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035 - Expiation · North and South

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five of North and South. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Leanne Howlett. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five expiation There's not so finely spun, but
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  Speaker 1: it cometh to the sun. Mister Thornton sat on and on.
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  Speaker 1: He felt that his company gave pleasure to mister Hale,
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  Speaker 1: and was touched by the half spoken, wishful entreaty that
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  Speaker 1: he would remain a little longer, the plaintive don't go yet,
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  Speaker 1: which his poor friend put forth. From time to time.
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  Speaker 1: He wondered Margaret did not return, But it was with
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  Speaker 1: no view of seeing her that he lingered for the hour.
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  Speaker 1: And in the presence of one who was so thoroughly
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  Speaker 1: feeling that nothingness of earth, he was reasonable and self controlled.
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  Speaker 1: He was deeply interested in all her father said of death,
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  Speaker 1: and of the heavy lull, and of the brain that
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  Speaker 1: has grown dull. It was curious how the presence of
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  Speaker 1: mister Thornton had power over mister Hale to make him
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  Speaker 1: unlock the secret thoughts which he kept shut up even
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  Speaker 1: from Margaret. Whether it was that her sympathy would be
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  Speaker 1: so keen and show itself in so lively a manner
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  Speaker 1: that he was afraid of the reaction upon himself, or
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  Speaker 1: whether it was that to his speculative mind, all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of doubts presented themselves at such a time, pleading and
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  Speaker 1: crying aloud to be resolved into certainties, and that he
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  Speaker 1: knew she would have shrunk from the expression of any
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  Speaker 1: such doubts, nay from him himself as capable of conceiving them.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever was the reason, he could unburden himself better to
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  Speaker 1: mister Thornton than to her, of all the thoughts and
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  Speaker 1: fancies and fears that had been frost bound in his
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  Speaker 1: brain till now. Mister Thornton said very little, but every
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  Speaker 1: sentence he uttered added to mister Hale's reliance and regard
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  Speaker 1: for him. Was it that he paused in the expression
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  Speaker 1: of some remembered agony Mister Thornton's two or three words
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  Speaker 1: would complete the sentence and show how deeply its meaning
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  Speaker 1: was entered into. Was it a doubt, a fear, a
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  Speaker 1: wandering uncertainty, seeking rest but finding none, so tear blinded
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  Speaker 1: were its eyes. Mister Thornton, instead of being shocked, seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have passed through that very stage of thought himself,
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  Speaker 1: and could suggest where the exact ray of light was
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  Speaker 1: to be found, which should make the dark places plain.
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  Speaker 1: Man of action, as he was busy in the world's
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  Speaker 1: great battle, there was a deeper religion binding him to
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  Speaker 1: God in his heart in spite of his strong wilfulness
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  Speaker 1: through all his mistakes, than mister Hale had ever dreamed.
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  Speaker 1: They never spoke of such things again, as it happened,
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  Speaker 1: But this one conversation made them peculiar people to each other,
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  Speaker 1: knit them together in a way which no loose and
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  Speaker 1: dis scrimin at talking about sacred things can ever accomplish.
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  Speaker 1: When all are admitted, how can there be a Holy
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  Speaker 1: of holies? And all this? While Margaret lay as still
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  Speaker 1: and white as death on the study floor, she had
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  Speaker 1: sunk under her burden. It had been heavy in weight
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  Speaker 1: and long carried, and she had been very meek and
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  Speaker 1: patient till all at once her faith had given way,
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  Speaker 1: and she had groped in vain for help. There was
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  Speaker 1: a pitiful contraction of suffering upon her beautiful brows. Although
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  Speaker 1: there was no other sign of consciousness remaining. The mouth
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  Speaker 1: a little while ago, so sullenly projected in defiance, was
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  Speaker 1: relaxed and livid. A parquet de la sois labia simova
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  Speaker 1: unaspirto suave epien deemur kiva de sindo a la nema suspira.
