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052 - Ch 51 - Meeting Again · North and South (version 2)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty one of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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  Speaker 1: chapter fifty one, Meeting again, Bear up, brave heart, We
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  Speaker 1: will be calm and strong. Sure we can master eyes
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  Speaker 1: or cheek or tongue, nor let the smallest tell tale
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  Speaker 1: sign appear. She ever was and is and will be.
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  Speaker 1: Dear rhyming play. It was a hot summer's evening. Edith
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  Speaker 1: came into Margaret's bedroom the first time in her habit
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  Speaker 1: the second, ready dressed for dinner. No one was there
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  Speaker 1: at first. The next time, Edith found Dixon laying out
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  Speaker 1: Margaret's dress on the bed, but no Margaret. Edith remained
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  Speaker 1: to fidget about. Oh, Dixon, not those horrid blue flowers
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  Speaker 1: to that dead gold colored gown? What taste? Wait a minute,
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  Speaker 1: I will bring you some pomegranate blossoms. It's not a
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  Speaker 1: dead gold color, ma'am. It's a straw color, and blue
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  Speaker 1: always goes with straw color. But Edith had brought the
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  Speaker 1: brilliant scarlet flowers before Dixon had got half through her remonstrance.
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  Speaker 1: Where's miss Hale? Asked Edith as soon as she had
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  Speaker 1: tried the effect of the garniture. I can't think she
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  Speaker 1: went on pettishly how my aunt allowed her to get
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  Speaker 1: into such rambling habits in Milton. I'm sure I'm always
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  Speaker 1: expecting to hear of her having met with something horrible
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  Speaker 1: among all those wretched places she pokes herself into. I
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  Speaker 1: should never dare to go down some of those streets
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  Speaker 1: without a servant. They're not fit for ladies. Dixon was
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  Speaker 1: still huffed about her despised taste, so she replied, rather shortly,
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  Speaker 1: it's no wonder to my mind when I hear ladies
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  Speaker 1: talk such a deal about being ladies, and when they're
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  Speaker 1: such fearful, delicate, dainty ladies too, I say, it's no
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  Speaker 1: wonder to me that there are no longer any saints
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  Speaker 1: on earth. Oh Margaret, here you are. I have been
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  Speaker 1: so wanting you, But how your cheeks are flushed with
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  Speaker 1: the heat. Poor child. Only think what that tiresome Henry
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  Speaker 1: has done. Really, he exceeds brother in law's limits. Just
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  Speaker 1: when my party was made up so beautifully fitted in
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  Speaker 1: so precisely for mister Colthurst, there has Henry come with
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  Speaker 1: an apology, it is true, and making use of your
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  Speaker 1: name for an excuse, and asked me if he might
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  Speaker 1: bring that mister Thornton of Milton, your tenant, you know,
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  Speaker 1: who is in London about some law business. It will
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  Speaker 1: spoil my number quite. I don't mind dinner. I don't
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  Speaker 1: want any, said Margaret in a low voice. Dixon can
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  Speaker 1: bring me a cup of tea here, and I will
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  Speaker 1: be in the drawing room by the time you come up.
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  Speaker 1: I shall really be glad to lie down. No, no,
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  Speaker 1: that will never do. You do look wretchedly white, to
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  Speaker 1: be sure, But that is just the heat, and we
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  Speaker 1: can't do without you. Possibly those flowers a little lower, Dixon,
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  Speaker 1: they look glorious flames, Margaret in your black hair. You
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  Speaker 1: know we planned you to talk about Milton to mister Colthurst. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: to be sure, and this man comes from Milton. I
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  Speaker 1: believe it will be capital. After all, mister Colthurst can
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  Speaker 1: pump him well on all subjects in which he is interested.
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  Speaker 1: And it would be great fun to trace out your
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  Speaker 1: experiences and this mister Thornton's wisdom in mister Colthurst's next
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  Speaker 1: speech in the house. Really, I think it is a
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  Speaker 1: happy hit of Henry's. I asked him if he was
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  Speaker 1: a man one would be ashamed of, And he replied,
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  Speaker 1: not if you've any sense in you, my little sister.
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  Speaker 1: So I suppose he is able to sound his hes,
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  Speaker 1: which is not a common Darkshire accomplishment, eh, Margaret. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Lennox did not say why mister Thornton was come up
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  Speaker 1: to town. Was it law business connected with the property?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Margaret in a constrained voice. Oh, he's failed or
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  Speaker 1: something of the kind that Henry told you of that
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  Speaker 1: day you had such a headache. What was it there
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  Speaker 1: that's capital Dixon? Miss Hale does us credit? Does she not?
