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030 - Bush Fighting · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty nine of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty
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Speaker 1: nine Bush Fighting. During all the months that had elapsed
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Speaker 1: since missus Hamley's death, Molly had wandered many a time
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Speaker 1: about the secret she had so unwittingly become possessed of
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Speaker 1: that last day in the whole library. It seemed so
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Speaker 1: utterly strange and unheard of a thing to her inexperienced
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Speaker 1: mind that a man should be married and yet not
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Speaker 1: live with his wife, That her son should have entered
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Speaker 1: into the holy state of matrimony without his father's knowledge,
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Speaker 1: and without being recognized as the husband of some one
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Speaker 1: known or unknown by all those with whom he came
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Speaker 1: in daily contact, that she felt occasionally as if that
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Speaker 1: little ten minutes of revelation must have been a vision
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Speaker 1: in a dream. Roger had only slightly referred to it once,
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Speaker 1: and Osborne had kept entire silence on the subject ever since.
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Speaker 1: Not even a look or a pawes betrayed any allusion
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Speaker 1: to it. It even seemed to have passed out of
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Speaker 1: their thoughts. There had been the great sad event of
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Speaker 1: their mother's death to fill their minds on the next
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Speaker 1: occasion of their meeting, Molly, and since then long pauses
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Speaker 1: of intercourse had taken place, so that she sometimes felt
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Speaker 1: as if both the brothers must have forgotten how she
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Speaker 1: had come to know their important secret. She even found
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Speaker 1: herself often entirely forgetting it. But perhaps the consciousness of
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Speaker 1: it was present to her unawares and enabled her to
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Speaker 1: comprehend the real nature of Osborne's feelings towards Cynthia. At
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Speaker 1: any rate, she never for a moment had supposed that
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Speaker 1: his gentle kind manner toward Cynthia was anything but the
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Speaker 1: courtesy of a friend. Strange to say. In these latter days,
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Speaker 1: Molly had looked upon Osborne's relation to herself as pretty
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Speaker 1: much the same as that in which at one time
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Speaker 1: she had regarded Roger's, And she thought of the former
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Speaker 1: as someone as nearly a brother both to Cynthia and herself,
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Speaker 1: as any young man could well be whom they had
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Speaker 1: not known in childhood, and who was in no wise
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Speaker 1: related to them. She thought that he was very much
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Speaker 1: improved in manner and probably in character by his mother's death.
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Speaker 1: He was no longer sarcastic, or fastidious or vain or
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Speaker 1: self confident. She did not know how often all these
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Speaker 1: styles of talk or behavior were put on to conceal
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Speaker 1: shyness or consciousness, and to veil the real self from strangers.
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Speaker 1: Osborne's conversation and ways might very possibly have been just
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Speaker 1: the same as before had he been thrown amongst new people,
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Speaker 1: but Molly only saw him in their own circle, in
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Speaker 1: which he was on terms of decided intimacy. Still, there
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Speaker 1: was no doubt that he was really improved, though perhaps
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Speaker 1: not to the extent for which Molly gave him credit.
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Speaker 1: And this exaggeration on her part arose very naturally from
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Speaker 1: the fact that he, perceiving Roger's warm admiration for Cynthia,
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Speaker 1: withdrew a little out of his way and used to
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Speaker 1: go and talk to Molly in order not to intrude
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Speaker 1: himself between Roger and Cynthia. Of the two, perhaps Osborne
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Speaker 1: preferred Molly to her he needed not to talk if
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Speaker 1: the mood was not on him. They were on those
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Speaker 1: happy terms where silence is permissible and where efforts to
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Speaker 1: act against the prevailing mood of the mind are not required. Sometimes, indeed,
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Speaker 1: when Osborne was in the humor to be critical and fastidious,
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Speaker 1: as of your He used to vex Roger by insisting
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Speaker 1: upon it that Molly was prettier than Cynthia.
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Speaker 2: You mark my words, Roger. Five years hence the beautiful
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Speaker 2: Cynthia's red and white will have become just a little coarse,
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Speaker 2: and her figure will have thickened, while Molly's will only
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Speaker 2: have developed into more perfect grace. I don't believe the
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Speaker 2: girl has done growing yet. I am sure she's taller
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Speaker 2: than when I first saw her last summer.
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Speaker 3: Miss Kirkpatrick's eyes must always be perfection. I cannot fancy
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Speaker 3: any could come up to them, soft, grave, appealing, tender,
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Speaker 3: and such a heavenly collar. I often tried to find
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Speaker 3: something in nature to compare them to. They are not
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Speaker 3: like violets. That blue in the eyes is too like
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Speaker 3: physical weakness of sight. They are not like the sky.
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Speaker 3: That color has something of cruelty in it.
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Speaker 2: Come, don't go on trying to match her eyes as
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Speaker 2: if he were a draper and they a bit of ribbon.
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Speaker 2: Say at once, her eyes are load stars, and have
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Speaker 2: done with it. I set up Molly's gray eyes and
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Speaker 2: curling black lashes long odds above the other young woman's.
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Speaker 2: But of course it's all a matter of taste.