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  Speaker 1: The first symptom of returning life was a quivering about
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  Speaker 1: the lips, a little mute soundless attempt at speech. But
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  Speaker 1: the eyes were still close, and the quivering sank into stillness. Then, feebly,
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  Speaker 1: leaning on her arms for an instant to steady herself,
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  Speaker 1: Margaret gathered herself up and rose. Her comb had fallen
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  Speaker 1: out of her hair, and, with an intuitive desire to
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  Speaker 1: efface the traces of weakness and bring herself into order again,
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  Speaker 1: she sought for it, although from time to time in
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  Speaker 1: the course of the search she had to sit down
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  Speaker 1: and recover strength. Her head drooped forwards, her hands meekly
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  Speaker 1: laid one upon the other. She tried to recall the
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  Speaker 1: force of her temptation by endeavoring to remember the details
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  Speaker 1: which had thrown her into such deadly fright, but she
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  Speaker 1: could not. She only understood two facts that Frederick had
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  Speaker 1: been in danger of being pursued and detected in London
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  Speaker 1: as not only guilty of manslaughter, but as the more
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  Speaker 1: unpardonable leader of the mutiny, and that she had lied
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  Speaker 1: to save him. There was one comfort her lie had
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  Speaker 1: saved him, if only by gaining some additional time. If
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  Speaker 1: the inspector came again tomorrow, after she had re received
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  Speaker 1: the letter she longed for to assure her of her
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  Speaker 1: brother's safety, she would brave shame and stand in her
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  Speaker 1: bitter penance. She the lofty Margaret acknowledging before a crowded
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  Speaker 1: justice room if need were that she had been as
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  Speaker 1: a dog and done this thing. But if he came
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  Speaker 1: before she heard from Frederick, if he returned as he
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  Speaker 1: had half threatened, in a few hours, why she would
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  Speaker 1: tell that lie again. Though how the words would come
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  Speaker 1: out after all this terrible pause for reflection and self
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  Speaker 1: reproach without betraying her falsehood, she did not know. She
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  Speaker 1: could not tell, but her repetition of it would gain
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  Speaker 1: time time for Frederick. She was roused by Dixon's entrance
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  Speaker 1: into the room she had just been letting out mister Thornton.
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  Speaker 1: He had hardly gone ten steps in the street before
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  Speaker 1: passing omnibus stopped close by him, and a man got
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  Speaker 1: down and came up to him, touching his hat as
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  Speaker 1: he did so. It was the police inspector. Mister Thornton
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  Speaker 1: had obtained for him his first situation in the police,
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  Speaker 1: and had heard from time to time of the progress
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  Speaker 1: of his protege, but they had not often met, and
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  Speaker 1: at first mister Thornton did not remember him. My name
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  Speaker 1: is Watson, George Watson, sir, that you got ah, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I recollect why you are getting on famously? I hear, yes, sir.
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  Speaker 1: I ought to thank you, sir, but it is on
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  Speaker 1: a little matter of business I made so bold as
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  Speaker 1: to speak to you now. I believe you were the
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  Speaker 1: magistrate who attended to take down the deposition of a
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  Speaker 1: poor man who died in the infirmary last night. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: replied mister Thornton. I went and heard some kind of
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  Speaker 1: a rambling statement, which the clerk said was of no
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  Speaker 1: great use. I'm afraid he was but a drunken fellow,
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  Speaker 1: though there is no doubt he came to his death
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  Speaker 1: by violence. At last one of my mother's servants was
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  Speaker 1: engaged to him, I believe, and she is in great
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  Speaker 1: distress to day. What about him? Why, sir? His death
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  Speaker 1: is oddly mixed up with somebody in the house. I
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  Speaker 1: saw you coming out of just now. It was a
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  Speaker 1: mister Hale's I believe, yes, said mister Thornton, turning sharp
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  Speaker 1: round and looking into the Inspector's face with sudden interest.
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  Speaker 1: What about it? Why, sir? It seems to me that
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  Speaker 1: I have got a pretty distinct chain of evidence inculpating
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman who was walking with miss Hale that night
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  Speaker 1: at the Outwood station as the man who struck or
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  Speaker 1: pushed Leonards off the platform and so causes death. But
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  Speaker 1: the young lady denies that she was there at the time.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Hale denies she was there, repeated mister Thornton, in
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  Speaker 1: an altered voice. Tell me what evening was it? What time?
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  Speaker 1: About six o'clock on the evening of Thursday the twenty sixth.
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  Speaker 1: They walked on side by side in silence for a
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  Speaker 1: minute or two. The inspector was the first to speak.
