Latest / The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library / The Little Princess Chapter 12 - The Other Side of the Wall

Transcript

The Little Princess Chapter 12 - The Other Side of the Wall · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: CHAPTER XII. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL When one
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: lives in a row of houses, it is interesting to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: think of the things which are being done and said
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: on the other side of the wall of the very
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: rooms one is living in. Sarah was fond of amusing
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: herself by trying to imagine the things hidden by the wall,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: which divided the select seminary from the Indian gentleman's house.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: She knew that the schoolroom was next to the Indian
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: gentleman's study, and she hoped that the wall was thick,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: so that the noise, made sometimes after lesson hours, would
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: not disturb him.' I am growing quite fond of him,'
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: she said to Ermengarde.' I should not like him to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: be disturbed. I have adopted him for a friend. You
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: can do that with people you never speak to at all.'
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: You can just watch them and think about them and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: be sorry for them until they seem almost like relations.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I'm quite anxious sometimes when I see the doctor call
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: twice a day. I have very few relations, said Ermengarde reflectively,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and I'm very glad of it. I don't like those
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I have. My two aunts are always saying, Dear me, Ermengarde,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you are very fat, you shouldn't eat sweets. And my
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: uncle is always asking me things like, When did Edward
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: III ascend the throne? And who died of a surfeit
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of lampreys? Sarah laughed. People you never speak to can't
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: ask you questions like that, she said, and I'm sure
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the Indian gentleman wouldn't even if he was quite intimate
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: with you. I am fond of him. She had become
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: fond of the large family because they looked happy, but
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: she had become fond of the Indian gentleman because he
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: looked unhappy. He had evidently not fully recovered from some
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: very severe illness. In the kitchen, where of course the servant,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: through some mysterious means, knew everything, there was much discussion
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of his case. He was not an Indian gentleman really,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: but an Englishman who had lived in India. He had
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: met with great misfortunes, which had for a time so
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: imperiled his whole fortune that he had thought himself ruined
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and disgraced for ever. The shock had been so great
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that he had almost died of brain fever, and ever
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: since he had been shattered in health, though his fortunes
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: had changed and all his possessions had been restored to him.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: His trouble and peril had been connected with mines. And
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: mines with diamonds in them, said the cook. No savings
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of mine never goes into no mines, particular diamond ones.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: With a side glance at Sarah, we all know something
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of them. He felt as my papa felt, Sarah thought.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: He was ill as my papa was, but he did
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: not die. So her heart was more drawn to him
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: than before. When she was sent out at night, she
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: used sometimes to feel quite glad, because there was always
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: a chance that the curtains of the house next door
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: might not yet be closed, and she could look into
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the warm room and see her adopted friend. When no
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: one was about, she used sometimes to stop, and holding
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: to the iron railings, wish him good night, as if
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: he could hear her. Perhaps you can feel if you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: can't hear, was her fancy. Perhaps kind thoughts reach people somehow,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: even through windows and doors and walls. Perhaps you feel
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a little warm and comforted, and don't know why, when
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I am standing here in the cold and hoping you
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: will get well and happy again. I am so sorry
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: for you, she would whisper in an intense little voice.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I wish you had a little missus, who could pet
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: you as i used to pet papa when he had
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: a headache i should like to be your little missus
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: myself poor dear good-night good-night god bless you she would
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: go away feeling quite comforted and a little warmer herself
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: her sympathy was so strong that it seemed as if
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: it must reach him somehow as he sat alone in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: his arm-chair by the fire nearly always in a great
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: dressing-gown and nearly always with his forehead resting in his
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: hand as he gazed hopelessly into the fire. He looked
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: to Sarah like a man who had a trouble on
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: his mind still, not merely like ones whose troubles lay
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: all in the past. He always seems as if he
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: were thinking of something that hurts him now, she said
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: to herself, but he has got his money back and
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: he will get over his brain fever in time, so
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: he ought not to look like that. I wonder if
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: there is something else. If there was something else, something
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: even servants did not hear of, She could not help
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: believing that the father of the large family knew it,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the gentleman she called Mr. Montmorency. Mr. Montmorency went to
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: see him often, and Mrs. Montmorency and all the little
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Montmorencies went too, though less often. He seemed particularly fond
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: of the two elder little girls, the Janet and Nora,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: who had been so alarmed when their small brother Donald
