Latest / North and South / 044 - Ease Not Peace

Transcript

044 - Ease Not Peace · North and South

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of North and South. This is a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Recording by Leanne Howlett. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four. Ease not peace, a dull rotation, never
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: at a stay Yesterday's face twin image of today cowper
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of what each one should be. He sees the form
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and rule until he reached to that his joy can
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: never be full Ruckert. It was very well for Margaret
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that the extreme quiet of the Harley Street house during
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Edith's recovery from herkin finement, gave her the natural rest
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: which she needed. It gave her time to comprehend the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: sudden change which had taken place in her circumstances within
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the last two months. She found herself at once an
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: inmate of a luxurious house where the bare knowledge of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the existence of every trouble or care seemed scarcely to
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: have penetrated. The wheels of the machinery of daily life
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: were well oiled and went along with delicious smoothness. Missus
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Shaw and Edith could hardly make enough of Margaret on
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: her return to what they persisted in calling her home,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and she felt that it was almost ungrateful in her
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to have a secret feeling that the Helstone Vicarage, nay,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: even the poor little house at Milton, with her anxious
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: father and her invalid mother, and all the small household
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: cares of comparative poverty, composed her idea of home. Edith
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: was impatient to get well in order to fill Margaret's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: bedroom with all the soft comforts and pretty nicknack with
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: which her own abounded. Missus Shaw and her maid found
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: plenty of occupation in restoring Margaret's wardrobe to a state
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of elegant variety. Captain Lennox was easy, kind and gentlemanly,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: sat with his wife in her dressing room an hour
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: or two every day, played with his little boy for
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: another hour, and lounged away the rest of his time
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: at his club when he was not engaged out to dinner.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Just before Margaret had recovered from her necessity for quiet
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and repose, before she had begun to feel her life
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: wanting and dull, Edith came downstairs and resumed her usual
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: part in the household, and Margaret fell into the old
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: habit of watching and admiring and ministering to her cousin.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: She gladly took all charge of the semblances of duties
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: off Edith's hands. Answered notes, reminded her of engagements tended
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: her when no gaiety was in prospect, and she was
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: consequently rather inclined to fancy herself ill. But all the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: rest of the family were in the full business of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the London season, and Margaret was often left alone. Then
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: her thoughts went back to Milton with a strange sense
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: of the contrast between the life there and here. She
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was getting surfeited of the eventless ease in which no
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: struggle or endeavor was required. She was afraid lest she
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: should even become sleepily deadened into forgetfulness of anything beyond
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the life which was lapping her round with luxury. There
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: might be toilers and moilers there in London, but she
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: never saw them. The very servants lived in an underground
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: world of their own, of which she knew neither the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: hopes nor the fears. They only seemed to start into
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: existence when some want or whim of their master and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: mistress needed them. There was a strange, unsatisfied vacuum in
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Margaret's heart and mode of life. And once, when she
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: had dimly hinted this to Edith, the latter, wearied with
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: dancing the night before, languidly stroked Margaret's cheek as she
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: sat by her in the old act attitude. She on
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a footstool by the sofa where Edith lay poor child,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: said Edith, it is a little sad for you to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: be left night after night, just at this time when
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: all the world is so gay. But we shall be
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: having our dinner parties soon as soon as Henry comes
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: back from circuit, and then there will be a little
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: pleasant variety for you. No wonder it is moped, poor darling.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Margaret did not feel as if the dinner parties would
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: be a panacea, but Edith piqued herself on her dinner
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: parties so different, as she said, from the old dowager
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: dinners under Mamma's regime, and Missus Shaw herself seemed to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: take exactly the same kind of pleasure in the very
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: different arrangements in circle of acquaintances which were to Captain
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: and Missus Lennox's taste, as she did in the more
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: formal and ponderous entertainments, which she herself used to give.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Captain Lennox was always extremely kind and brotherly to Margaret.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: She was really very fond of him, excepting when he