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  Speaker 1: You see, sir, there is like to be a coroner's inquest,
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  Speaker 1: and I've got a young man who is pretty positive,
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  Speaker 1: at least he was at first. Since he has heard
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  Speaker 1: of the young lady's denial. He says he should not
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  Speaker 1: like to swear, but still he's pretty positive that he
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  Speaker 1: saw miss Hale at the station, walking about with a
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  Speaker 1: gentleman not five minutes before the time when one of
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  Speaker 1: the porters saw a scuffle which he set down to
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  Speaker 1: some of Leonard's impudence, but which led to the fall
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  Speaker 1: which caused his death. And seeing you come out of
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  Speaker 1: the very house, sir, I thought I might make bold
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  Speaker 1: to ask, if you see, it's always awkward having to
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  Speaker 1: do with cases of disputed identity, and one doesn't like
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  Speaker 1: to doubt the word of a respectable young woman unless
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  Speaker 1: one has strong proof to the contrary. And she denied
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  Speaker 1: having been at the station that evening, repeated mister Thornton
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  Speaker 1: in a low brooding tone. Yes, sir, twice over as
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  Speaker 1: distinct as could be. I told her I should call again.
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  Speaker 1: But seeing you just as I was on my way
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  Speaker 1: back from questioning the young man who said it was her,
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  Speaker 1: I thought I would ask your advice, both as the
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  Speaker 1: magistrate who saw Leonard's on his death bed and as
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  Speaker 1: the gentleman who got me my berth in the force.
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  Speaker 1: You are quite right, said mister Thornton. Don't take any
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  Speaker 1: steps till you have seen me again. The young lady
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  Speaker 1: will expect me to call. From what I said, I
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  Speaker 1: only want to delay you an hour. It's now three.
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  Speaker 1: Come to my warehouse at four. Very well, sir, and
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  Speaker 1: they parted company. Mister Thornton hurried to his warehouse, and,
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  Speaker 1: sternly forbidding his clerks to allow any one to interrupt him,
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  Speaker 1: he went his way to his own private room and
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  Speaker 1: locked the door. Then he indulged himself in the torture
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  Speaker 1: of thinking it all over and realizing every detail. How
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  Speaker 1: could he have lulled himself into the unsuspicious calm in
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  Speaker 1: which her tearful image had mirrored itself not two hours before,
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  Speaker 1: till he had weakly pitied her and yearned towards her,
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  Speaker 1: and forgotten the savage, distrustful jealousy with which the sight
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  Speaker 1: of her, and that unknown to him at such an
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  Speaker 1: hour and such a place, had inspired him. How could
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  Speaker 1: one so pure have stooped her decorous and noble manner
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  Speaker 1: of bearing? But was it decorus? Was it? He hated
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  Speaker 1: himself for the idea that forced itself upon him just
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  Speaker 1: for an instant, no more. And yet while it was present,
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  Speaker 1: thrilled him with its old potency of attraction towards her image.
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  Speaker 1: And then this falsehood. How terrible must be some dread
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  Speaker 1: of shame to be revealed. For after all, the provocation
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  Speaker 1: given by such a man as Leonard's was, when excited
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  Speaker 1: by drinking, might in all probability be more than enough
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  Speaker 1: to justify any one who came forward to state the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances openly and without reserve. How creeping in deadly that
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  Speaker 1: fear which could bow down the truthful Margaret to falsehood.
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  Speaker 1: He could almost pity her. What would be the end
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  Speaker 1: of it? She could not have considered all she was
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  Speaker 1: entering upon. If there was an inquest, and the young
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  Speaker 1: man came forward, suddenly he started up, there should be
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  Speaker 1: no inquest. He would save Margaret. He would take the
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  Speaker 1: responsibility of preventing the inquest, the issue of which, from
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  Speaker 1: the uncertainty of the medical testimony which he had vaguely
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  Speaker 1: heard the night before from the surgeon in attendance, could
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  Speaker 1: be but doubtful. The doctors had discovered an eternal disease
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  Speaker 1: far advanced and sure to prove fatal. They had stated
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  Speaker 1: that death might have been accelerated by the fall or
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  Speaker 1: by the subsequent drinking and exposure to cold. If he
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  Speaker 1: had but known how Margaret would have become involved in
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  Speaker 1: the affair, If he had but foreseen that she would
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  Speaker 1: have stained her whiteness by a falsehood, he could have
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  Speaker 1: saved her by a word. For the question of inquest
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  Speaker 1: or no inquest had hung trembling in the balance only
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  Speaker 1: the night before. Miss Hale might love another was indifferent
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  Speaker 1: and contemptuous to him, But he would yet do her
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  Speaker 1: faithful acts of service, of which she should never know.