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  Speaker 1: I wish I were as tall as a queen and
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  Speaker 1: as brown as a gipsy Margaret. But about mister Thornton, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I really have such a terrible head for law business.
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  Speaker 1: Henry will like nothing better than to tell you all
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  Speaker 1: about it. I know. The impression he made upon me
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  Speaker 1: was that mister Thornton is very badly off and a
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  Speaker 1: very respectable man, and that I'm to be very civil
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  Speaker 1: to him. And as I do not know how, I
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  Speaker 1: came to ask you to help me, and now come
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  Speaker 1: down with me and rest on the sofa for a
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  Speaker 1: quarter of an hour. The privileged brother in law came early,
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  Speaker 1: and Margaret, reddening as she spoke, began to ask him
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  Speaker 1: the questions she wanted to hear answered about mister Thornton.
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  Speaker 1: He came up about this sub letting the property Marlborough
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  Speaker 1: Mills and the house and premise adjoining I mean he
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  Speaker 1: is unable to keep it on, and there are deeds
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  Speaker 1: and leases to be looked over and agreements to be
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  Speaker 1: drawn up. I hope Edith will receive him properly. But
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  Speaker 1: she was rather put out, as I could see by
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  Speaker 1: the liberty I had taken in begging for an invitation
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  Speaker 1: for him. But I thought you would like to have
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  Speaker 1: some attention shown him, and one would be particularly scrupulous
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  Speaker 1: in paying every respect to a man who is going
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  Speaker 1: down in the world. He had dropped his voice to
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  Speaker 1: speak to Margaret, by whom he was sitting, but as
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  Speaker 1: he ended, he sprang up and introduced mister Thornton, who
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  Speaker 1: had that moment entered to Edith and Captain Lennox. Margaret
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  Speaker 1: looked with an anxious eye at mister Thornton while he
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  Speaker 1: was thus occupied. It was considerably more than a year
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  Speaker 1: since she had seen him, and events had occurred to
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  Speaker 1: change him much in that time. His fine figure yet
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  Speaker 1: bore him above the common height of men, and gave
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  Speaker 1: him a distinguished appearance from the ease of motion which
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  Speaker 1: arose out of it and was natural to him. But
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  Speaker 1: his face looked older and careworn. Yet a noble composure
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  Speaker 1: sat upon it, which impressed those who had just been
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  Speaker 1: hearing of his changed position with a sense of inherent
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  Speaker 1: dignity and manly strength. He was aware from the first
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  Speaker 1: glance he had given round the room that Margaret was there.
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  Speaker 1: He had seen her intent look of occupation as she
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  Speaker 1: listened to mister Henry Lennox, and he came up to
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  Speaker 1: her with the perfectly regulated manner of an old friend.
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  Speaker 1: With his first calm words, a vivid color flashed into
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  Speaker 1: her cheeks, which never left them again. During the evening.
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  Speaker 1: She did not seem to have much to say to him.
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  Speaker 1: She disappointed him by the quiet way in which she
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  Speaker 1: asked what seemed to him to be the merely necessary
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  Speaker 1: questions respecting her old acquaintances in Milton. But others came
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  Speaker 1: in more intimate in the house than he, and he
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  Speaker 1: fell into the background, where he and mister Lennox talked
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  Speaker 1: together from time to time. You think miss Hale looking well,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Lennox, don't you Milton didn't agree with her.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine, for when she first came to London, I
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  Speaker 1: thought I had never seen any one so much changed
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  Speaker 1: to night she is looking radiant, but she is much stronger.
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  Speaker 1: Last autumn she was fatigued with a walk of a
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  Speaker 1: couple miles on Friday evening. We walked to Hampstead and back.
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  Speaker 1: Yet on Saturday she looked as well as she does
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  Speaker 1: now we who they two alone. Mister Colthurst was a
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  Speaker 1: very clever man and a rising member of Parliament. He
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  Speaker 1: had a quick eye and a discerning character, and was
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  Speaker 1: struck by a remark which mister Thornton made at dinner time.
