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054 - Unlooked-for Arrivals · Wives and Daughters

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Speaker 1: Chapter fifty three of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter fifty three,
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Speaker 1: Unlooked for Arrivals. Robinson opened the door for Mollie almost
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Speaker 1: before the carriage had fairly drawn up at the hall,
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Speaker 1: and told her that the Squire had been very anxious
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Speaker 1: for her return, and had more than once sent him
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Speaker 1: to an upstairs window from which a glimpse of the
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Speaker 1: hill road between Hollingford and Hamley could be caught, to
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Speaker 1: know if the carriage was not yet in sight. Mollie
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Speaker 1: went into the drawing room. The Squire was standing in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the floor, waiting for her, in fact
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Speaker 1: longing to go out and meet her, but restrained by
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Speaker 1: a feeling of solemn etiquette which prevented his moving about
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Speaker 1: as usual in that house of mourning. He held a
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Speaker 1: paper in his hands, which were trembling with excitement and emotion,
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Speaker 1: and four or five open letters were strewed on a
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Speaker 1: t him.
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Speaker 2: It's all true, he began.
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Speaker 3: She's his wife and he's her husband. Was her husband,
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Speaker 3: that's the word for it. Was Poor lad, Poor lad,
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Speaker 3: it's cost him a deal. Pray God, it wasn't my fault.
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Speaker 3: Read this, my dear, it's a certificate. It's all regular
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Speaker 3: Osborne Hamley to Mallorie Amechalie, parish church and all and witnessed.
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Speaker 2: Oh dear.
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Speaker 1: He sat down in the nearest chair and groaned. Molly
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Speaker 1: took a seat by him and read the legal paper,
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Speaker 1: the perusal of which was not needed to convince her
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Speaker 1: of the fact of the marriage. She held in her
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Speaker 1: hand after she had finished reading it, waiting for the
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Speaker 1: squire's next coherent words, For he kept talking to himself
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Speaker 1: in broken sentences.
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Speaker 3: Ah ay aye, that comes a temper and crabidness. She
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Speaker 3: wasn't the only one as could. And I've been worse
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Speaker 3: since she was gone worse, worse, and see what it
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Speaker 3: has come to. He was afraid of me, I afraid,
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Speaker 3: that's the truth of it. Afraid. And it made him
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Speaker 3: keep all to himself, and care killed him. They may
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Speaker 3: call it heart disease. Oh my lad, my lad, I
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Speaker 3: know better now, but it's too late, that's the sting
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Speaker 3: of it. Too late, too late.
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Speaker 1: He covered his face and moved himself backward and forward
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Speaker 1: till Molly could bear it no longer.
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Speaker 4: The Rossom letters said, she may I read any of them.
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Speaker 4: At another time she would not have asked, but she
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Speaker 4: was driven to it now by her impatience of the
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Speaker 4: speechless grief of the old man.
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Speaker 3: I read them, read them, said he, maybe you can.
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Speaker 3: I can only pick out a word here and there.
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Speaker 3: I put him there for you to look at and
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Speaker 3: tell me what is in them.
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Speaker 1: Mollie's knowledge of written French of the present day was
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Speaker 1: not so great as her knowledge of the French of
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Speaker 1: the Memoirs de Silly, and neither the spelling nor the
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Speaker 1: writing of the letters was of the best. But she
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Speaker 1: managed to translate into good enough colloquial English some innocent
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Speaker 1: sentences of love and submission to Osborne's will, as if
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Speaker 1: his judgment was infallible, and of faith in his purposes,
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Speaker 1: little sentences in little language that went home to the
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Speaker 1: squire's heart. Perhaps, if Mollie had read French more easily,
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Speaker 1: she might not have translated them into such touching, homely
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Speaker 1: broken words. Here and there there were expressions in English.
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Speaker 1: These the hungry hearted squire had read while waiting for
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Speaker 1: Molly's return. Every time she stopped, he said, go on.
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Speaker 1: He kept his face shaded and only repeated those two
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Speaker 1: words at every pause, she got up to find some
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Speaker 1: more of Amy's letters. In examining the papers, she came
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Speaker 1: upon one in particular. Have you seen this, sir, the
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Speaker 1: certificate of a baptism reading aloud of Roger Stephen Osporon
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Speaker 1: Hamley born June twenty first, eighteenth thir child of Osboron
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Speaker 1: Hamley and marry Amy his wife. Give it me, said
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Speaker 1: the squire, his voice breaking now and stretching forth his
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Speaker 1: eager hand.