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  Speaker 1: He might despise her, But the woman whom he had
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  Speaker 1: once loved should be kept from shame and shame it
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  Speaker 1: would be to pledge herself to a lie in a
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  Speaker 1: public court, or otherwise to stand and acknowledge her reason
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  Speaker 1: for desiring darkness rather than light. Very gray and stern
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  Speaker 1: did mister Thornton look as he passed out through his
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  Speaker 1: wondering clerks. He was away about half an hour, and
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  Speaker 1: scarcely less stern did he look when he returned, Although
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  Speaker 1: his errand had been successful. He wrote two lines on
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  Speaker 1: a slip of paper, put it in an envelope, and
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  Speaker 1: sealed it up. This he gave to one of the clerks, saying,
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  Speaker 1: I appointed Watson, he who was a packer in the warehouse,
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  Speaker 1: and who went into the police to call on me
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  Speaker 1: at four o'clock. I have just met with a gentleman
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  Speaker 1: from Liverpool who wishes to see me before he leaves town.
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  Speaker 1: Take care to give this note to Watson, he calls.
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  Speaker 1: The note contained these words. There will be no inquest,
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  Speaker 1: medical evidence not sufficient to justify it. Take no further steps.
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  Speaker 1: I have not seen the coroner, but I will take
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  Speaker 1: the responsibility. Well thought Watson. It relieves me from an
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  Speaker 1: awkward job. None of my witnesses seem certain of anything
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  Speaker 1: except the young woman. She was clear and distinct enough.
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  Speaker 1: And the porter at the railroad had seen a scuffle
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  Speaker 1: or when he found it was likely to bring him
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  Speaker 1: in as a witness. Then it might not have been
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  Speaker 1: a scuffle, only a little larking, and Leonards might have
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  Speaker 1: jumped off the platform himself. He would not stick firm
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  Speaker 1: to anything. And Jennings, the rocer's shopman, well, he was
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  Speaker 1: not quite so bad, but I doubt if I could
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  Speaker 1: have got him up to an oath after he heard
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  Speaker 1: that Miss Hale flatly denied it. It would have been
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  Speaker 1: a troublesome job, and no satisfaction, and now I must
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  Speaker 1: go and tell them they won't be wanted. He accordingly
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  Speaker 1: presented himself again at mister Hale's that evening, her father
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and Dixon would fain have persuaded Margaret to go to bed,
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  Speaker 1: but they neither of them knew the reason for her
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  Speaker 1: low continued refusals to do so. Dixon had learnt part
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  Speaker 1: of the truth, but only part. Margaret would not tell
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  Speaker 1: any human being of what she had said, and she
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  Speaker 1: did not reveal the fatal termination to Leonard's fall from
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  Speaker 1: the platform. Oh. Dixon's curiosity combined with her allegiance to
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: urge Margaret to go to rest, which her appearance as
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: she lay on the sofa showed but too clearly that
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  Speaker 1: she required. She did not speak except when spoken to.
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  Speaker 1: She tried to smile back in reply to her father's
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  Speaker 1: anxious looks and words of tender inquiry, but instead of
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: a smile, the wan lips resolved themselves into a sigh.
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  Speaker 1: He was so miserably uneasy that at last she consented
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  Speaker 1: to go into her own room and prepare for going
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  Speaker 1: to bed. She was indeed inclined to give up the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: idea that the inspector would call again that night, As
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: it was already past nine o'clock, she stood by her father,
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  Speaker 1: holding on to the back of his chair. You will
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  Speaker 1: go to bed soon, Papa, won't. You don't sit up alone.
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  Speaker 1: What his answer was, she did not hear. The words
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: were lost in the far smaller point of sound that
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: magnified itself to her fears and filled her brain. There
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  Speaker 1: was a low ring at the door bell. She kissed
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: her father and glided downstairs with the of motion which
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  Speaker 1: no one would have thought her capable, who had seen
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  Speaker 1: her the minute before. She put aside Dixon, don't come,
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  Speaker 1: I will open the door. I know it is him.