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: was anxiously attentive to Edith's dress and appearance, with a
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: view to her beauty making a sufficient impression on the world.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Then all the latent Vashtian Margaret was roused, and she
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: could hardly keep herself from expressing her feelings. The course
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: of Margaret's day was this a quiet hour or two
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: before late breakfast, an unpunctual meal, lazily eaten by weary
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and half awake people, but yet at which in all
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: its dragged out length, she was expected to be present,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: because directly afterwards came a discussion of plans, at which,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: although they none of them concerned her, she was expected
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: to give her sympathy if she could not assist with
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: her advice, an endless number of notes to write, which
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Edith invariably left to her, with many caressing compliments as
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to her eloquence. Do bilit a little play with Shalto
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: as he returned from his morning's walk. Besides the care
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of the children during the servant's dinner, a driver callers,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and some dinner or morning engagement for her aunt and cousins,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: which left Margaret free, it is true, but rather wearied
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: with the inactivity of the day coming upon depressed spirits
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and delicate help. She looked forward with longing, though on
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: spoken interest, to the homely object of Dixon's return from Milton,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: where until now the old servant had been busily engaged
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: in winding up all the affairs of the Hale family.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: It had appeared a sudden famine to her heart, this
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: entire cessation of any news respecting the people amongst whom
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: she had lived so long. It was true that Dixon,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: in her business letters, quoted every now and then an
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: opinion of mister Thornton's as to what she had better
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: do about the furniture, or how act in regard to
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the landlord of the Crampton Terrace house. But it was
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: only here and there that the name came in, or
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: any Milton name. Indeed, and Margaret was sitting one evening,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: all alone in the Lennox's drawing room, not reading Dixon's letters,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: which yet she held in her hand, but thinking over
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: them and recalling the days which had been, and picturing
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the busy life out of which her own had been taken,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and never missed, wondering if all went on in that world,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: just as if she and her father had never been
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: questioning within herself, if no one in all the crowd
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: missed her, Not Higgins, She was not thinking of him.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: When suddenly mister Bell was announced, and Margaret hurried the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: letters into her work basket and started up blushing, as
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: if she had been doing some guilty thing. Oh, mister Bell,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I never thought of seeing you, but you give me
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a welcome, I hope, as well as that very pretty
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: start of surprise. Have you dined? How did you come?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Let me order you some dinner if you're going to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: have any otherwise you know there is no one who
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: cares less for eating than I do. But where are
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the others gone out to dinner? Left you alone? Oh? Yes,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and it is such a rest I was just thinking,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: But will you run the risk of dinner? I don't
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: know if there is anything in the house. Why to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: tell you the truth? I dined at my club, only
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: they don't cook as well as they did, so I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: thought if you were going to dine, I might try
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and make out my dinner. But never mind, never mind,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: There aren't ten cooks in England to be trusted at
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: impromptu dinners. If their skill and their fires will stand it,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: their tempers won't. You shall make me some tea, Margaret?
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: And now what were you thinking of? You were going
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to tell me whose letters were those? Got daughter that
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: you hid away so speedily? Only Dixon's, replied Margaret, growing
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: very red. Whew is that all? Who do you think
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: came up in the train with me? I don't know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: said Margaret, resolved against making a guess. You're what do
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: you call em? What's the right name for a cousin
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: in law's brother, mister Henry Lennox, asked Margaret. Yes, replied
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: mister Bell. You knew him formerly, didn't you. What sort
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: of a person is he? Margaret? I liked him long ago,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: said Margaret, glancing down for a moment, and then she
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: looked straight up and went on in her natural manner.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: You know we have been corresponding about Frederick since, but
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I have not seen him for nearly three years, and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: he may be changed. What did you think of him?
