends with us all
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: the time this stupid brother of his was muddling his
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: brains with mathematics at Cambridge, Fellow of Trinity, Indeed, I
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: wish you would learn to stay there and not come
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: intruding here, And assuming that because I asked Osborne to
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: join in a picnic, it was all the same to
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: me which brother came.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: In short, Mamma, one man may steal a horse, but
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: another must not look over the hedge.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, pouting a little.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: And the two brothers have always been treated so exactly
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: alike by their friends, and there has been such a
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: strong friendship between them that it is no wonder Roger
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: thinks he may be welcome where Osborn is allowed to
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: come at all.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Ours, continued Molly, in high dudgeon, Roger's muddled brains. Indeed,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Roger stupid.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Oh very well, my DearS, when I was young, it
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have been thought becoming for girls of your age
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: to fly out, because a little restraint was exercised as
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: to the hours at which they should receive the young
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: men's calls. And they would have supposed that there might
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: be good reasons why their parents disapproved of the visits
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: of certain gentlemen, even while they were proud and pleased
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: to see some members of the same family.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: But that was what I said to Mamma, said Cynthia,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: looking at her mother with an expression of innocent bewilderment
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: on her face.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: One man may be quiet, child. All proverbs of vulgar,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: and I do believe that is the vulgarest of all.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: You are really catching Roger Hamley's coarseness, Cynthia Mamma said.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Cynthia roused to anger.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: I don't mind your abusing me, but mister Roger Hamley
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: has been very kind to me while I've not been well.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: I can't bear to hear him disparaged. If he's coarse,
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: I've no objection to be coarse as well, for it
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: seems to me it must mean kindliness and pleasantness, and
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: the bringing of pretty flowers and presents.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Molly's tears were brimming over at these words. She could
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: have kissed Cynthia for her warm partisanship, but afraid of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: betraying emotion and.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Making a scene, as.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson called any signs of warm feeling, she laid
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: down her book hastily and ran upstairs to her room
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and locked the door in order to breathe freely. There
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: were traces of tears upon her face when she returned
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: into the drawing room half an hour afterwards, walking straight
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and demurely up to her former place, where Cynthia still
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: sat and gazed idly out of the window, pouting and displeased.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson, meanwhile counting her stitches aloud with great distinctness
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and vigor end of chapter twenty eight,