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Speaker 1: And now both Osborne and Roger had left the neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: In spite of all that Missus Gibson had said about
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Speaker 1: Roger's visits being ill timed and intrusive, she began to
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Speaker 1: feel as if there had been a very pleasant variety.
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Speaker 1: Now that they had ceased altogether, he brought in a
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Speaker 1: whiff of new atmosphere from that of Hollingford. He and
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Speaker 1: his brother had been always ready to do numberless little
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Speaker 1: things which only a man can do for women. Small
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Speaker 1: services which mister Gibson was always too busy to render
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Speaker 1: for the good doctor's business grew upon him. He thought
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Speaker 1: that this increase was owing to his greater skill and experience,
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Speaker 1: and he would probably have been mortified if he could
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Speaker 1: have known how many of his patients were solely biased
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Speaker 1: in sending for him by the fact that he was
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Speaker 1: employed at the towers. Something of this sort must have
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Speaker 1: been contemplated in the low scale of payment adopted long
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Speaker 1: ago by the Cumnor family of itself. The money he
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Speaker 1: received for going to the towers would hardly have paid
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Speaker 1: him for horse flesh. But then, as Lady Cumnor in
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Speaker 1: her younger days, had worded it.
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Speaker 4: It is such a thing for a man just setting
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Speaker 4: up in practice for himself to be able to say
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Speaker 4: he attends this house.
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Speaker 1: So the prestige was tacitly sold and paid for, but
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Speaker 1: neither buyer nor seller defined the nature of the bargain
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Speaker 1: on the whole. It was as well that mister Gibson
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Speaker 1: spent so much of his time from home. He sometimes
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Speaker 1: thought so himself when he heard his wife's plaintive fret
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Speaker 1: or pretty babble over totally indifferent things, and perceived of
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Speaker 1: how flimsy a nature were all her fine sentiments. Still,
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Speaker 1: he did not allow himself to repine over the step
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Speaker 1: he had taken. He wilfully shut his eyes and waxed
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Speaker 1: up his ears to many small things that he knew
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Speaker 1: would have irritated him if he had attended to them,
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Speaker 1: And in his solitary rides he forced himself to dwell
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Speaker 1: on the positive advantages that had accrued to him and
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Speaker 1: his through his marriage.
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Speaker 5: He had obtained an unexceptionable chaperone, if not a tender
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Speaker 5: mother for his little girl, a skillful manager of his
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Speaker 5: previously disorderly household, a woman who was graceful and pleasant
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Speaker 5: to look at for the head of his table. Moreover,
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Speaker 5: Cynthia reckoned for something on the favorable side of the balance.
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Speaker 5: She was a capital companion for Molly, and the two
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Speaker 5: were evidently very fond of each other. The feminine companionship
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Speaker 5: of the mother and daughter was agreeable to him as
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Speaker 5: well as to his child. When missus Gibson was moderately
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Speaker 5: sensible and not over santlementle.
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Speaker 1: He mentally added, and then he checked himself, for he
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Speaker 1: would not allow himself to become more aware of her
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Speaker 1: faults and foibles by defining them. At any rate, she
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Speaker 1: was harmless and wonderfully just to Molly. For a stepmother.
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Speaker 1: She piqued herself upon this, indeed, and would often call
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Speaker 1: attention to the fact of her being unlike other women
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Speaker 1: in this respect. Just then, sudden tears came into mister
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Speaker 1: Gibson's eyes as he remembered how quiet and undemonstrative his
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Speaker 1: little Molly had become in her general behavior to him.
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Speaker 1: But how once or twice, when they had met upon
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Speaker 1: the stairs or were otherwise unwitnessed, she had caught him
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Speaker 1: and kissed him hand or cheek in a sad passionateness
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Speaker 1: of affection. But in a moment he began to whistle
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Speaker 1: and old Scotch air he had heard in his childhood
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Speaker 1: and which had never recurred to his memory since. And
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Speaker 1: five minutes afterwards he was too busily treating a case
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Speaker 1: of white swelling in the knee of a little boy,
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Speaker 1: and thinking how to relieve the poor mother who went
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Speaker 1: out charing all day and had to listen to the
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Speaker 1: moans of her child all night, to have any thought
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Speaker 1: for his own cares, which, if they really existed, were
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Speaker 1: of so trifling a nature compared to the hard reality
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Speaker 1: of this hopeless woe. Osborne came home first. He returned,
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Speaker 1: in fact, not long after Roger had gone away, But
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Speaker 1: he was languid and unwell, and though he did not complain,
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Speaker 1: he felt unequal to any exertion. Thus a week or
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Speaker 1: more elapsed before any of the Gibsons knew that he
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Speaker 1: was at the hall, and then it was only by
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Speaker 1: chance that they became aware of it. Mister Gibson met
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Speaker 1: him in one of the lanes near Hamley. The acute
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Speaker 1: surgeon noticed the gait of the man as he came
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Speaker 1: near before he recognized who it was. When he overtook him, he.
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Speaker 5: Said why, Osborne, is it you. I thought it was
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Speaker 5: an old man of fifty loitering before me. I didn't
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Speaker 5: know you had come back.