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know. He was so busy trying to find
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: out who I was in the first instance, and what
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I was in the second that he never let out
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: what he was unless indeed, that veiled curiosity of his
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: as to what manner of man he had to talk
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: to was not a good piece and a fair indication
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: of his character. Do you call him good looking, Margaret? No,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: certainly not, do you not? I? But I thought perhaps
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: you might? Is he a great deal here? I fancy
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: he is when he is in town. He has been
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: on circuit now since I came. But mister Bell, have
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: you come from Oxford or from Milton? From Milton? Don't
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you see? I'm smoke dried, certainly, but I thought that
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: it might be the effect of the antiquities of Oxford.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Come now, be a sensible woman in Oxford. I could
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: have managed all the landlords in the place and had
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: my own way with half the trouble Your Milton landlord
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: has given me and defeated me. After all, he won't
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: take the house off our hands till next June twelvemonth.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Luckily mister Thornton found a tenant for it. Why don't
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: you ask after mister Thornton, Margaret. He has proved himself
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a very active friend of yours. I can tell you
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: taken more than half the trouble off my hands. And
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: how is he? How is missus Thornton, asked Margaret hurriedly
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and below her breath, though she tried to speak out.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I suppose they're well. I've been staying at their house
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: till I was driven out of it by the perpetual
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: clack about that Thornton girl's marriage. It was too much
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: for Thornton himself, though she was his sister. He used
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to go and sit in his own room perpetually. He's
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: getting past the age for caring for such things, either
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: as principal or accessory. I was surprised to find the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: old lady falling into the current and carried away by
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: her daughter's enthusiasm for orange blossoms and lace. I thought
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Missus Thornton had been made of sterner stuff. She would
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: put on any assumption of feeling to veil her daughter's weakness,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: said Margaret in a low voice. Perhaps so you've studied her,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: have you? She doesn't seem over fond of you, Margaret,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I know it, said Margaret. Oh here is tea at last,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: exclaimed she as if relieved, And with tea came mister
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Henry Lennox, who had walked up to Harley Street after
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: a late dinner and had evidently expected to find his
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: brother and sister in law at home. Margaret suspected him
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of being as thankful as she was at the presence
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of a third party on this their first meeting since
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the memorable day of his offer and her refusal at Helstone.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: She could hardly tell what to say at first, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: was thankful for all the tea table occupations which gave
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: her an excuse for keeping silence, and him an opportunity
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: of recovering himself for to tell the truth. He had
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: rather forced himself up to Harley Street this evening with
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a view of getting over an awkward meeting, awkward even
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: in the presence of Captain Lennox and Edith, and doubly
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: awkward now that he found her the only lady there
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and the person to whom he most naturally in perforce
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: address a great part of his conversation. She was the
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: first to recover her self possession. She began to talk
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: on the subject which came uppermost in her mind after
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the first flush of awkward shyness. Mister Lennox, I have
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: been so much obliged to you for all you have
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: done about Frederick. I am only sorry it has been
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: so unsuccessful, replied he, with a quick glance towards mister Bell,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: as if reconnoitering how much he might say before him. Margaret,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: as if she read his thought, addressed herself to mister Bell,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: both including him in the conversation and implying that he
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: was perfectly aware of the endeavors that had been made
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to clear Frederick. That Horricks, that very last witness of all,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: has proved as unavailing as all the others. Mister Lennox
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: has discovered that he sailed for Australia only last August,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: only two months before Frederick was in England, and gave
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: us the names of Frederick in England. You never told me, that,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: exclaimed mister Bell, in surprise. I thought you knew. I
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: never doubted you had been told. Of course, it was
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: a great secret, and perhaps I should not have named
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it now, said Margaret, a little dismayed. I have never
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: named it to either my brother or your cousin, said
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: mister Lennox, with a little professional dryness of implied reproach.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Never mind, Margaret, I am not living in a talking,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: babbling world, nor yet among people who are trying to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: worm facts out of me, you needn't look so frightened
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: because you have let the cat out of the bag
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to a faithful old hermit like me. I shall never
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: name his having been in England. I shall be out
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: of temptation, for no one will ask me. Stay, interrupting
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: himself rather abruptly. Was it at your mother's funeral? He
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: was with Mamma when she died, said Margaret softly, to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: be sure, to be sure why some one asked me
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: if he had not been over there then? And I
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: denied it stoutly, not many weeks ago. Who could it
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: have been? Oh, I recollect. But he did not say
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the name. And although Margaret would have given much to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: know if her suspicions were right, and it had been
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: mister Thornton who had made the inquiry, she could not
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: ask the question of mister Bell, much as she longed
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: to do. So. There was a pause for a moment