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  Speaker 1: I can. I must manage it all myself as you please,
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  Speaker 1: Miss said Dixon testily, but in a moment afterwards she added,
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  Speaker 1: but you're not fit for it. You are more dead
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  Speaker 1: than alive, am I said Margaret, turning round and showing
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  Speaker 1: her eyes all aglow with strange fire. Her cheeks flushed,
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  Speaker 1: though her lips were baked and livid. Still, she opened
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  Speaker 1: the door of the inspector and preceded him into the study.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: She placed the candle on the table and stuffed it
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: carefully before she turned round and faced him. You are late,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: said she. Well. She held her breath for the answer.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to have given any unnecessary trouble, ma'am, for
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: after all, they've given up all thoughts of holding an inquest.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I have had other work to do and other people
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: to see, or I should have been here before. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Then it is ended, said Margaret. There's to be no
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: further inquiry. I believe I've got mister Thornton's note about me,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: said the inspector, fumbling in his pocket book. Mister Thornton's,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: said Margaret. Yes, he's a magistrate. Ah, here it is.
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  Speaker 1: She could not see to read it, no, not, although
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: she was close to the candle. The words swam before her.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: But she held it in her hand and looked at
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: it as if she were intently studying it. I'm sure, ma'am,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: it's a great weight off my mind, for the evidence
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: was so uncertain, you see, that the man had received
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: any blow at all, and if any question of identity
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  Speaker 1: came in, it so complicated the case. As I told
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: mister Thornton. Mister Thornton said Margaret again, I met him
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  Speaker 1: this morning, just as he was coming out of this house,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: and as he's an old friend of mine. Besides being
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the magistrate who saw Leonard's last night, I made bold
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: to tell him of my difficulty. Margaret sighed deeply. She
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: did not want to hear any more. She was afraid,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: alike of what she had heard and of what she
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: might hear. She wished that the man would go. She
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: forced herself to speak, thank you for calling. It is
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: very late, I dare say it is past ten o'clock. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: here is the note, she continued, suddenly interpreting the meaning
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: of the hand held out to receive it. He was
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: putting it up when she said, I think it is
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: a cramped, dazzling sort of writing. I could not read it.
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  Speaker 1: Will you just read it to me? He read it
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: aloud to her. Thank you. You told mister Thornton that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I was not there. Oh, of course, ma'am. I'm sorry
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: now that I acted upon information which seems to have
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: been so erroneous. At first, the young man was so positive,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and now he says that he doubted all along, and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: hopes that his mistake won't have occasioned you such annoyance
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  Speaker 1: as to lose their shop your custom. Good night, ma'am. Night.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: She rang the bell for Dixon to show him out.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: As Dixon returned up the passage, Margaret passed her swiftly.
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  Speaker 1: It is all right, said she, without looking at Dixon,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: And before the woman could follow her with further questions,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: she had sped up stairs and entered her bed chamber
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  Speaker 1: and bolted her door. She threw herself dressed. As she
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: was upon her bed, She was too much exhausted to think.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Half an hour or more elapsed before the cramped nature
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: of her position, and the chilliness supervening upon great fatigue,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: had the power to rouse her numb faculties. Then she
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: began to recall, to combine, to wonder. The first idea
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that presented itself to her was that all this sickening
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: alarm on Frederick's behalf was over, that the strain was past.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: The next was a wish to remember every word of
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: the inspectors which related to mister Thornton. When had he
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: seen him, what had he said? What had mister Thornton done?