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Speaker 3: Roger, that's me, Stephen. That's my poor old father. He
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Speaker 3: died when he was not so old as I am,
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Speaker 3: but I've always thought on him as very old. He
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Speaker 3: was made and fond of Osborne when he was quite
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Speaker 3: a little one. It's good of the lad to have
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Speaker 3: thought on my father, Stephen, Aye, that was his name.
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Speaker 3: And Osborne, Osborne Hamley, one Osborne Hamley, lies dead on
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Speaker 3: his bed, and tarther, tarther I've never seen and never
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Speaker 3: heard on till to day. He must be called Osborne. Molly.
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Speaker 3: There is a Roger. There's two, for that matter, but
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Speaker 3: one is a good for nothing old man, and there's
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Speaker 3: never an Osborne any more unless this little thing is
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Speaker 3: called Osborne. We'll have him here and get a nurse
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Speaker 3: for him and make his mother comfortable for life in
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Speaker 3: her own country. I'll keep this, Molly, You're a good
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Speaker 3: lass for finding it, Osborne Hamley, And if God will
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Speaker 3: give me grace, he shall never hear a cross word
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Speaker 3: from me. Never he shan't be afeard of me. Oh,
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Speaker 3: my Osborne, my Osborne.
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Speaker 1: He burst out.
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Speaker 3: Do you know now how bitter and sore is my
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Speaker 3: heart for every hard word as I ever spoke to you?
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Speaker 3: Do you know now how I loved you? My boy,
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Speaker 3: my boy?
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Speaker 1: From the general tone of the letters, Molly doubted if
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Speaker 1: the mother would consent so easily as the Squire seemed
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Speaker 1: to expect to be parted from her child. The letters
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Speaker 1: were not very wise, perhaps, though of this Molly never thought,
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Speaker 1: but a heart full of love spoke tender words in
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Speaker 1: every line. Still, it was not for Molly to talk
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Speaker 1: of this doubt of hers just then, but rather to
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Speaker 1: dwell on the probable graces and charms of the little
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Speaker 1: Roger Stephen Osborne Hamley. She let the Squire exhaust himself
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Speaker 1: in wondering as to the particulars of every event, helping
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Speaker 1: him out in conjectures, and both of them from their
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Speaker 1: imperfect knowledge of possibilities made the most curious, fantastic, and
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Speaker 1: improbable guesses at the truth. And so that day passed
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Speaker 1: over and the night came. There were not many people
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Speaker 1: who had any claim to be invited to the funeral,
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Speaker 1: and of these mister Gibson and the squire's hereditary man
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Speaker 1: of business had taken charge. But when mister Gibson came
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Speaker 1: early on the following morning, Molly referred the question to
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Speaker 1: him which had suggested itself to her mind, though apparently
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Speaker 1: not to the squire's. What intimation of her loss should
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Speaker 1: be sent to the widow living solitary near Winchester, watching
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Speaker 1: and waiting, if not for his coming, who lay dead
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Speaker 1: in his distant home, at least for his letters. One
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Speaker 1: from her had already come in her foreign handwriting to
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Speaker 1: the post office, to which all her communications were usually sent.
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Speaker 1: But of course they at the hall knew nothing of this.
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Speaker 5: She must be told, said.
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Speaker 1: Mister Gibson, musing, yes, she must, replied his daughter.
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Speaker 5: But how a day or two of waiting will do
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Speaker 5: no harm.
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Speaker 1: Said he, almost as if he was anxious to delay
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Speaker 1: the solution of the problem.
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Speaker 5: It will make her anxious, poor thing, and all sorts
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Speaker 5: of gloomy possibilities will suggest themselves to her mind. Amongst
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Speaker 5: them the truth. It will be a kind of preparation.
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Speaker 4: For what something must be done at last, said Molly.
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Speaker 5: Yes. True. Suppose you write and say he's very ill.
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Speaker 5: Write tomorrow. I dare say they've indulged themselves in daily postage,
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Speaker 5: and then she'll have had three days silence. You say,
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Speaker 5: how you come to know all you do about it?