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Speaker 1: Yes, said Osborne.
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Speaker 2: I have been at home nearly ten days. I daresay
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Speaker 2: I ought to have called on your people, for I
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Speaker 2: made a half promise to missus Gibson to let her
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Speaker 2: know as soon as I returned. But the fact is,
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Speaker 2: I'm feeling very good for nothing. This air oppresses me.
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Speaker 2: I could hardly breathe in the house, and yet I'm
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Speaker 2: already tired with a short walk.
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Speaker 5: You'd better get home at once, and I'll call and
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Speaker 5: see you as I come back from Rose.
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Speaker 1: No, you mustn't on any account, said Osborne hastily.
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Speaker 2: My father is annoyed enough at my going from home
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Speaker 2: so often, he says, though I haven't been from it
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Speaker 2: for six weeks. He puts down all my languor to
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Speaker 2: my having been away. He keeps the purse strings, you.
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Speaker 1: Know, he added, with a faint smile.
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Speaker 2: And I'm in the unlucky position of a penniless air,
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Speaker 2: and I've been brought up so in fact, I must
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Speaker 2: leave home from time to time. And if my father
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Speaker 2: gets confirmed in this notion of his that my health
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Speaker 2: is worse for my absences. He'll stop the supplies altogether.
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Speaker 5: May I ask where you do spend your time when
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Speaker 5: you are not at Hamley Hall.
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Speaker 1: Asked mister Gibson, with some hesitation in his manner. No,
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Speaker 1: replied Osborne reluctantly.
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Speaker 2: I will tell you this. I stay with friends in
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Speaker 2: the country. Ily life which sh ought to be conducive
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Speaker 2: to health, because it is thoroughly simple, rational and happy.
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Speaker 2: And now I've told you more about it than my
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Speaker 2: father himself knows. He never asks me where I've been,
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Speaker 2: and I shouldn't tell him if he did, at least
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Speaker 2: I think not.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson rode on by Osborne's side, not speaking for
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Speaker 1: a moment or two.
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Speaker 5: Osborne, whatever scrapes you may have got into, I should
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Speaker 5: advise your telling your father boldly out. I know him.
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Speaker 5: I know he'll be angry enough at first, but he'll
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Speaker 5: come round, take my word for it, and somehow or
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Speaker 5: another he'll find money to pay your debts and set
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Speaker 5: you free. If it's that kind of difficulty, and if
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Speaker 5: it's any other kind of entanglement, why still he's your
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Speaker 5: best friend. It's this estrangement from your father that's telling
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Speaker 5: on your health.
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Speaker 1: I'll be bound no, said Osborne.
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Speaker 2: I beg your pardon, but it's not that I am
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Speaker 2: really out of order. I dare say my unwillingness to
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Speaker 2: encounter any displeasure from my father as the consequence of
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Speaker 2: my indisposition. But I'll answer for it. It is not
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Speaker 2: the cause of it. My instinct tells me there is
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Speaker 2: something really the matter with me.
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Speaker 5: Come, don't be setting up your instinct against the profession.
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Speaker 1: Said mister Gibson cheerily. He dismounted, and throwing the reins
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Speaker 1: of his horse round his arm. He looked at Osborne's
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Speaker 1: tongue and felt his pulse, asking him various questions. At
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Speaker 1: the end, he said.
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Speaker 5: We'll soon bring you about, though I should like a
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Speaker 5: little more quiet talk with you, without this tugging brute.
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Speaker 5: For a third, if you'll manage to ride over and
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Speaker 5: have lunch with us tomorrow, doctor Nicholls will be with us.
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Speaker 5: He's coming over to see old Roe, and you shall
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Speaker 5: have the benefit of the advice of two doctors instead
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Speaker 5: of one. Go home now, you've had enough exercise for
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Speaker 5: the middle of a day as hot as this is,
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Speaker 5: and don't mopen the house listening to the maunderings of
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Speaker 5: your stupid instinct.
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Speaker 2: What else have I to do?
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Speaker 1: Said Osborne?
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Speaker 2: My father and I are not companions. One can't read
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Speaker 2: and write forever, especially when there's no end to be
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Speaker 2: gained by it. I don't mind telling you, but in
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Speaker 2: confidence recollect that I've been trying to get some of
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Speaker 2: my poems published. But there's no one like a publisher
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Speaker 2: of taking the conceit out of one. Not a man
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Speaker 2: among them would have them as a gift.
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Speaker 5: Oh so that's it, is it, Master Osborne? I thought
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Speaker 5: there was some mental cause for this depression of health.
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Speaker 5: I wouldn't trouble my head about it if I were you,
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Speaker 5: though that's always very easily said. I know, try your
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Speaker 5: hand at prose if you can't manage to please the
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Speaker 5: publishers with poetry. But at any rate, don't go on
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Speaker 5: fretting over spilt milk. But I mustn't lose my time here.
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Speaker 5: Come over to us tomorrow, as I said, And what
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Speaker 5: with the wisdom of two doctors and the wit and
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Speaker 5: folly of three women, I think we shall cheer you
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Speaker 5: up a bit.