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: had given Sarah his sixpence. He had, in fact, a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: very tender place in his heart for all children— and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: particularly for little girls. Janet and Nora were as fond
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: of him as he was of them, and looked forward
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: with the greatest pleasure to the afternoons when they were
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: allowed to cross the square and make their well-behaved little
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: visits to him. They were extremely decorous little visits, because
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: he was an invalid.' He is a poor thing,' said Janet,'
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and he says we cheer him up. We try to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: cheer him up very quietly.' Janet was the head of
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the family, and kept the rest of it in order.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: It was she who decided when it was discreet to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: ask the Indian gentleman to tell stories about India, and
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: it was she who saw when he was tired and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it was time to steal quietly away and tell Ram
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Dass to go to him. They were very fond of
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Ram Dass. He could have told any number of stories
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: if he had been able to speak anything but Hindustani.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: The Indian gentleman's real name was Mr. Carrisford, and Janet
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: told Mr. Carrisford about the encounter with the little girl
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: who was not a beggar. He was very much interested,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and all the more so when he heard from Ram
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Dass of the adventure of the monkey on the roof.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Ram Dass made for him a very clear picture of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the attic and its desolateness, of the bare floor and
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: broken plaster, the rusty, empty grate, and the hard, narrow bed. Carmichael,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: he said to the father of the large family after
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: he had heard this description, I wonder how many of
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the attics in this square are like that one. and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: how many wretched little servant-girls sleep on such beds, while
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I toss on my down pillows, loaded and harassed by wealth,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: that is, most of it, not mine.' My dear fellow,' Mr.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Carmichael answered cheerily,' the sooner you cease tormenting yourself the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: better it will be for you.' If you possessed all
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the wealth of all the Indies,' you could not set
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: right all the discomforts in the world,' and if you
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: began to refurnish all the attics in this square—' There
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: would still remain all the attics and all the other
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: squares and streets to put in order. And there you are. Mr.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Carrisford sat and bit his nails as he looked into
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the glowing bed of coals in the grate. Do you suppose,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: he said slowly after a pause, do you think it
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: is possible that the other child, the child I never
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: cease thinking of, I believe, could be could possibly be
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: reduced to any such condition as the poor little soul
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: next door? Mr. Carmichael looked at him uneasily. He knew
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: that the worst thing the man could do for himself,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: for his reason and his health, was to begin to
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: think in the particular way of this particular subject. If
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the child at Madame Pascal's school in Paris was the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: one you were in search of, he answered soothingly, she
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: would seem to be in the hands of people who
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: can afford to take care of her, They adopted her
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: because she had been the favourite companion to their little daughter,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: who died. They had no other children, and Madame Pascal
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: said that they were extremely well-to-do Russians. And the wretched
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: woman actually did not know where they had taken her,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Mr. Carrisford. Mr. Carmichael shrugged his shoulders. She was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: a shrewd, worldly Frenchwoman, and was evidently only too glad
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: to get the child so comfortably off her hands when
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the father's death left her totally unprovided for. Women of
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: her type do not trouble themselves about the futures of
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: children who might prove burdens. The adopted parents apparently disappeared
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and left no trace. But you say if the child
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: was the one I am in search of. You say if.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: We are not sure. There was a difference in the name.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Madame Pascal pronounced it as if it were Caru instead
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of Cru, but that might merely be a matter of pronunciation.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: The circumstances were curiously similar. An English officer in India
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: had placed his motherless little girl at the school. He
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: had died suddenly after losing his fortune. Mr. Carmichael paused
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: a moment, as if a new thought had occurred to him.'
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Are you sure the child was left at the school
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: in Paris? Are you sure it was Paris?'' My dear fellow,'
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: broke forth Carrisford with restless bitterness,' I am sure of nothing.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I never saw either the child or her mother. Ralph
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Crewe and I loved each other as boys.' but we
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: had not met since our school days, until we met
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: in India. I was absorbed in the magnificent promise of
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the mines. He became absorbed too. The whole thing was
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: so huge and glittering that we half lost our heads.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: When we met we scarcely spoke of anything else. I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: only knew that the child had been sent to school somewhere.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I do not even remember now how I knew it.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: He was beginning to be excited. He always became excited
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: when his still weakened brain was stirred by memories of
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the catastrophes of the past. Mr. Carmichael watched him anxiously.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: It was necessary to ask some questions, but they must
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: be put quietly and with caution. But you had reason
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to think the school was in Paris.' Yes,' was the answer.'