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Speaker 5: I think she ought to know he is very ill,
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Speaker 5: in great danger if you like, and you can follow
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Speaker 5: it up next day with the full truth. I wouldn't
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Speaker 5: worry the squire about it. After the funeral we will
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Speaker 5: have a talk about the child.
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Speaker 4: She will never part with it, said Molly.
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Speaker 5: Who till I see the woman, I can't tell, said
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Speaker 5: her father. Some women would. It will be well provided
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Speaker 5: for according to what you say. And she is a
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Speaker 5: foreigner and may very likely wish to go back to
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Speaker 5: her own people and kindred. There's much to be said
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Speaker 5: on both sides.
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Speaker 4: So you always say, Papa. But in this case I
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Speaker 4: think you'll find I'm right. I judge from her letters,
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Speaker 4: but I think I'm right.
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Speaker 5: So you always say daughter. Time will show. So the
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Speaker 5: child is a boy. Missus Gibson told me particularly to
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Speaker 5: ask it will go far to reconciling her to Cynthia's
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Speaker 5: dismissal of Roger. But indeed it is quite as well
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Speaker 5: for both of them, though of course he will be
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Speaker 5: a long time for he thinks so they were not
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Speaker 5: suited to each other. Poor Roger. It was hard work
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Speaker 5: writing to him yesterday, and who knows what may have
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Speaker 5: become of him. Well, well, one has to get through
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Speaker 5: the world somehow. I'm glad, however, this little lad has
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Speaker 5: turned up to be their heir. I shouldn't have liked
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Speaker 5: the property to go to the Irish Hamley's, who are
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Speaker 5: the next heirs. As Osborne once told me, now write
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Speaker 5: the letter, Mollie to the poor little frenchwoman out yonder.
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Speaker 5: It will prepare her for it, and we must think
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Speaker 5: a bit how to spare her the shock for Osborne's sake.
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Speaker 1: The writing of this letter was rather difficult work for Molly,
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Speaker 1: and she tore up two or three copies before she
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Speaker 1: could manage it to her satisfaction, and at last, in
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Speaker 1: despair of ever doing it better, she sent it off
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Speaker 1: without re reading it. The next day was easier. The
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Speaker 1: fact of Osborne's death was told briefly and tenderly. But
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Speaker 1: when this second letter was sent off, Molly's heart began
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Speaker 1: to bleed for the poor creature bereft of her husband
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Speaker 1: in a foreign land, and he at a distance from her,
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Speaker 1: dead and buried without her ever having had the chance
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Speaker 1: of printing his dear features on her memory by one
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Speaker 1: last long lingering look. With her thoughts full of the
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Speaker 1: unknown amy, Mollie talked much about her that day to
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Speaker 1: the Squire. He would listen forever to any conjecture, however wild,
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Speaker 1: about the grandchild, but perpetually winced away from all discourse
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Speaker 1: about the frenchwoman, as he called her, not unkindly, but
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Speaker 1: to his mind she was simply the French woman, chattering,
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Speaker 1: dark eyed, demonstrative, and possibly even rouged. He would treat
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Speaker 1: her with respect as his son's widow, and would try
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Speaker 1: even not to think upon the female enveiglement in which
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Speaker 1: he believed he would make her an allowance to the
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Speaker 1: extent of his duty. But he hoped and trusted he
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Speaker 1: might never be called upon to see her. His solicitor Gibson,
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Speaker 1: anybody and everybody should be called upon to form a
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Speaker 1: failanth of defense against that danger, And all this time
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Speaker 1: a little, young, gray eyed woman was making her way
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Speaker 1: not towards him, but towards the dead son, whom, as
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Speaker 1: yet she believed to be her living husband. She knew
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Speaker 1: she was acting in defiance of his expressed wish, but
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Speaker 1: he had never dismayed her with any expression of his
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Speaker 1: own fears about his health, And she, bright with life,
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Speaker 1: had never contemplated death coming to fetch away one so beloved.
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Speaker 6: He was ill, very ill. The letter from the strange
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Speaker 6: girl said that but Eimy had nursed her parents and
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Speaker 6: knew what illness was. The French doctor had praised her
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Speaker 6: skill and neat handedness as a nurse. And even if
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Speaker 6: she had been the clumsiest of women, was he not
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Speaker 6: her husband, how old? And was she not his wife,
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Speaker 6: whose place was by his pillow.