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Speaker 1: So, saying mister Gibson remounted and rode away at the
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Speaker 1: long slinging trot, so well known to the country people
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Speaker 1: as the doctor's pace.
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Speaker 5: I don't like his looks, thought.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson to himself at night, as over his day books,
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Speaker 1: he reviewed the events of the day, and then his pulse.
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Speaker 5: But how often we're all mistaken, and ten to one,
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Speaker 5: my own hidden enemy lies closer to me than his
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Speaker 5: does to him. Even taking the worse view of the case.
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Speaker 1: Osborne made his appearance a considerable time before luncheon the
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Speaker 1: next morning, and no one objected to the earliness of
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Speaker 1: his call. He was feeling better. There were few signs
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Speaker 1: of the invalid about him, and what few there were
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Speaker 1: disappeared under the bright, pleasant influence of such a welcome
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Speaker 1: as he received from all. Molly and Cynthia had much
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Speaker 1: to tell him of the small proceedings since he went away,
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Speaker 1: or to relate the conclusions of half accomplished projects. Cynthia
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Speaker 1: was often on the point of some gay, careless inquiry
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Speaker 1: as to where he had been and what he had
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Speaker 1: been doing. But Molly, who conjectured the truth as often
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Speaker 1: interfered to spare him the pain of equivocation, a pain
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Speaker 1: that her tender conscience would have felt for him, much
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Speaker 1: more than he would have felt it for himself. Missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson's talk was desultry, complimentary, and sentimental after her usual fashion,
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Speaker 1: but still on the whole, though Osborne smiled to himself
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Speaker 1: at much that she said, it was soothing and agreeable.
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Speaker 1: Presently doctor Nicholls and mister Gibson came in. The former
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Speaker 1: had had some conference with the latter on the subject
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Speaker 1: of Osborne's health, and from time to time the skillful
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Speaker 1: old physician's sharp and observant eyes gave a comprehensive look
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Speaker 1: at Osborne. Then there was lunch, when every one was
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Speaker 1: merry and hungry, excepting the hostess, who was trying to
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Speaker 1: train her midday appetite into the genteelest of all ways,
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Speaker 1: and thought falsely enough that doctor Nicholls was a good
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Speaker 1: person to practice the semblance of ill health upon, and
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Speaker 1: that he would give her the proper civil amount of
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Speaker 1: commiseration for her ailments, which every guest ought to bestow
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Speaker 1: upon a hostess who complains of her delicacy of health.
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Speaker 1: The old doctor was too cunning a man to fall
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Speaker 1: into this trap. He would keep recommending her to try
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Speaker 1: the coarsest vianns on the table, and at last he
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Speaker 1: told her, if she could not fancy the cold beef,
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Speaker 1: to try a little with pickled onions. There was a
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Speaker 1: twinkle in his eye as he said this that would
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Speaker 1: have betrayed his humor to any observer. But mister Gibson,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and Molly were all attacking Osborne on the subject
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Speaker 1: of some literary preference he had expressed, and doctor Nicholls
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Speaker 1: had Missus Gibson quite at his mercy. She was not
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Speaker 1: sorry when luncheon was over to leave the room to
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Speaker 1: the three gentlemen, and ever afterwards she spoke of doctor
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Speaker 1: Nicholls as that bear. Presently, Osborne came up stairs, and,
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Speaker 1: after his old fashion, began to take up new books
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Speaker 1: and to question the girls as to their music. Missus
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Speaker 1: Gibson had to go out and pay some calls, so
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Speaker 1: she left the three together, and after a while they
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Speaker 1: adjourned into the garden, Osborne lounging on a chair, while
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Speaker 1: Molly employed herself busily in tying up carnations, and Cynthia
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Speaker 1: gathered flowers in her careless, graceful way.
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Speaker 6: I hope you notice the difference in our occupations, mister Hamley.
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Speaker 6: Molly you see devotes herself to the useful, and I
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Speaker 6: to the ornamental. Please under what head do you class
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Speaker 6: what you are doing? I think you might help one
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Speaker 6: of us instead of looking on like the grand signor.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what I can do, said he rather plaintively.
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Speaker 2: I should like to be useful, but I don't know how,
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Speaker 2: and my day has passed for purely ornamental work. You
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Speaker 2: must let me be, I'm afraid. Besides, I'm really rather
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Speaker 2: exhausted by being questioned and pulled about by all those
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Speaker 2: good doctors.
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Speaker 4: Why you don't mean to say they have been attacking
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Speaker 4: you since lunch, exclaimed Molly.
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Speaker 2: Yes, indeed they have, and they might have gone on
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Speaker 2: till now if missus Gibson had not come in opportunely.
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Speaker 6: I thought Mamma had gone out some time.
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Speaker 1: Ago, said Cynthia, catching wafts of the conversation as she
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Speaker 1: flitted hither and thither among the flowers.
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Speaker 2: She came into the dining room not five minutes ago?
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Speaker 2: Do you want to for I see it crossing in
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Speaker 2: the hall at this very moment.
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Speaker 1: And Osborne half rose. Oh not all, said Cynthia.