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: What were the exact words of his note? And until
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: she could recollect, even to the placing or omitting an article,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the very expressions which he had used in the note,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: her mind refused to go on with its progress But
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the next conviction she came to was clear enough. Mister
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Thornton had seen her close to Outwood Station on the
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: fatal Thursday night, and had been told of her denial
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: that she was there. She stood as a liar. In
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: his eyes, she was a liar, But she had no
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: thought of penitence before God. Nothing but chaos and knights
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: surrounded the one lurid fact that in mister Thornton's eyes
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: she was degraded. She cared not to think even to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: herself of how much of excuse she might plead that
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: had nothing to do with mister Thornton. She never dreamed
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: that he or any one else could find cause for suspicion.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: And what was so natural as her accompanying her brother.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: But what was really false and wrong was known to him,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and he had a right to judge her. Oh, Frederick, Frederick,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: she cried, what have I not sacrificed for you? Even
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: when she fell asleep, her thoughts were compelled to travel
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the same circle, only with exaggerated and monstrous circumstances of pain.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: When she awoke, a new idea flashed upon her with
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: all the brightness of the morning. Mister Thornton had learnt
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: her falsehood before he went to the coroner. That suggested
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the thought that he had possibly been influenced so to
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: do with a view of sparing her the repetition of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: her denial. But she pushed this notion on one side
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: with the slick wilfulness of a child. If it were so,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: she felt no gratitude to him, as it only showed
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: her how keenly he must have seen that she was
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: disgraced already before he took such unwonted pains to spare
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: her any further trial of truthfulness, which had already failed
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: so signally she would have gone through the whole. She
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: would have perjured herself to save Frederick rather far rather
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: than mister Thornton should have had the knowledge that prompted
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: him to interfere to save her. What ill fate brought
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: him in contact with the inspector made him be the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: very magistrate sent for to receive Leonard's deposition? What had
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Leonard said? How much of it was intelligible to mister Thornton,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: who might already for aught She knew be aware of
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the old accusation against Frederick through their mutual friend mister Bell.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: If so he had striven to save the son who came,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: in defiance of the law to attend his mother's death bed.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: And under this idea she could feel grateful, not yet,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: if ever she should, if his interference had been prompted
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: by contempt. Oh had any one such just cause to
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: feel contempt for her? Mister Thornton, above all people on
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: whom she had looked down from her imaginary heights till
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: now she suddenly found herself at his feet, and was
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: strangely distressed at her fall. She shrank from following out
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the premises to their conclusion, and so acknowledging to herself
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: how much she valued his respect and good opinion. Whenever
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: this idea presented itself to her at the end of
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a long avenue of thoughts, she turned away from following
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that path. She would not believe in it. It was
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: later than she fancied, for in the agitation of the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: previous night, she had forgotten to wind up her watch,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and mister Hale had given especial orders that she was
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: not to be disturbed by the usual awakening. By and
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: by the door opened cautiously, and Dixon put her head in,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: perceiving that Margaret was awake. She came forwards with a letter.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Here's something to do you good, miss, A letter from
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Master Frederick. Thank you Dixon. How late it is. She
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: spoke very languidly and suffered Dixon to lay it on
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the counterpane before her without putting out a hand to
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: take it. You want your breakfast. I'm sure I will
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: bring it you in a minute. Master has got the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: tray already, I know. Margaret did not reply. She let
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: her go. She felt that she must be alone before
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: she could open that letter. She opened it at last.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: The first thing that caught her eye was the date,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: two days earlier than she received it. He had then
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: written when he had promised, and their alarm might have
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: been spared. But she would read the letter and c
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: it was hasty enough, but perfectly satisfactory. He had seen
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Henry Lennox, who knew enough of the case to shake
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: his head over it in the first instance and tell
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: him he had done a very daring thing in returning
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: to England with such an accusation backed by such powerful
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: influence hanging over him. But when they had come to
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: talk it over, mister Lennox had acknowledged that there might
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: be some chance of his acquittal. If he could but
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: prove his statements by credible witnesses, then in such case
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: it might be worth while to stand his trial. Otherwise
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: it would be a great risk. He would examine, he
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: would take every pains. It struck me, said Frederick, that
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: your introduction, little sister of mine, went a long way?