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  Speaker 1: He inquired from Edith who that gentleman was, and rather
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  Speaker 1: to her surprise, she found from the tone of his indeed,
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  Speaker 1: that mister Thornton of Milton was not such an unknown
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  Speaker 1: name him as she had imagined it would be. Her
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  Speaker 1: dinner was going off well. Henry was in good humor
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  Speaker 1: and brought out his dry, caustic wit admirably. Mister Thornton
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  Speaker 1: and mister Colthurst found one or two mutual subjects of
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  Speaker 1: interest which they could only touch upon, then, reserving them
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  Speaker 1: for more private after dinner talk. Margaret looked beautiful in
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  Speaker 1: the pomegranate flowers, and if she did lean back in
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  Speaker 1: her chair and speak, but little Edith was not annoyed,
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  Speaker 1: for the conversation flowed on smoothly without her. Margaret was
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  Speaker 1: watching mister Thornton's face. He never looked at her, so
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  Speaker 1: she might study him unobserved and note the changes which
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  Speaker 1: even this short time had wrought in him. Only at
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  Speaker 1: some unexpected mot of mister Lennox's his face flashed out
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  Speaker 1: into the old look of intense enjoyment. The merry brightness
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  Speaker 1: returned to his eyes, the lips just parted to suggest
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  Speaker 1: the brilliant smile of former days, and for an instant
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  Speaker 1: his glance instinctively sought hers, as if he wanted her sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: But when their eyes met, his whole countenance changed. He
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  Speaker 1: was grave and anxious once more, and he resolutely avoided
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  Speaker 1: even looking near her again. During dinner, there were only
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  Speaker 1: two ladies besides their own party, and as these were
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  Speaker 1: occupied in conversation by her aunt and Edith. When they
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  Speaker 1: went up to the drawing room, Margaret languidly employed herself
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  Speaker 1: about some work. Presently the gentleman came up, mister Colthurst
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  Speaker 1: and mister Thornton in close conversation. Mister Lennox drew near
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  Speaker 1: to Margaret and said, in a low voice, I really
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  Speaker 1: think Edith owes me thanks for my contribution to her party.
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  Speaker 1: You've no idea what an agreeable, sensible fellow this tenant
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  Speaker 1: of yours is. He's been the very man to give
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  Speaker 1: Colthurst all the facts he wanted coaching in. I can't
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  Speaker 1: conceive how he contrived to mismanage his affairs. With his
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  Speaker 1: powers and opportunities, you would have succeeded, said Margaret. He
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  Speaker 1: did not relish the tone in which she spoke, although
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  Speaker 1: the words expressed a thought which had passed through his
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  Speaker 1: own mind. As he was silent, they caught a swell
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  Speaker 1: in the sound of conversation going on near the fireplace
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  Speaker 1: between mister Colthurst and mister Thornton. I assure you I
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  Speaker 1: heard it spoken of with great interest curiosity as to
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  Speaker 1: its result. Perhaps I should rather say I heard your
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  Speaker 1: name frequently mentioned during my short stay in the neighborhood.
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  Speaker 1: Then they lost some words, and when next they could
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  Speaker 1: hear mister Thornton was speaking, I have not the elements
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  Speaker 1: for popularity. If they spoke of me in that way,
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  Speaker 1: they were mistaken. I fall slowly into new projects, and
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  Speaker 1: I find it difficult to let myself be known even
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  Speaker 1: by those whom I desire to know, and with whom
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  Speaker 1: I would fain have no reserve. Yet, even with all
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  Speaker 1: these drawbacks, I felt that I was on the right path,
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  Speaker 1: and that starting from a kind of friendship with one
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  Speaker 1: I was becoming acquainted with many. The advantages were mutual.
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  Speaker 1: We were both unconsciously and consciously teaching each other. You say,
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  Speaker 1: were I trust you are intending to pursue the same course.
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  Speaker 1: I must stop Colthurst, said Henry Lennox hastily, and by
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  Speaker 1: an abrupt yet apropos question. He turned the current of
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  Speaker 1: the conversation so as not to give mister Thornton the
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  Speaker 1: mortification of acknowledging his want of success and consequent change
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  Speaker 1: of position. But as soon as the newly started subject
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  Speaker 1: had come to a close, mister Thornton resumed the conversation
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  Speaker 1: just where it had been interrupted, and gave mister Colthurst
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  Speaker 1: the reply to his inquiry. I have been unsuccessful in
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  Speaker 1: business and have had to give up my position as
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  Speaker 1: a master. I am on the lookout for a situation
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  Speaker 1: in Milton where I may meet with employment under some
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  Speaker 1: one who will be willing to let me go along
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  Speaker 1: my own way. In such manners as these, I can
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  Speaker 1: depend upon myself for having no go ahead theories that
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  Speaker 1: I would rashly bring into practice. My only wish is
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  Speaker 1: to have the opportunity of cultivating some intercourse with the
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  Speaker 1: hands beyond the mere cash nexus. But it might be
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  Speaker 1: the point Archimedes sought from which to move the earth,
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  Speaker 1: to judge from the importance attached to it by some
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  Speaker 1: of our manufacturers, who shake their heads and look grave.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as I name the one or two experiments
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  Speaker 1: that I should like to try, you call them experiments,
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  Speaker 1: I notice, said mister Colthurst, with a delicate increase of
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  Speaker 1: respect in his manner, because I believe them to be such.