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Speaker 1: So without even as much reasoning as has been here given,
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Speaker 1: Amy made her preparations, swallowing down the tears that would
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Speaker 1: overflow her eyes and drop into the little trunk she
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Speaker 1: was packing so neatly. And by her side on the
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Speaker 1: ground sat the child, now nearly two years old. And
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Speaker 1: for him Amy had always had a smile and a
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Speaker 1: cheerful word. Her servant loved her and trusted her, and
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Speaker 1: the woman was of an age to have had experience
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Speaker 1: of human kind. Amy had told her that her husband
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Speaker 1: was ill, and the servant had known enough of the
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Speaker 1: household history to be aware that as yet Amy was
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Speaker 1: not his acknowledged wife, But she sympathized with the prompt
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Speaker 1: decision of her mistress to go to him directly wherever
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Speaker 1: he was. Caution comes from education of one kind or another,
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Speaker 1: and Amy was not dismayed by warnings. Only the woman
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Speaker 1: pleaded hard for the child to be left.
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Speaker 7: He was such company, she said, and he would so
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Speaker 7: tire his mother in her journeyings, and maybe his father
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Speaker 7: would be too ill to see him, to.
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Speaker 6: Which Aimy replied, good company for you, but better for me.
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Speaker 6: A woman is never tired with carrying her own child.
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Speaker 1: Which was not true, but there was sufficient truth in
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Speaker 1: it to make it believed by both mistress and servant.
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Speaker 6: And if Monsieur could care for anything, he would rejoice
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Speaker 6: to hear the babble of his little son.
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Speaker 1: So Amy caught the evening coach to London at the
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Speaker 1: nearest cross road, Martha standing by a chaperone and friend
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Speaker 1: to see her off, and handing her in the large
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Speaker 1: lusty child, already crowing with delight at the sight of
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Speaker 1: the horses. There was a lingerie shop kept by a
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Speaker 1: frenchwoman whose acquaintance Aimy had made the days when she
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Speaker 1: was a London nursemaid, and thither she betook herself, rather
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Speaker 1: than to an hotel, to spend the few night hours
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Speaker 1: that intervened before the Birmingham coach started. At early morning,
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Speaker 1: she slept or watched on a sofa in the parlor.
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Speaker 1: For spare bed there was none, but Madame Pauline came
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Speaker 1: in betimes with a good cup of coffee for the
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Speaker 1: mother and of soup blanche for the boy, and they
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Speaker 1: went off again into the wide world, only thinking of
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Speaker 1: only seeking the hymn, who was everything human to both.
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Speaker 1: Amy remembered the sound of the name of the village
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Speaker 1: where Osborne had often told her that he alighted from
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Speaker 1: the coach to walk home, and though she could never
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Speaker 1: have spelt the strange, uncouth word, yet she spoke it
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Speaker 1: with pretty slow distinctness to the guard, asking him in
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Speaker 1: her broken English.
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Speaker 6: When they should arrive there, not till four o'clock, aless,
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Speaker 6: and what might happen before then?
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Speaker 1: Once with him, she would have no fear. She was
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Speaker 1: sure that she could bring him round, But what might
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Speaker 1: not happen before he was in her tender care. She
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Speaker 1: was a very capable person in many ways, though so
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Speaker 1: childish and innocent in others. She made up her mind
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Speaker 1: to the course she should pursue. When the coach set
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Speaker 1: her down at Feversham, she asked for a man to
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Speaker 1: carry her trunk and show her the way to Hamley Hall.
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Speaker 1: Hamily Hall, said the innkeeper.
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Speaker 8: Eh, it's a deal of trouble just now, I knew,
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Speaker 8: I knew, said she, hastening off after the wheelbarrow in
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Speaker 8: which her trunk was going, and breathlessly struggling to keep
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Speaker 8: up with it, Her heavy child asleep in her arms,
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Speaker 8: her pulses beat.
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Speaker 1: All over her body. She could hardly see out of
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Speaker 1: her eyes. To her a foreigner, the drawn blinds of
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Speaker 1: the house when she came in sight of it, had
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Speaker 1: no significance. She hurried stumbled.
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Speaker 4: On back door for missus, asked the boots.
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Speaker 1: From the inn.
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Speaker 6: The most nearest, said she, and the.