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Is it? So? He made many inquiries. I can assure
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you he seemed a sharp, intelligent fellow, and in good
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: practice too, to judge from the signs of business and
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the number of clerks about them. But these may be
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: only lawyer's dodges. I have just caught a packet on
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the point of sailing. I am off in five minutes.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I may have to come back to England again on
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: this business, so keep my visit secret. I shall send
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: my father some rare old sherry, such as you cannot
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: buy in England, such stuff as I've got in the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: bottle before me. He needs something of the kind, My
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: dear love to him, God bless him. I'm sure here's
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: my cab p s What an escape that was. Take care,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: ye don't breathe of my having been not even to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the shawls. Margaret turned to the envelope. It was marked
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: too late. The letter had probably been trusted to some
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: careless waiter who had forgotten to post it. Oh what
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: slight cobwebs of chances stand between us in temptation. Frederick
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: had been safe and out of England twenty nay thirty
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: hours ago, and it was only about seventeen hours since
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: she had told a falsehood to baffle pursuit, which even
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: then would have been vain. How faithless she had been.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Where now was her proud motto face to cuadah at
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Vienne quepois, if she had but dared to bravely tell
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the truth as regarded herself, defying them to find out
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: what she refused to tell concerning another, How light of
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: heart she would now have felt, not humbled before God,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: as having failed in trust towards him, not degraded and
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: abase in mister Thornton's sight. She caught herself up at
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: this with a miserable tremor. Here was she classing his
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: low opinion of her alongside with the displeasure of God.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: How was it that he haunted her imagination so persistently?
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: What could it be? Why did she care for what
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: he thought? In spite of all her pride in spite
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: of herself. She believed that she could have borne the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: sense of almighty displeasure because he knew all and could
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: read her penitence and hear her cries for help in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: time to come. But mister Thornton, why did she tremble
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and hide her face in the pillow? What strong feeling
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: had overtaken her? At last she sprang out of bed
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and prayed long and earnestly. It soothed and comforted her
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: so to open her heart. But as soon as she
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: reviewed her position, she found the sting was still there.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: That she was not good enough, not pure enough, to
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: be indifferent to the lowered opinion of a fellow creature,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that the thought of how he must be looking upon
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: her with contempt stood between her and her sense of wrongdoing.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: She took her letters into her father as soon as
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: she was dressed. There was no slight an allusion to
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: their alarm at the railroad station that mister Hale passed
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: over it without paying any attention to it. Indeed, beyond
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the mere fact of Frederick having sailed and discovered and unsuspected,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: he did not gather much from the letter At the time.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: He was so uneasy about Margaret's pallid looks. She seemed
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: continually on the point of weeping. You are sadly overdone, Margaret.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: It is no wonder, but you must let me nurse
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: you now. He made her lie down on the sofa
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: and went for a shawl to cover her with. His
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: tenderness released her tears, and she cried bitterly. Poor child,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: poor child, said he looking fondly at her, as she
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: lay with her face to the wall, shaking with her sobs.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: After a while they ceased, and she began to wonder
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: whether she durst give herself the relief of telling her
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: father of all her trouble. But there were more reasons
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: against it than for it. The only one for it
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: was the relief to herself, and against it was the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: thought that it would add materially to her father's nervousness
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: if it were indeed necessary for Frederick to come to
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: England again, that he would dwell on the circumstance of
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: his son's having caused the death of a man, however
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: unwittingly and unwillingly, that this knowledge would perpetually recur to
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: trouble him. In various shapes of exaggeration, and distortion from
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: the simple truth, and about her own great fault. He
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: would be distressed beyond measure at her want of courage
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: and faith, yet perpetually troubled to make excuses for her.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Formerly Margaret would have come to him, as priests as
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: well as father, to tell him of their temptation and
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: her sin. But latterly they had not spoken much on
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: such subjects, and she knew not how in his change
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: of opinions he would reply. If the depth of her
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: soul called unto his No, she would keep her secret
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and bear the burden alone. Alone. She would go before
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: God and cry for his absolution alone. She would endure
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: her disgraced position. In the opinion of mister Thornton, she
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: was unspeakably touched by the tender efforts of her father
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to think of cheerful subjects on which to talk, and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: so to take her thoughts away from dwelling on all
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: that had happened of late. It was some months since
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: he had been so talkative as he was this day.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: He would not let her sit up, and offended Dixon
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: desperately by insisting on waiting upon her himself. At last,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: she smiled, a poor, weak, little smile, but it gave
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: him the truest pleasure. It seemed strange to think that