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Speaker 6: Only she seemed to be in such a hurry to
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Speaker 6: go out, I fancied. She had set off long ago.
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Speaker 6: She had some errand to do for Lady Cumnor, and
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Speaker 6: she thought she could manage to catch the housekeeper who
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Speaker 6: was always in the town on Thursdays.
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Speaker 2: Are the family coming to the towers this autumn?
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Speaker 6: I believe so, But I don't know, and I don't
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Speaker 6: much care. They don't take kindly to.
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Speaker 1: Me, continued Cynthia.
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Speaker 6: And so I suppose I'm not generous enough to take
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Speaker 6: kindly to them.
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Speaker 2: I should have thought that such a very unusual blot
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Speaker 2: in their discrimination would have interested you in them as
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Speaker 2: extraordinary people.
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Speaker 1: Said Osborne, with a little air of conscious gallant.
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Speaker 6: Isn't that a compliment?
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Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, after a pause of mock meditation.
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Speaker 6: If anyone pays me a compliment, please let it be
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Speaker 6: short and clear. I'm very stupid at finding out hidden meanings.
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Speaker 2: Then such speeches as you are very pretty, or you
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Speaker 2: have charming manners are what you prefer. Now I pique
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Speaker 2: myself on wrapping up my sugar plums delicately.
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Speaker 6: Then would you please to write them down? And at
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Speaker 6: my leisure I'll pass them.
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Speaker 2: No, it would be too much trouble. I'll meet you
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Speaker 2: half way in study clearness next time?
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Speaker 1: What are you two talking about, said Molly, resting on
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Speaker 1: her light spade.
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Speaker 6: It's only a discussion on the best way of administering compliments.
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Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, taking up her flower basket again, but not
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Speaker 1: going out of the reach of the conversation. I don't
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Speaker 1: like them at all in any way, said Molly. But
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Speaker 1: perhaps it's rather sour grapes with me, she added, nonsense,
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Speaker 1: said Osborne.
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Speaker 2: Shall I tell you what I heard of you with
18:58
Speaker 2: the ball?
18:59
Speaker 6: Or shall I provoke mister Preston, said Cynthia, to begin
19:03
Speaker 6: upon you. It's like turning a tap, Such a stream
19:06
Speaker 6: of pretty speeches flows out at the moment.
19:08
Speaker 1: Her lip curled with scorn. For you, perhaps, said Molly,
19:14
Speaker 1: but not for.
19:14
Speaker 6: Me, for any woman. It's his notion of making himself agreeable.
19:18
Speaker 6: If you dare me, Molly, I'll try the experiment and
19:21
Speaker 6: you'll see with what success.
19:23
Speaker 1: No, don't pray, said Molly in a hurry. I do
19:28
Speaker 1: so dislike him, Why, said Osborne, roused to a little
19:33
Speaker 1: curiosity by her vehemence.
19:35
Speaker 4: Oh, I don't know. He never seems to know what
19:38
Speaker 4: one is feeling.
19:39
Speaker 6: He wouldn't care if he did.
19:40
Speaker 1: Know, said Cynthia, And he might know he is not wanted.
19:45
Speaker 4: If he chooses to stay. He cares little whether he
19:47
Speaker 4: is wanted or not.
19:49
Speaker 2: Come.
19:49
Speaker 1: This is very interesting, said Osborne.
19:53
Speaker 2: It's like the strophie and the anti strophe in Greek
19:55
Speaker 2: chorus Pray go on.
19:57
Speaker 4: Don't you know him?
19:59
Speaker 2: Asked Molly, Yes, by sight, and I think we were
20:02
Speaker 2: once introduced. But you know we are much further from
20:05
Speaker 2: Marshcombe at Hamley than you are here at Hollingford.
20:08
Speaker 4: Oh but he's coming to take mister Sheepshanks place, and
20:11
Speaker 4: then he'll live here altogether.
20:13
Speaker 1: Said Molly. Molly, who told you that, said Cynthia, in
20:18
Speaker 1: quite a different tone of voice from that in which
20:20
Speaker 1: she had been speaking hitherto Papa.
20:23
Speaker 4: Didn't you hear him? Oh no, it was before you
20:26
Speaker 4: were down this morning. Papa met mister Sheepshanks yesterday and
20:31
Speaker 4: he told him it was all settled. You know, we
20:33
Speaker 4: had a rumor about it in the spring.
20:36
Speaker 1: Cynthia was very silent after this. Presently she said that
20:40
Speaker 1: she had gathered all the flowers she wanted, and that
20:42
Speaker 1: the heat was so great she would go indoors. And
20:45
Speaker 1: then Osborne went away, But Molly had set herself a
20:48
Speaker 1: task to dig up such roots as had already flowered,
20:52
Speaker 1: and to put down some bedding out plants in their stead.