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Speaker 1: Front door was the most nearest. Mollie was sitting with
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Speaker 1: the Squire in the darkened drawing room, reading out her
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Speaker 1: translations of Amy's letters to her husband. The Squire was
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Speaker 1: never weary of hearing them. The very sound of Molly's
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Speaker 1: voice soothed and comforted him. It was so sweet and low,
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Speaker 1: and he pulled her up much as a child does
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Speaker 1: if on a second reading of the same letter she
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Speaker 1: substituted one word for another. The house was very still
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Speaker 1: this afternoon, still as it had been now for several days.
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Speaker 1: Every servant in it, however, needlessly moving about on tiptoe,
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Speaker 1: speaking below the breath, and shutting doors as softly as
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Speaker 1: might be. The nearest noise or stir of active life
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Speaker 1: was that of the rooks in the trees, who were
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Speaker 1: beginning their spring chatter of business. Suddenly, through this quiet
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Speaker 1: there came a ring at the front door, bell that
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Speaker 1: sounded and went on sounding through the house. Pulled by
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Speaker 1: an ignorant, vigorous hand. Molly stopped reading. She and the
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Speaker 1: Squire looked at each other in surprised dismay. Perhaps a
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Speaker 1: thought of Roger's sudden and impossible return was in the
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Speaker 1: mind of each, but neither spoke. They heard Robinson hurrying
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Speaker 1: to answer the unwonted summons. They listened, but they heard
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Speaker 1: no more. There was little more to hear. When the
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Speaker 1: old servant opened the door, a lady with a child
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Speaker 1: in her arms stood there. She gasped out her ready
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Speaker 1: prepared English sentence, Can.
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Speaker 6: I see mister Osborne Hamley? He is ill? I know,
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Speaker 6: but I am his wife.
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Speaker 1: Robinson had been aware that there was some mystery long
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Speaker 1: suspected by the servants, and come to light at last
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Speaker 1: to the master. He had guessed that there was a
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Speaker 1: young woman in the case. But when she stood there
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Speaker 1: before him, asking for her dead husband as if he
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Speaker 1: were living, any presence of mind Robinson might have had
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Speaker 1: forsook him. He could not tell her the truth. He
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Speaker 1: could only leave the door open and say to her.
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Speaker 2: Wait, awhile, I'll come back, and.
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Speaker 1: Betake himself to the drawing room where Molly was he knew.
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Speaker 1: He went up to her in a flutter and a
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Speaker 1: hurry and whispered something to her, which turned her white
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Speaker 1: with dismay.
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Speaker 3: What is it? What is it?
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Speaker 1: Said the squire, trembling with excitement.
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Speaker 3: Don't keep it from me. I can bear it, Roger.
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Speaker 1: They both thought he was going to faint. He had
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Speaker 1: risen up and come close to Molly. Suspense would be
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Speaker 1: worse than anything, missus Osborne Hamley's eh said, Molly. I
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Speaker 1: wrote to tell her her husband was very ill, and
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Speaker 1: she has come.
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Speaker 2: She does not know what has happened, seemingly, said Robinson.
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Speaker 3: I can't see her. I can't see her, said.
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Speaker 4: The squire, shrinking away into a corner.
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Speaker 3: You will go, Molly, won't you. You'll go.
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Speaker 1: Molly stood for a moment or two, irresolute, She too
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Speaker 1: shrank from the interview. Robinson put in his word, she.
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Speaker 2: Looks but a weakly thing and has carried a big baby.
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Speaker 2: Choose how far I didn't stop to ask.
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Speaker 1: At this instant the door softly opened, and right into
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Speaker 1: the midst of them came the little figure in gray,
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Speaker 1: looking ready to fall with the weight of her child.
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Speaker 1: You are, Molly, said she, not seeing the squire at
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Speaker 1: once the lady who wrote the letter. He spoke of you.
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Speaker 6: Sometimes you will let me go to him.
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Speaker 1: Molly did not answer, except that at such moments the
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Speaker 1: eyes speak solemnly and comprehensively. Amy read their meaning. All
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Speaker 1: she said was.
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Speaker 6: He is not, Oh, my husband, my husband.
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Speaker 1: Her arms relaxed, her figure swayed, The child screamed and
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Speaker 1: held out his arms for help. That help was given
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Speaker 1: him by his grandfather. Just before Amy fell senseless on
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Speaker 1: the floor. Ma'am ma'ama, cried the little fellow, now striving
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Speaker 1: and fighting to get back to her where she lay.
