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025 - Mrs Gibson's Little Dinner · Wives and Daughters

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson's Little Dinner. All this had taken place before
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  Speaker 1: Roger's first meeting with Molly and Cynthia at miss Brownings,
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  Speaker 1: and the little dinner on the Friday at mister Gibson's,
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  Speaker 1: which followed in due sequence. Missus Gibson intended the Hamleys
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  Speaker 1: to find this dinner pleasant, and they did. Mister Gibson
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  Speaker 1: was fond of the two young men, both for their
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  Speaker 1: parents sake and their own, for he had known them
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  Speaker 1: since boyhood, and to those whom he liked, Mister Gibson
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  Speaker 1: could be remarkably agreeable. Missus Gibson really gave them a
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  Speaker 1: welcome and cordiality in a hostess is a very becoming mantle.
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  Speaker 1: For any other deficiencies there may be, Cynthia and Molly
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  Speaker 1: looked their best, which was all the duty Missus Gibson
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  Speaker 1: absolutely required of them, as she was willing enough to
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  Speaker 1: take her full share in the conversation. Osborne fell to
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  Speaker 1: her lot, of course, and for some time he and
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  Speaker 1: she prattled on with all the ease of manner and
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  Speaker 1: commonplaceness of meaning, which go far to make the art
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  Speaker 1: of polite conversation. Roger, who ought to have made himself
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  Speaker 1: agreeable to one or the other of the young ladies,
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  Speaker 1: was exceedingly interested in what mister Gibson was telling him
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  Speaker 1: of a paper on comparative osteology in some foreign journal
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  Speaker 1: of science, which Lord Hollingford was in the habit affording
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  Speaker 1: to his friend, the country Surgeon. Yet every now and then,
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  Speaker 1: while he listened, he caught his attention wandering to the
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  Speaker 1: face of Cynthia, who was placed between his brother and
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  Speaker 1: mister Gibson. She was not particularly occupied with attending to
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  Speaker 1: anything that was going on. Her eyelids were carelessly dropped
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  Speaker 1: as she crumbled her bread on the tablecloth, and her beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: long eyelashes were seen on the clear tint of her
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  Speaker 1: oval cheek. She was thinking of something else, Molly was
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  Speaker 1: trying to underst stand with all her might. Suddenly, Cynthia
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  Speaker 1: looked up and caught Roger's gaze of intent admiration too
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  Speaker 1: fully for her to be unaware that he was staring
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  Speaker 1: at her. She colored a little, but after the first
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  Speaker 1: moment of rosy confusion at his evident admiration of her,
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  Speaker 1: She flew to the attack, diverting his confusion at thus
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  Speaker 1: being caught to the defense of himself from her accusation.
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  Speaker 1: It is quite true, she said to him, I was.
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  Speaker 2: Not attending you. See, I don't even know the A,
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  Speaker 2: B c. Of science. But please don't look so severely
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  Speaker 2: at me. Even if I am a dance I didn't know.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't mean to look severely, I am sure.
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  Speaker 1: Replied he, not knowing well what to say.
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  Speaker 4: Cynthia is not a dunce either.
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  Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, afraid lest her daughter's opinion of herself
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  Speaker 1: might be taken seriously.
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  Speaker 4: But I have always observed that some people have a
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  Speaker 4: talent for one thing and some for another. Now Cynthia's
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  Speaker 4: talents are not for SOS and the SEVERER studies. Do
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  Speaker 4: you remember, Love, what a trouble I had to teach
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  Speaker 4: you the use of the globes.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, And I don't know longitude from latitude now, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm always puzzled as to which is perpendicular and which
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  Speaker 2: is horizontal.
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  Speaker 1: Yet I do assure you, her mother continued, rather addressing
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  Speaker 1: herself to Osborne, that.
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  Speaker 4: Her memory for poetry is prodigious. I have heard her
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  Speaker 4: repeat the Prisoner of Chion from beginning to end.
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  Speaker 3: It would be rather a bore to have to hear her.
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  Speaker 1: I think, said mister Gibson, smiling at Cynthia, who gave
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  Speaker 1: him back one of her bright looks of mutual understanding.
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  Speaker 4: Ah, mister Gibson, I have found out before now that
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  Speaker 4: you have no soul for poetry. And Molly, there is
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  Speaker 4: your own child. She reads such deep books, all about
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  Speaker 4: facts and figures. She'll be quite a blue stocking by
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  Speaker 4: and by Mamma.
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  Speaker 1: Said Molly, reddening.