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Because her mother was a Frenchwoman, and I had heard
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: that she wished her child to be educated in Paris.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: It seemed only likely that she would be there.'' Yes,' Mr.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Carmichael said.' It seems more than probable.' The Indian gentleman
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: leaned forward and struck the table with a long, wasted hand.' Carmichael,'
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: he said.' I must find her. If she is alive,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: she is somewhere.' If she is friendless and penniless, it
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: is through my fault. How is a man to get
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: back his nerve with a thing like that on his mind?
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: This sudden change of luck at the mines has made
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: realities of all our most fantastic dreams, and poor Crewe's
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: child may be begging in the street. No, no, said Carmichael.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Try to be calm. Console yourself with the fact that
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: when she is found, you have a fortune to hand
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: over to her. Why was I not man enough to
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: stand my ground when things looked black? Carrisford groaned in
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: petulant misery. I believe I should have stood my ground
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: if I had not been responsible for other people's money
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: as well as my own. Poor Crewe had put into
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the scheme every penny that he owned. He trusted me,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: he loved me, and he died thinking I had ruined him. Aye,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Tom Carrisford, who played cricket, had eaten with him. What
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a villain he must have thought me. Don't reproach yourself
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: so bitterly. I don't reproach myself because the speculation threatened
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to fail. I reproach myself for losing my courage. I
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: ran away like a swindler and a thief, because I
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: could not face my best friend and tell him I
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: had ruined him and his child.' The good-hearted father of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the large family put his hand on his shoulder comfortingly.'
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: You ran away because your brain had given way under
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the strain of mental torture,' he said.' You were half
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: delirious already.' If you had not been, you would have
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: stayed and fought it out. You were in a hospital,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: strapped down in bed, raving with brain fever two days
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: after you left the place. Remember that? Carisfer dropped his
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: forehead in his hands. Good God! Yes, he said. I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: was driven mad with dread and horror. I had not
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: slept for weeks. The night I staggered out of my house,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: all the air seemed full of hideous things mocking and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: mouthing at me. That is explanation enough in itself, said Mr. Carmichael.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: How could a man on the verge of brain fever
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: judge sanely? Carrisford shook his drooping head. And when I
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: returned to consciousness, poor Crewe was dead and buried. And
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I seemed to remember nothing. I did not remember the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: child for months and months. Even when I began to
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: recall her existence, everything seemed in a sort of haze.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: He stopped a moment and rubbed his forehead. It sometimes
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: seems so now when I try to remember. Surely I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: must sometime have heard Crewe speak of the school she
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: was sent to. Don't you think so? He might not
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: have spoken of it definitely. You never seem even to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: have heard her real name. He used to call her
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: by an odd pet name he had invented. He called
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: her his little missus. But the wretched mind drove everything
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: else out of our heads. We talked of nothing else.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: If he spoke of the school, I forgot.' I forgot.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And now I shall never remember.'' Come, come,' said Carmichael.'
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: We shall find her yet. We will continue to search
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: for Madame Pascal's good-natured Russians. She seemed to have a
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: vague idea that they lived in Moscow. I will take
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: that as a clue. I will go to Moscow.'' If
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I were able to travel, I would go with you,'
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: said Carrisford.' But I can only sit here, wrapped in furs,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and stare at the fire.' and when I look into
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: it I seem to see Crewe's gay young face gazing
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: back at me. He looks as if he were asking
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: me a question. Sometimes I dream of him at night,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and he always stands before me and asks the same
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: question in words. Can you guess what he says, Carmichael? Mr.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Carmichael answered him in a rather low voice. Not exactly,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: he said. He always says, Tom, old man, Tom, where
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: is the little missus? He caught at Carmichael's hand and
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: clung to it. I must be able to answer him.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I must, he said. Help me to find her. Help me.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: On the other side of the wall, Sarah was sitting
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: in her garret talking to Melchizedek, who had come out
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: for his evening meal. It has been hard to be
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: a princess today, Melchizedek, she said. It has been harder
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: than usual. It gets harder as the weather goes colder,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and the streets get more sloppy. When Lavinia laughed at
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: my muddy skirt as I passed her in the hall,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I thought of something to say all in a flash,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and I only just stopped myself in time. You can't
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: sneer back at people like that, if you are a princess.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: But you have to bite your tongue to hold yourself in.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I bit mine. It was a cold afternoon, Melchizedek. and
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: it's a cold night. Quite suddenly she put her black
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: head down in her arms, as she often did when
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: she was alone.' Oh, papa,' she whispered,' what a long
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: time it seems since I was your little missus.' This
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: was what happened that day, on both sides of the wall.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: End of chapter 12