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Speaker 1: He thought so lustily that the squire had to put
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Speaker 1: him down, and he crawled to the poor inanimate body,
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Speaker 1: behind which sat Molly holding the head, whilst Robinson rushed
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Speaker 1: away for water, wine and more womenkind.
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Speaker 3: Poor thing, poor thing, said.
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Speaker 1: The squire, bending over her and crying afresh over her suffering.
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Speaker 3: She is but young, Molly, and she must love him
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Speaker 3: dearly to.
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Speaker 1: Be sure, said Molly. Quickly, she was untying the bonnet
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Speaker 1: and taking off the worn but neatly mended gloves. There
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Speaker 1: was the soft, luxuriant black hair shading the pale, innocent face,
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Speaker 1: the little, notable looking brown hands, with the wedding ring
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Speaker 1: for sole ornament. The child clustered his fingers round one
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Speaker 1: of hers and nestled up against her, with his plaintive cry,
22:17
Speaker 1: getting more and more into a burst of wailing. Lama,
22:23
Speaker 1: at the growing acuteness of his imploring, her hand moved
22:27
Speaker 1: her lips, quivered consciousness came partially back. She did not
22:32
Speaker 1: open her eyes but great heavy tears stole out from
22:35
Speaker 1: beneath her eyelashes. Mollie held her head against her own breast,
22:40
Speaker 1: and they tried to give her wine, which she shrank
22:42
Speaker 1: from water, which she did not reject. That was all.
22:47
Speaker 1: At last she tried to speak, Take me away, she said.
22:53
Speaker 6: Into the dock, leave me alone.
22:57
Speaker 1: So Molly and the woman lifted her up and carried
22:59
Speaker 1: her away, and laid her on the bed in the
23:02
Speaker 1: best bed chamber in the house, and darkened the already
23:05
Speaker 1: shaded light. She was like an unconscious corpse herself in
23:09
Speaker 1: that she offered neither assistance nor resistance to all that
23:13
Speaker 1: they were doing. But just before Molly was leaving the
23:17
Speaker 1: room to take up her watch outside the door, she felt,
23:20
Speaker 1: rather than heard, that Amy spoke to her food, bread
23:25
Speaker 1: and milkful baby. But when they brought her food herself,
23:30
Speaker 1: she only shrank away and turned her face to the
23:32
Speaker 1: wall without a word. In the hurry, the child had
23:36
Speaker 1: been left with Robinson and the squire for some unknown
23:39
Speaker 1: but most fortunate reason, he took a dislike to Robinson's
23:43
Speaker 1: red face and hoarse voice, and showed a most decided
23:46
Speaker 1: preference for his grandfather. When Molly came down, she found
23:50
Speaker 1: the Squire feeding the child, with more of peace upon
23:53
Speaker 1: his face than there had been for all these days.
23:56
Speaker 1: The boy was every now and then leaving off taking
23:59
Speaker 1: his bread and milk to show his dislike to Robinson
24:01
Speaker 1: by word and gesture, a proceeding which only amused the
24:05
Speaker 1: old servant, while it highly delighted the more favored Squire.
24:10
Speaker 4: She is lying very still, but she will neither speak
24:13
Speaker 4: nor eat. I don't even think she's.
24:15
Speaker 1: Crying, said Molly, volunteering this account. For the Squire was
24:19
Speaker 1: for the moment too much absorbed in his grandson to
24:22
Speaker 1: ask many questions. Robinson put in his word.
24:26
Speaker 2: Dick Hayward, he's boots at the Hamley Arms, says the coach.
24:30
Speaker 2: She come by started at five this morning from London,
24:34
Speaker 2: and the passenger said she'd been crying a deal on
24:37
Speaker 2: the road when she thought folks were not noticing, and
24:40
Speaker 2: she never came into meals with the rest, but stopped
24:43
Speaker 2: feeding her child.
24:45
Speaker 3: I shall be tired out.
24:47
Speaker 1: We must let her rest, said the Squire.
24:51
Speaker 3: And I do believe this little chap is going to
24:54
Speaker 3: sleep in my arms. God bless him.
24:59
Speaker 1: But Molly's stle out and send off a lad to
25:01
Speaker 1: Holdingford with a note to her father. Her heart had
25:05
Speaker 1: warmed toward the poor stranger, and she felt uncertain as
25:08
Speaker 1: to what ought to be the course pursued in her case.