20:56
Speaker 1: Tired and heated as she was, she finished it and
20:58
Speaker 1: then went upstairs to and changed her dress according to
21:03
Speaker 1: her wont she sought for Cynthia. There was no reply
21:06
Speaker 1: to her soft knock at the bedroom door opposite to
21:08
Speaker 1: her own, and, thinking that Cynthia might have fallen asleep
21:12
Speaker 1: and be lying uncovered in the draft of the open window,
21:15
Speaker 1: she went in softly. Cynthia was lying upon the bed
21:20
Speaker 1: as if she had thrown herself down on it, without
21:22
Speaker 1: caring for the ease or comfort of her position. She
21:26
Speaker 1: was very still, and Molly took a shawl and was
21:29
Speaker 1: going to place it over her when she opened her
21:31
Speaker 1: eyes and spoke, is.
21:33
Speaker 5: That you, dear?
21:34
Speaker 6: Don't go? I like to know that you are there.
21:36
Speaker 1: She shut her eyes again and remained quite quiet for
21:39
Speaker 1: a few minutes longer. Then she started up into a
21:43
Speaker 1: sitting posture, pushed her hair away from her forehead and
21:46
Speaker 1: burning eyes, and gazed intently at Molly.
21:49
Speaker 6: Do you know what I've been thinking?
21:50
Speaker 2: Dear?
21:51
Speaker 1: Said she.
21:52
Speaker 6: I think I've been long enough here and I'd better
21:55
Speaker 6: go out as a governess, Cynthia.
21:57
Speaker 1: What do you mean, asked Molly. Aghast you've been asleep,
22:02
Speaker 1: You've been dreaming. You're overtired, continued she, sitting down on
22:07
Speaker 1: the bed and taking Cynthia's passive hand and stroking it softly,
22:11
Speaker 1: a mode of caressing that had come down to her
22:13
Speaker 1: from her mother, Whether as an hereditary instinct or as
22:17
Speaker 1: a lingering remembrance of the tender ways of the dead woman,
22:20
Speaker 1: Mister Gibson had often wondered within himself when he observed it.
22:24
Speaker 6: Oh, how good you are, Molly. I wonder if I
22:26
Speaker 6: had been brought up like you, whether I should have
22:28
Speaker 6: been as good. But I've been tossed about, So.
22:31
Speaker 4: Then don't go and be tossed about any more, said
22:35
Speaker 4: Molly softly.
22:37
Speaker 6: Oh, dear, I had better go. But you see, no
22:40
Speaker 6: one ever loved me like you, and I think your
22:42
Speaker 6: father doesn't he Molly, And it's hard to be driven.
22:45
Speaker 4: Out, Cynthia. I'm sure you're not well, or else you're
22:49
Speaker 4: not half awake.
22:50
Speaker 1: Cynthia sat with her arms encircling her knees and looking
22:54
Speaker 1: at vacancy well, said she, at last, heaving a great sigh.
22:59
Speaker 1: But smiling as she caught Molly's anxious face.
23:03
Speaker 6: I suppose there's no escaping one's doom, and anywhere else
23:06
Speaker 6: I should be much more forlorn and unprotected.
23:08
Speaker 4: What do you mean by her doom?
23:10
Speaker 6: Ah, that's telling, little one.
23:13
Speaker 1: Said Cynthia, who seemed now to have recovered her usual manner.
23:17
Speaker 6: I don't mean to have one, though. I think that
23:19
Speaker 6: though I am an errant coward at heart, I can
23:22
Speaker 6: show bite with.
23:23
Speaker 1: Whom, asked Molly, really anxious to probe the mystery if
23:28
Speaker 1: indeed there was one to the bottom, in the hope
23:30
Speaker 1: of some remedy being found for the distress Cynthia was in.
23:33
Speaker 1: When first Molly entered again, Cynthia was lost in thought. Then,
23:38
Speaker 1: catching the echo of Molly's last words in her mind,
23:42
Speaker 1: she said.
23:43
Speaker 6: With whom, Oh, show a bite with whom? Why am
23:46
Speaker 6: I doomed? To be sure? Am I not a grand
23:48
Speaker 6: young lady to have a doom? Why, Molly child, how
23:51
Speaker 6: pale and grave.
23:52
Speaker 1: You look, said she, kissing her. All of a sudden, you.
23:56
Speaker 6: Ought not to care so much for me. I'm not
23:58
Speaker 6: good enough for you to worry yourself about me. I've
24:01
Speaker 6: given myself up a long time ago as a heartless
24:03
Speaker 6: baggage nonsense.
24:05
Speaker 4: I wish you wouldn't talk so, Cynthia, and.
24:08
Speaker 6: I wish you wouldn't always take me at the foot
24:10
Speaker 6: of the letter, as an English girl at school used
24:12
Speaker 6: to translate it, Oh how hot it is? Is it
24:16
Speaker 6: never going to get cool again?
24:18
Speaker 2: My child?
24:18
Speaker 6: What dirty hands you've got and face too? And I've
24:21
Speaker 6: been kissing you. I dare say I'm dirty with it too. Now,
24:25
Speaker 6: isn't that like one of Mamma's speeches. But for all that,
24:28
Speaker 6: you looked more like a dolming at em than a
24:30
Speaker 6: spinning eve.
24:32
Speaker 1: This had the effect that Cynthia intended the daintily clean.