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  Speaker 5: You think it was a deep book because there were
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  Speaker 5: shapes of the different cells of beasts in it. But
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  Speaker 5: it was not at all deep. It was very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Never mind, Molly, said Osborne.
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  Speaker 5: I stand up for blue stockings.
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  Speaker 3: And I object to the distinction implied in what you say,
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  Speaker 3: said Roger. It was not deep, ergo, it was very interesting.
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  Speaker 3: Now a book may be both deep and interesting.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, if you are going to chop logic and use
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  Speaker 4: Latin words, I think it is time for us to
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  Speaker 4: leave the room.
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  Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson.
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  Speaker 2: Don't let us run away as if we were beaten. Mamma,
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  Speaker 2: said Cynthia, though it may be logic. I, for one,
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  Speaker 2: can understand what mister Roger Hamley said just now, and
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  Speaker 2: I read some of Molly's books, and whether it was
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  Speaker 2: deep or not, I found it very interesting, more so
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  Speaker 2: than I should think the Prisoner of Cholon. Nowadays I've
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  Speaker 2: displaced the Prisoner to make room for Johnny Gilpin as
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  Speaker 2: my favorite poem.
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  Speaker 4: How could you talk such nonsense, Cynthia, said Missus Gibson,
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  Speaker 4: as the girls followed her upstairs. You know you are
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  Speaker 4: not a dance. It is all very well not to
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  Speaker 4: be a blue stocking, because gentle people don't like that
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  Speaker 4: kind of woman. But running yourself down and contradicting all
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  Speaker 4: I said about your liking for Byron and poets and
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  Speaker 4: poetry to Osborne Hamley of all men too.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Gibson spoke quite crossly for her, but Mamma Cynthia replied.
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  Speaker 2: I am either a dunce or I am not. If
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  Speaker 2: I am, I did right to own it. If I
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  Speaker 2: am not, he is a dunce. If he doesn't find
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  Speaker 2: out I was joking.
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  Speaker 1: Well, said Missus Gibson, a little puzzled by this speech
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  Speaker 1: and wanting some illicidatory addition.
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  Speaker 2: Only that if he's a dunce, his opinion of me
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  Speaker 2: is worth nothing. So anyway, it doesn't signify.
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  Speaker 4: You really bewilder me with your nonsense. Child, Molly is
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  Speaker 4: worth twenty of you.
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  Speaker 1: I quite agree with you, mamma, said Cynthia, turning round
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  Speaker 1: to take Molly's hand.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, but she ought not to be.
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  Speaker 1: Said missus Gibson, still irritated.
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  Speaker 4: Think of the advantages you've had.
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  Speaker 5: I'm afraid I had rather be a dunce than a
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  Speaker 5: blue stocking.
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  Speaker 1: Said Molly, for the term had a little annoyed her,
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  Speaker 1: and the annoyance was rankling.
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  Speaker 4: Still hush, here they are coming, I hear the dining
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  Speaker 4: room door. I never meant you were a blue stocking deer,
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  Speaker 4: So don't look vexed, Cynthia, my love, where did you
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  Speaker 4: get those lovely flowers? Anemonies? Are they? They suit your complexion?
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  Speaker 2: So exactly, come, Molly, don't look so grave and thoughtful,
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  Speaker 2: exclaimed Cynthia. Don't you perceive Mamma wants as to be
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  Speaker 2: smiling and amiable.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Gibson had had to go out to his evening round,
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  Speaker 1: and the young men were all too glad to come
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  Speaker 1: up into the pretty drawing room, the bright little wood fire,
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  Speaker 1: the comfortable easy chairs, which, with so small a party
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  Speaker 1: might be drawn round the hearth, the good natured hostess,
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  Speaker 1: the pretty agreeable girls. Roger sauntered up to the corner
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  Speaker 1: where Cynthia was standing playing with a hand screen.
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  Speaker 3: There's a charity ball in Hollingford soon, isn't there.
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  Speaker 1: Asked he?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and Easter Tuesday.
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  Speaker 3: She replied, Are you going? I suppose you are.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Mamma is going to take Molly and me.
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  Speaker 3: You will enjoy it very much going together.
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  Speaker 1: For the first time during this little conversation, she glanced
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  Speaker 1: up at him, real honest pleasure shining out of her eyes.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, going together will make the enjoyment of the thing.
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  Speaker 2: It would be dull without her.
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  Speaker 3: You are great friends.
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  Speaker 1: Then he asked, I never.
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  Speaker 2: Thought I should like any one so much, any girl, I.