25:11
Speaker 1: She went up from time to time to look at
25:14
Speaker 1: the girl, scarce older than herself, who lay there with
25:17
Speaker 1: her eyes open but as motionless as death. She softly
25:21
Speaker 1: covered her over and let her feel the sympathetic presence
25:24
Speaker 1: from time to time, and that was all she was
25:27
Speaker 1: allowed to do. The Squire was curiously absorbed in the child,
25:32
Speaker 1: but Molly's supreme tenderness was for the mother, not but
25:37
Speaker 1: what she admired, the sturdy, gallant, healthy little fellow, whose
25:41
Speaker 1: every limb and square inch of clothing showed the tender
25:44
Speaker 1: and thrifty care that had been taken of him by
25:47
Speaker 1: and by. The Squire said, in a whisper, She's.
25:50
Speaker 3: Not like a frenchwoman, is she, Molly?
25:55
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know what french woman I like.
25:58
Speaker 4: People say Cynthia's friend.
26:00
Speaker 3: Sh and she didn't look like a servant. We won't
26:03
Speaker 3: seak of Cynthia, and she's served my Roger. So why
26:08
Speaker 3: I began to think as soon as I could think
26:10
Speaker 3: after that? How I went to make Roger and her
26:13
Speaker 3: happy and have them married at once, and then came
26:17
Speaker 3: that letter. I never wanted her for a daughter in law,
26:21
Speaker 3: not I, but he did, it seems, and he wasn't
26:25
Speaker 3: one for wanting many things for himself. But it's all
26:29
Speaker 3: over now. Only we won't talk of her. And maybe,
26:33
Speaker 3: as you say, she was more French than English. This
26:38
Speaker 3: poor thing looks like a gentlewoman. I think. I hope
26:42
Speaker 3: she's got friends who will take care of her. She
26:44
Speaker 3: can't be above twenty. I thought she must be older
26:47
Speaker 3: than my poor lad.
26:50
Speaker 4: She's a gentle, pretty creature, said Molly. But but I
26:54
Speaker 4: sometimes think it has killed her. She lies like one dead.
26:59
Speaker 1: And Mollie could not keep from crying softly at the thought.
27:04
Speaker 1: Nay nay, said the squire.
27:07
Speaker 3: It's not so easy to break one's heart. Sometimes I've
27:12
Speaker 3: wished it were, But one has to go on living
27:16
Speaker 3: all the appointed days that it says in the Bible.
27:20
Speaker 3: But we'll do our best for her. Well, not to
27:23
Speaker 3: think of letting her go away till she's fit to travel.
27:27
Speaker 1: Molly wondered in her heart about this going away, on
27:31
Speaker 1: which the Squire seemed fully resolved. She was sure that
27:34
Speaker 1: he intended to keep the child. Perhaps he had a
27:37
Speaker 1: legal right to do.
27:38
Speaker 4: So, but would the mother ever part from it?
27:42
Speaker 1: Her father, however, would solve the difficulty. Her father, whom
27:46
Speaker 1: she always looked to as clear seeing and experienced. She
27:50
Speaker 1: watched and waited for his coming. The February evening drew on.
27:55
Speaker 1: The child lay asleep in the Squire's arms till his
27:58
Speaker 1: grandfather grew tired and laid him down on the sofa,
28:01
Speaker 1: the large square, cornered yellow sofa upon which Missus Hamley
28:04
Speaker 1: used to sit, supported by pillows in a half reclining position.
28:09
Speaker 1: Since her time, it had been placed against the wall
28:12
Speaker 1: and had served merely as a piece of furniture to
28:14
Speaker 1: fill up the room. But once again a human figure
28:18
Speaker 1: was lying upon it, a little human creature like a
28:22
Speaker 1: cherub in some Italian picture. The squire remembered his wife
28:26
Speaker 1: as he put the child down. He thought of her,
28:29
Speaker 1: as he said to Molly.
28:31
Speaker 3: How pleased to she will it have been?
28:34
Speaker 1: But Molly thought of the poor young widow upstairs. Amy
28:38
Speaker 1: was her she at the first moment, presently, but it
28:42
Speaker 1: seemed a long long time. First she heard the quick
28:46
Speaker 1: prompt sounds which told of her father's arrival in he
28:51
Speaker 1: came to the room as yet only lighted by the
28:53
Speaker 1: fitful blaze of the fire end of Chapter fifty three.