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  Speaker 1: I am not sure of the consequences that may result
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  Speaker 1: from them, but I am sure they ought to be tried.
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  Speaker 1: I have arrived at the conviction that no mere institutions,
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  Speaker 1: however wise and however much thought may have been required
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  Speaker 1: to organize and arrange them, can attach class to class
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  Speaker 1: as they should be attached unless the working out of
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  Speaker 1: such institutions bring the individuals of the different classes into
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  Speaker 1: actual personal contact. Such intercourse is the very breath of life.
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  Speaker 1: A workingman can hardly be made to feel and know
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  Speaker 1: how much his employers may have labored in his study
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  Speaker 1: at plans for the benefit of his workpeople. A complete
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  Speaker 1: plan emerges like a piece of machinery, apparently fitted for
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  Speaker 1: every emergency, but the hands accept it as they do machinery,
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  Speaker 1: without understanding the intense mental labor and forethought required to
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  Speaker 1: bring it to such perfection. But I would take an idea,
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  Speaker 1: the working out of which would necessitate personal intercourse. It
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  Speaker 1: might not go well at first, but at every hitch
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  Speaker 1: interest would be felt by an increasing number of men,
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  Speaker 1: and at last its success in working come to be
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  Speaker 1: desired by all, as all had borne a part of
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  Speaker 1: the formation of the plan. And even then, I am
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  Speaker 1: sure that it would lose its vitality, cease to be living,
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  Speaker 1: as soon as it was no longer carried on by
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  Speaker 1: that sort of common interest which invariably makes people find
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  Speaker 1: means and ways of seeing each other and becoming acquainted
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  Speaker 1: with each other's characters and persons, and even tricks of
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  Speaker 1: temper and modes of speech. We should understand each other better,
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  Speaker 1: and I'll venture to say that we should like each
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  Speaker 1: other more. And you think they may prevent the recurrence
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  Speaker 1: of strikes, not at all. My utmost expectation only goes
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  Speaker 1: so far as this, that they may render strikes, not
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  Speaker 1: the bitter, venomous sources of hatred they have hitherto been.
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  Speaker 1: A more hopeful man might imagine that a closer and
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  Speaker 1: more genial intercourse between classes might do away with strikes.
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  Speaker 1: But I am not a hopeful man. Suddenly, as if
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  Speaker 1: a new idea had struck him, he crossed over to
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  Speaker 1: where Margaret was sitting and began without preface, as if
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  Speaker 1: he knew she had been listening to all that had passed,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Hale. I had a round robin from some of
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  Speaker 1: my men, I suspect in Higgins's handwriting, stating their wish
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  Speaker 1: to work for me, if ever I was in a
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  Speaker 1: position to employment again on my own behalf. That was good,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't it? Yes? Just right? I am glad out of it,
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  Speaker 1: said Margaret, looking up straight into his face with her
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  Speaker 1: speaking eyes, and then dropping them under his eloquent glance.
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  Speaker 1: He gazed back at her for a minute, as if
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  Speaker 1: he did not know exactly what he was about, then
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  Speaker 1: sighed and saying, I knew you would like it. He
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  Speaker 1: turned away and never spoke to her again until he
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  Speaker 1: bid her a formal good night. As mister Lennox took
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  Speaker 1: his departure, Margaret said, with a blush that she could
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  Speaker 1: not repress, and with some hesitation, can I speak to
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  Speaker 1: you tomorrow? I want your help about something. Certainly, I
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  Speaker 1: will come at whatever time you name. You cannot give
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  Speaker 1: me a greater pleasure than by making me of any
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  Speaker 1: use at eleven very well, His eye brightened with exultation.
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  Speaker 1: How she was learning to depend upon him. It seemed
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  Speaker 1: as if any day now might give him the certainty
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  Speaker 1: without having which he had determined never to offer to
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  Speaker 1: her again. End of chapter fifty one.