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: or two. Then mister Lennox said, addressing himself to Margaret,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I suppose, as mister Bell is now acquainted with all
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: the circumstances attending your brother's unfortunate dilemma, I cannot do
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: better than inform him exactly how the research into the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: evidence we once hoped to produce in his favors stands
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: at present. So if he will do me the honor
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to breakfast with me tomorrow, we will go over the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: names of these missing gentry. I should like to hear
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: all the particulars. If I may cannot you come here,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I dare not ask you both to breakfast, though I
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: am sure you would be welcome, but let me know
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: all I can about Frederick, even though there may be
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: no hope at present. I have an engagement at half
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: past eleven, but I will certainly come if you wish it,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: replied mister Lennox, with a little afterthought of extreme willingness,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: which made Margaret shrink into herself and almost wish that
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: she had not proposed her natural request. Mister Bell got
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: up and looked around him for his hat, which had
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: been removed to make room for tea well said he.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know what mister Lennox is inclined to do,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: but I'm disposed to be moving off homewards. I've been
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a journey to day, and journeys begin to tell. Upon
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: my sixty and odd years, I believe I shall stay
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and see my brother and sister, said mister Lennox, making
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: no movement of departure. Margaret was seized with a shy,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: awkward dread of being left alone with him. The scene
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: on the little terrace in the Helstone Garden was so
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: present to her that she could hardly help believing it
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: was so with him. Don't go yet, please, mister Bell,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: said she hastily. I want you to see Edith, and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I want Edith to know you, please, said she, laying
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: a light but determined hand on his arm. He looked
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: at her and saw the confusion stirring in her countenance.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: He sat down again, as if her little touch had
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: been possessed of resistless strength. You see how she overpowers me,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: mister Lennox said he, and I hope you notice the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: happy choice of her expressions. She wants me to see
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: this cousin Edith, who I am told is a great beauty.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: But she has the honesty to change her word when
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: she comes to me, missus Lennox is to know me.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I suppose I am not much to see, eh, Margaret,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: he joked, to give her time to RecA from the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: slight flutter which he had detected in her manner on
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: his proposal to leave, and she caught the tone and
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: threw the ball back. Mister Lennox wondered how his brother,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the Captain, could have reported her as having lost all
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: her good looks. To be sure, in her quiet black dress,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: she was a contrast to Edith dancing in her white crape,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: mourning and long floating golden hair, all softness and glitter.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: She dimpled and blushed most becomingly when introduced to mister Bell,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: conscious that she had her reputation as a beauty to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: keep up, and that it would not do to have
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: a mordecai, refusing to worship an admire even in the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: shape of an old fellow of a college which nobody
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: had ever heard of. Missus Shaw and Captain Lennox, each,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: in their separate way, gave mister Bell a kind and
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: sincere welcome, winning him over to like them, almost in
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: spite of himself, especially when he saw how naturally Margaret
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: took her place as sister and daughter of the house.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: What a shame that we were not at home to
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: receive you, said Edith, You too, Henry, though I don't
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: know that we should have stayed at home for you
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and for mister Bell, for Margaret's mister Bell. There is
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: no knowing what sacrifices you would not have made, said
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: her brother in law, even a dinner party, and the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: delight of wearing this very becoming dress. Edith did not
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: know whether to frown or to smile. But it did
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: not suit mister Lennox to drive her to the first
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: of these alternatives, so he went on, will you show
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: your readiness to make sacrifices tomorrow morning, first by asking
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: me to breakfast to meet mister Bell, and secondly by
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: being so kind as to order it at half past
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: nine instead of ten o'clock. I have some letters and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: papers that I want to show to miss Hale and
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: mister Bell. I hope mister Bell will make our house
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: his own during his stay in London, said Captain Lennox.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I am only so sorry we cannot offer him a bedroom.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I am much obliged to you. You would
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: only think me a churl if you had, for I
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: should decline it. I believe, in spite of all the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: temptations of such a greeable company, said mister Bell, bowing
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: all round and secretly congratulating himself on the neat turn
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: he had given to his sentence, which, if put into
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: plain language, would have been more to this effect. I
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: couldn't stand the restraints of such a proper behaved and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: civil spoken set of people as these are. It would
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: be like meat without salt. I am thankful they haven't
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: a bed, and how well I rounded my sentence. I
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: am absolutely catching the trick of good manners. His self.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Satisfaction lasted him till he was fairly out in the streets,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: walking side by side with Henry Lennox. Here he suddenly
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: remembered Margaret's little look of entreaty as she urged him
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: to stay longer, And he also recollected a few hints
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: given him long ago by an acquaintance of mister Lennox's,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: as to his admiration of Margaret. It gave a new
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: direction to his thoughts. You've known miss Hale for a
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: long time, I believe. How do you think her looking?