24:36
Speaker 1: Molly became conscious of her soiled condition, which she had
24:39
Speaker 1: forgotten while she had been attending to Cynthia, and she
24:42
Speaker 1: hastily withdrew to her own room. When she had gone,
24:46
Speaker 1: Cynthia noiselessly locked the door, and taking her purse out
24:50
Speaker 1: of her desk, she began to count over her money.
24:53
Speaker 1: She counted it once, she counted it twice, as if
24:56
Speaker 1: desirous of finding out some mistake which should prove it
24:59
Speaker 1: to be more it was. But the end of it
25:02
Speaker 1: all was a sigh.
25:03
Speaker 6: What a fool, a fool, I.
25:06
Speaker 1: Was said she at length.
25:08
Speaker 6: But even if I don't go out as a governess,
25:10
Speaker 6: I shall make it up in time.
25:12
Speaker 1: Some weeks after the time he had anticipated. When he
25:15
Speaker 1: had spoken of his departure to the Gibsons, Roger returned
25:18
Speaker 1: back to the hall one morning. When he called, Osborne
25:23
Speaker 1: told them that his brother had been at home for
25:25
Speaker 1: two or three days.
25:26
Speaker 7: And why has he not come here?
25:28
Speaker 1: Then, said Missus Gibson.
25:30
Speaker 7: It is not kind of him not to come and
25:32
Speaker 7: see us as soon as he can tell him. I
25:35
Speaker 7: say so, pray do.
25:37
Speaker 1: Osborne had gained one or two ideas as to her
25:40
Speaker 1: treatment of Roger. The last time he had called. Roger
25:44
Speaker 1: had not complained of it, or even mentioned it till
25:47
Speaker 1: that very morning, when Osborne was on the point of
25:50
Speaker 1: starting and had urged Roger to accompany him. The latter
25:53
Speaker 1: had told him something of what Missus Gibson had said.
25:57
Speaker 1: He spoke rather as if he were more amused than
25:59
Speaker 1: an but Osborne could read that he was chagrined at
26:02
Speaker 1: those restrictions placed upon calls, which were the greatest pleasure
26:06
Speaker 1: of his life. Neither of them let out the suspicion
26:09
Speaker 1: which had entered both their minds. The well grounded suspicion
26:13
Speaker 1: arising from the fact that Osborne's visits, be they paid
26:16
Speaker 1: early or late, had never yet been met with a repulse.
26:20
Speaker 1: Osborne now reproached himself with having done missus Gibson injustice.
26:24
Speaker 1: She was evidently a weak but probably a disinterested woman,
26:29
Speaker 1: and it was only a little bit of ill temper
26:31
Speaker 1: on her part which had caused her to speak to
26:33
Speaker 1: Roger as she had done.
26:35
Speaker 3: I dare say it was rather impertinent of me to
26:38
Speaker 3: call at such an untimely hour, said Roger.
26:42
Speaker 2: Not at all. I call at all hours, and nothing
26:45
Speaker 2: is ever said about it. It was just because she
26:47
Speaker 2: was put out that morning. I'll answer for it. She
26:50
Speaker 2: is sorry now, and I'm sure you may go there
26:52
Speaker 2: at any time you like in the future.
26:54
Speaker 1: Still, Roger did not choose to go again for two
26:57
Speaker 1: or three weeks, and the consequence was that the next
27:00
Speaker 1: next time he called, the ladies were out. Once again.
27:03
Speaker 1: He had the same ill luck, And then he received
27:06
Speaker 1: a pretty little three cornered note from missus Gibson.
27:10
Speaker 7: My dear sir, how is it that you will become
27:13
Speaker 7: so formal all on a sudden leaving cards instead of
27:16
Speaker 7: awaiting our return. Fie for shame. If you had seen
27:20
Speaker 7: the faces of disappointment that I did when the horrid
27:22
Speaker 7: little bits of pasteboard were displayed to our view, you
27:25
Speaker 7: would not have borne malice against me so long, for
27:28
Speaker 7: it is really punishing others as well as my naughty self.
27:32
Speaker 7: If you will come to morrow as early as you
27:34
Speaker 7: like and lunch with us, I'll own I was cross
27:37
Speaker 7: and acknowledge myself a penitent yours, ever, Hyacinth C. K.
27:42
Speaker 1: Gibson, there was no resisting this, even if there had
27:46
Speaker 1: not been strong inclination to back up the pretty words.
27:50
Speaker 1: Roger went and missus Gibson caressed and petted him in
27:54
Speaker 1: her sweetest, silkiest manner. Cynthia looked lovelier than ever to him,
27:59
Speaker 1: for the slight restoring that had been laid for a
28:01
Speaker 1: time on their intercourse. She might be gay and sparkling
28:05
Speaker 1: with Osborne. With Roger, she was soft and grave. Instinctively,
28:10
Speaker 1: she knew her men. She saw that Osborne was only
28:14
Speaker 1: interested in her because of her position in a family
28:16
Speaker 1: with whom he was intimate, that his friendship was without
28:19
Speaker 1: the least touch of sentiment, and that his admiration was
28:23
Speaker 1: only the warm criticism of an artist for unusual beauty.