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: what gives us most hope for the future should be
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: called Dolores, said Margaret. The remark was more in character
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: with her father than with her usual self, but to
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: day they seem to have changed natures. Her mother was
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: a Spaniard. I believe that accounts for her religion. Her
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: father was a stiff Presbyterian when I knew him. But
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: it is a very soft and pretty name. How young
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: she is, younger by fourteen months than I am, just
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the age that Edith was when she was engaged to
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Captain Lennox. Papa, we will go and see them in Spain.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: He shook his head, but he said, if you wish it, Margaret,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: only let us come back here. It would seem unfair,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: unkind to your mother, who always, I am afraid, disliked
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Milton so much. If we left it now she is
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: lying here and cannot go with us. No, dear, you
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: shall go and see them and bring me back a
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: report of my Spanish daughter. No, Papa, I won't go
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: without you. Who is to take care of you when
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I am gone? I should like to know which of
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: us is taken care of the other. But if you went,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I should persuade mister Thornton to let me give him
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: double lessons. We would work up the classics famously. That
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: would be perpetual interest. You might go on and see
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Edith at Corfu if you liked. Margaret did not speak
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: all at once, then she said, rather gravely, thank you, Papa,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: But I don't want to go. We will hope that
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: mister Lennox will manage so well that Frederick may bring
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Dolores to see us when they are married. And as
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: for Edith, the regiment won't remain much longer in Corfu.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Perhaps we shall see both of them here before another
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: year is out. Mister Hale's cheerful subjects had come to
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: an end. Some painful recollection had stolen across his mind
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and driven him into silence. By and by, Margaret said, Papa,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: did you see Nicholas Higgins at the funeral? He was there,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and Mary too, Poor fellow, it was his way of
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: showing sympathy. He has a good, warm heart under his
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: bluff abrupt ways. I am sure of it, replied mister Hale.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I saw it all along, even while you tried to
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: persuade me that he was all sorts of bad things.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: We will go and see them tomorrow, if you are
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: strong enough to walk so far. Oh, yes, I want
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to see them. We did not pay Mary, or rather
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: she refused to take it. Dixon says, we will go
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: so as to catch him just after his dinner and
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: before he goes to his work. Towards evening, mister Hale said,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I half expected mister Thornton would have called. He spoke
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: of a book yesterday which he had and which I
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: wanted to see. He said he would try and bring
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: it to day. Margaret sighed. She knew he would not come.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: He would be too delicate to run the chance of
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: meeting her, while her shame must be so fresh in
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: his memory. The very mention of his name renewed her
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: trouble and produced to relapse into the feeling of depressed,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: preoccupied exhaustion. She gave way to listless languor. Suddenly it
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: struck her that this was a strange manner to show
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: her patience or to reward her father or his watchful
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: care of her all through the day. She sat up
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: and offered to read aloud. His eyes were failing and
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: he gladly accepted her proposal. She read well, she gave
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the due emphasis. But had any one asked her when
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: she had ended the meaning of what she had been reading,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: she could not have told. She was smitten with a
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: feeling of ingratitude to mister Thornton, inasmuch as in the
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: morning she had refused to accept the kindness he had
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: shown her in making further inquiry from the medical men,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: so as to obviate any inquest being held. Oh, she
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: was grateful. She had been cowardly and false, and had
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: shown her cowardliness and falsehood and action that could not
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: be recalled. But she was not ungrateful. It sent a
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: glow to her heart to know how she could feel
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: towards one who had reason to despise her. His cause
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: for contempt was so just that she should have respected
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: him less if she had thought he did not feel contempt.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: It was a pleasure to feel how thoroughly she respected him.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: He could not prevent her doing that. It was the
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: one comfort and all this misery. Late in the evening,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the expected book arrived with mister Thornton's kind regards and
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: wishes to know how mister Hale is say that I
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: am much better Dixon, but that miss Hale. No, Papa,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: said Margaret eagerly. Don't say anything about me. He does
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: not ask my dear child, how you were shivering, said
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: her father a few minutes afterwards. You must go to
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: bed directly. You have turned quite pale. Margaret did not
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: refuse to go, though she was loath to leave her
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: father alone. She needed the relief of solitude after a
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: day of busy thinking and busier repenting. But she seemed
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: much as usual the next day. The lingering gravity and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: sadness in the occasional absence of mind were not unnatural
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: symptoms in the early days of grief, and almost in
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: proportion to her re establishment and help was her father's
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: relapse into his abstracted musing upon the wife he had
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: lost and the past era in his life that was
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: close to him forever. End of chapter thirty five. Recording
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: by Leanne Howlett