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: She strikes me as pale and ill. I thought her
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: looking remarkably well, Perhaps not when I first came in,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: now I think of it, but certainly when she grew
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: animated she looked as well as ever I saw her do.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: She has had a great deal to go through, said
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: mister Bell. Yes, I have been sorry to hear of
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: all she has had to bear, not merely the common
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and universal sorrow rising from death, but all the annoyance
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: which her father's conduct must have caused her. And then
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: her father's conduct, said mister Bell, in an accent of surprise,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: you must have heard some wrong statement. He behaved in
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the most conscientious manner. He showed more resolute strength than
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I should ever have given him credit for formerly. Perhaps
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I have been wrongly informed. But I have been told
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: by his successor in the living, a clever, sensible man
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and a thoroughly active clergyman, that there was no call
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: upon mister Hale to do what he did, relinquish the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: living and throw himself and his family on the tender
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: mercies of private teaching in a manufacturing town. The bishop
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: had offered him another living, it is true, But if
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: he had come to entertain certain doubts, he could have
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: remained where he was, and so had no occasion to resign.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: But the truth is, these country clergymen live such isolated lives, isolated,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I mean from all intercourse with men of equal cultivation
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: with themselves by whose minds they might regulate their own
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: and discover when they were going either too fast or
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: too slow, that they are very apt to disturb themselves
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: with imaginary doubts as to the articles of faith, and
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: throw up certain opportunities of doing good for very uncertain
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: fancies of their own. I differ from you. I do
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: not think they are very apt to do as my
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: poor friend Hale did. Mister Bell was inwardly chafing. Perhaps
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I used too general an expression in saying very apt.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: But certainly their lives are such as very often to
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: produce either inordinate self sufficiency or a morbid state of conscience,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: replied mister Lennox, with perfect coolness. You don't meet with
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: any self sufficiency among the lawyers, for instance, asked mister Bell.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: And seldom I imagine any cases of morbid conscience. He
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: was becoming more and more vexed and forgetting his lately
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: caught trick of good manners. Mister Lennox saw now that
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: he had annoyed his companion, and as he had talked
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: pretty much for the sake of saying something and so
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: passing the time while their road lay together, he was
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: very indifferent as to the exact side he took upon
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the question, and quietly came round by saying, to be sure,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: there is something fine in a man of mister Hale's
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: age leaving his home of twenty years, in giving up
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: all settled habits for an idea which was probably erroneous.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: But that does not matter an untangible thought. One cannot
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: help admiring him with a mixture of pity in one's admiration,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: something like what one feels for Don Quixote, such a
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: gentleman as he was too. I shall never forget the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: refined and simple hospitality he showed to me that last
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: day at Helstone, only half qualified, and yet anxious in
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: order to lull certain qualms of his own conscience, to
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: believe that mister Hale's conduct had a tinge of Quixotism
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: in it. Mister Bell growled out, Ay, and you don't know, Milton,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: such a change from Helstone. It is years since I
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: have been at Helston, but I'll answer for it. It
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: is standing there yet, every stick and every stone, as
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: it has done for the last century. While Milton I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: go there every four or five years, and I was
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: born there. Yet I do assure you I often lose
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: my way, I among the very piles of warehouses that
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: are built upon my father's orchard. Do we part here well?
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Good night, sir. I suppose we shall meet in Harley
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Street tomorrow morning. End of chapter forty four. Recording by
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: le Anne Howlett,