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  Speaker 1: Mean, She put in the final reservation, in all simplicity
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  Speaker 1: of heart, and in all simplicity, did he understand it?
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  Speaker 1: He came ever so little nearer and dropped his voice
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  Speaker 1: a little.
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  Speaker 3: I was so anxious to know. I am so glad.
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  Speaker 3: I have often wondered how you two were getting on,
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  Speaker 3: have you.
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  Speaker 1: Said she, looking up again at Cambridge.
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  Speaker 2: You must be very fond of Molly, Yes.
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  Speaker 3: I am. She was with us so long and at
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  Speaker 3: such a time. A look upon her almost as her sister, and.
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  Speaker 2: She is very fond of Oliver. I seem to know
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  Speaker 2: you all from hearing her talk about you so much,
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  Speaker 2: all of you.
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  Speaker 1: Said she, laying an emphasis on all to show that
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  Speaker 1: it included the dead as well as the living. Roger
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  Speaker 1: was silent for a minute or two.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't know you even by hearsay, so you mustn't
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  Speaker 3: wonder that I was a little afraid. But as soon
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  Speaker 3: as I saw you, I knew how it must be,
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  Speaker 3: and it was such a.
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  Speaker 1: Relief Cynthia, said missus Gibson, who thought that the younger
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  Speaker 1: son had had quite his share of low confidential conversation.
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  Speaker 4: Come here and sing that little French ballad to mister
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  Speaker 4: Osborne Hamley, Which do you.
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  Speaker 2: Mean, mamma touton repentera Colin.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, such a pretty playful little warning to young men.
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  Speaker 1: Said Missus Gibson, smiling up at Osborne.
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  Speaker 4: The refrain is to torre pontira Colin, to torre ponteriras carci,
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  Speaker 4: to praus nufirme Colin to torre ponterras. The advice may
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  Speaker 4: apply very well where there is a French wife in
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  Speaker 4: the case, but not, i am sure, to an Englishman
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  Speaker 4: who is thinking of an English wife.
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  Speaker 1: This choice of a song was exceedingly mulla propos had
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  Speaker 1: missus Gibson, but known it. Osborne and Roger, knowing that
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  Speaker 1: the wife of the former was a frenchwoman and conscious
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  Speaker 1: of each other's knowledge, felt doubly awkward, while Molly was
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  Speaker 1: as much confused as though she herself was secretly married. However,
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia caroled the saucy ditty out, and her mother smiled
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  Speaker 1: at it in total ignorance of any application it might have.
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  Speaker 1: Osborne had instinctively gone to stand behind Cynthia as she
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  Speaker 1: sat at the piano, so as to be ready to
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  Speaker 1: turn over the leaves of her music if she required it.
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  Speaker 1: He kept his hands in his pockets and his eyes
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  Speaker 1: fixed on her fingers, his countenance clouded with gravity at
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  Speaker 1: all the merry quips which she so playfully sang. Roger
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  Speaker 1: looked grave as well, but was much more at his
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  Speaker 1: ease than his brother. Indeed, he was half amused by
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  Speaker 1: the awkwardness of the situation. He caught Molly's troubled eyes
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  Speaker 1: and heightened color, and he saw that she was feeling
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  Speaker 1: this contretemps more seriously than she needed to do. He
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  Speaker 1: moved to a seat by her and half whispered.
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  Speaker 3: Too late, a warning, is it not.
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  Speaker 1: Molly looked up at him as he leant towards her,
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  Speaker 1: and replied in the same tone, Oh, I am so sorry.
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  Speaker 3: You need not be You won't mind it long. And
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  Speaker 3: a man must take the consequences when he puts himself
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  Speaker 3: in a false position.
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  Speaker 1: Molly could not tell what to reply to this, so
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  Speaker 1: she hung her head and kept silence. Yet she could
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  Speaker 1: see that Roger did not change his attitude or remove
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  Speaker 1: his hand from the back of his chair, and, impelled
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  Speaker 1: by curiosity to find out the cause of his stillness,
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  Speaker 1: she looked up at him at length and saw his
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  Speaker 1: gaze fixed on the two who were near the piano.
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  Speaker 1: Osborne was saying something eagerly to Cynthia, whose grave eyes
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  Speaker 1: were upturned to him with soft intentness of expression, and
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  Speaker 1: her pretty mouth half open with a sort of impatience
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  Speaker 1: for him to cease speaking that she might reply.
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  Speaker 3: They are talking about France.
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  Speaker 1: Said Roger, in answer to Molly's unspoken question.