28:27
Speaker 1: But she felt how different Roger's relation to her was.
28:30
Speaker 1: To him, she was the one alone, peerless. If his
28:35
Speaker 1: love was prohibited, it would be long years before he
28:38
Speaker 1: could sink down into tempid friendship, and to him, her
28:41
Speaker 1: personal loveliness was only one of the many charms that
28:45
Speaker 1: made him tremble into passion. Cynthia was not capable of
28:49
Speaker 1: returning such feelings. She had had too little true love
28:52
Speaker 1: in her life, and perhaps too much admiration to do so.
28:57
Speaker 1: But she appreciated this honest ardor this loyal worship that
29:01
Speaker 1: was new to her experience. Such appreciation and such respect
29:06
Speaker 1: for his true and affectionate nature gave a serious tenderness
29:09
Speaker 1: to her manner to Roger, which allured him with a
29:12
Speaker 1: fresh and separate grace. Molly sat by and wondered how
29:17
Speaker 1: it would all end, or rather how soon it would
29:20
Speaker 1: all end, For she thought that no girl could resist
29:22
Speaker 1: such reverent passion, and on Roger's side there could be
29:26
Speaker 1: no doubt, alas there could be no doubt an older
29:30
Speaker 1: spectator might have looked far ahead and thought of the
29:32
Speaker 1: question of pounds shillings and pence. Where was the necessary
29:37
Speaker 1: income for a marriage to come from? Roger had his fellowship, now,
29:41
Speaker 1: it is true, but the income of that would be
29:43
Speaker 1: lost if he married. He had no profession, and the
29:46
Speaker 1: life interest of the two or three thousand pounds that
29:49
Speaker 1: he inherited from his mother belonged to his father. This
29:53
Speaker 1: older spectator might have been a little surprised at the
29:56
Speaker 1: mpressement of missus Gibson's manner to a younger son, always
30:00
Speaker 1: supposing this said spectator to have read to the debts
30:03
Speaker 1: of her worldly heart. Never had she tried to be
30:07
Speaker 1: more agreeable to Osborne. And though her attempt was a
30:10
Speaker 1: great failure when practiced upon Roger, and he did not
30:13
Speaker 1: know what to say in reply to the delicate flatteries,
30:16
Speaker 1: which he felt to be insincere, he saw that she
30:18
Speaker 1: intended him to consider himself henceforward free of the house,
30:23
Speaker 1: And he was too glad to avail himself of this
30:25
Speaker 1: privilege to examine over closely into what might be her
30:28
Speaker 1: motives for her change of manner. He shut his eyes
30:32
Speaker 1: and chose to believe that she was now desirous of
30:34
Speaker 1: making up for her little burst of temper on his
30:37
Speaker 1: previous visit. The result of Osborne's conference with the two
30:42
Speaker 1: doctors had been certain prescriptions which appeared to have done
30:45
Speaker 1: him much good, and which would, in all probability have
30:48
Speaker 1: done him yet more. Could he have been free of
30:50
Speaker 1: the recollection of the little patient wife in her solitude
30:54
Speaker 1: near Winchester. He went to her whenever he could, and
30:57
Speaker 1: thanks to Roger, money was far more plas plentiful with
31:00
Speaker 1: him now than it had been. But he still shrank,
31:04
Speaker 1: and perhaps even more and more from telling his father
31:07
Speaker 1: of his marriage. Some bodily instinct made him dread all
31:12
Speaker 1: agitation inexpressibly. If he had not had this money from Roger,
31:17
Speaker 1: he might have been compelled to tell his father all
31:20
Speaker 1: and to ask for the necessary funds to provide for
31:22
Speaker 1: the wife and the coming child. But with enough in
31:26
Speaker 1: hand and a secret, though remorseful conviction that as long
31:30
Speaker 1: as Roger had a penny, his brother was sure to
31:32
Speaker 1: have half of it, made him more reluctant than ever
31:35
Speaker 1: to irritate his father by a revelation of his secret.
31:39
Speaker 2: Not just yet, not just at present, he.
31:42
Speaker 1: Kept saying, both to Roger and to himself.
31:45
Speaker 2: By and by, if we have a boy, I will
31:48
Speaker 2: call it Roger.
31:50
Speaker 1: And then visions of poetical and romantic reconciliations brought about
31:54
Speaker 1: between father and son through the medium of a child,
31:57
Speaker 1: the offspring of a forbidden marriage, became still more vividly
32:01
Speaker 1: possible to him, and at any rate, it was a
32:04
Speaker 1: staving off of an unpleasant thing. He had toned to
32:08
Speaker 1: himself for taking so much of Roger's fellowship money by
32:11
Speaker 1: reflecting that if Roger married, he would lose this source
32:14
Speaker 1: of revenue. Yet Osborne was throwing no impediment in the
32:17
Speaker 1: way of this event, rather forwarding it by promoting every
32:21
Speaker 1: possible means of his brother's seeing the lady of his love.
32:24
Speaker 1: Osborne ended his reflections by convincing himself of his own generosity.
32:31
Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty nine.