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  Speaker 3: Osborne knows it well, and miss Kirkpatrick has been at
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  Speaker 3: school there, you know it sounds very interesting? Shall we
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  Speaker 3: go nearer and hear what they are saying?
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  Speaker 1: It was all very well to ask this civilly, but
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  Speaker 1: Molly thought it would have been better to wait for
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  Speaker 1: her answer. Instead of waiting, however, Roger went to the piano, and,
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  Speaker 1: leaning on it, appeared to join in the light merry
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  Speaker 1: talk while he feasted his eyes as much as he dared.
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  Speaker 1: By looking at Cynthia, Molly suddenly felt as if she
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  Speaker 1: could scarcely keep from crying. A minute ago, he had
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  Speaker 1: been so near to her and talking so pleasantly and confidentially,
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  Speaker 1: and now he almost seemed as if he had forgotten
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  Speaker 1: her existence. She thought that all this was wrong, and
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  Speaker 1: she exaggerated its wrongness to herself.
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  Speaker 5: Mean and envious of Cynthia an ill, NATed and selfish.
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  Speaker 1: Were the terms she kept applying to herself, But it
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  Speaker 1: did no good. She was just as naughty at the
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  Speaker 1: last as at the first. Missus Gibson broke into the
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  Speaker 1: state of things which Molly thought was to endure forever.
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  Speaker 1: Her work had been intricate up to this time, and
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  Speaker 1: had required a great deal of counting, so she had
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  Speaker 1: had no time to attend to her duties, one of
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  Speaker 1: which she always took to be to show herself to
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  Speaker 1: the world as an impartial stepmother. Cynthia had played and sung,
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  Speaker 1: and now she must give Molly her turn of exhibition.
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia's singing and playing was light and graceful, but anything
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  Speaker 1: but correct. But she herself was so charming that it
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  Speaker 1: was only fanatics for music who cared for false chords
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  Speaker 1: and omitted notes. Molly, on the contrary, had an excellent
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  Speaker 1: ear if she had ever been well taught, and both
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  Speaker 1: from inclination and conscientious perseverance of disposition, she would go
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  Speaker 1: over an incorrect passage twenty times. But she was very
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  Speaker 1: shy of playing in company, and when forced to do it,
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  Speaker 1: she went through her performance heavily and hate her handiwork
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  Speaker 1: more than any one.
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  Speaker 4: Now you must play a little.
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  Speaker 1: Molly, said missus Gibson, play us that.
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  Speaker 4: Beautiful piece of Calkbrenners.
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  Speaker 1: My dear Molly looked up at her stepmother with beseeching eyes,
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  Speaker 1: but it only brought out another form of request, still
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  Speaker 1: more like a command.
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  Speaker 4: Go at once, my dear, you may not play it
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  Speaker 4: quite rightly, and I know you were very nervous, but
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  Speaker 4: you're quite amongst friends.
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  Speaker 1: So there was a disturbance maide in the little group
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  Speaker 1: at the piano, and Molly sat down to her martyrdom.
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  Speaker 1: Please go away, said she to Osborne, who was standing
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  Speaker 1: behind her, ready to turn over.
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  Speaker 5: I can quite well do it for myself, and oh
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  Speaker 5: if you would but talk.
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  Speaker 1: Osborne remained where he was in spite of her appeal,
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  Speaker 1: and gave her what little approval she got for missus. Gibson,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: exhausted by her previous labor of counting her stitches, fell
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  Speaker 1: asleep in her comfortable sofa corner near the fire, and Roger,
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  Speaker 1: who began at first to talk a little in compliance
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  Speaker 1: with Molly's request, found his conversation with Cynthia so agreeable
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  Speaker 1: that Molly lost her place several times in trying to
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  Speaker 1: catch a sudden glimpse of Cynthia sitting at her work,
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  Speaker 1: and Roger, by her intent on catching her low replies
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  Speaker 1: to what he was saying. There now I've done, said Molly,
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  Speaker 1: standing up quickly, as soon as she had finished the
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  Speaker 1: eighteen dreary pages. And I think I will never sit
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  Speaker 1: down to play again. Osborne laughed at her vehemence. Cynthia
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  Speaker 1: began to take some part in what was being said,
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  Speaker 1: and thus made the conversation general. Missus Gibson wakened up gracefully,
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  Speaker 1: as was her way of doing all things, and slid
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  Speaker 1: into the subjects they were talking about so easily that
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  Speaker 1: she almost succeeded in making them believe that she had
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  Speaker 1: never been asleep at all. End of Chapter twenty four