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033 - Ch 33 - Peace · North and South (version 2)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three, off North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three. Peace sleep on my love in thy
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  Speaker 1: cold bed, never to be disquieted my last good night.
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  Speaker 1: Thou wilt not wake till I thy fate shall overtake
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  Speaker 1: Doctor King home seemed unnaturally quiet after all this terror
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  Speaker 1: and noisy commotion. Her father had seen all due preparation
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  Speaker 1: made for her refreshment on her return, and then sat
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  Speaker 1: down again in his accustomed chair to fall into one
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  Speaker 1: of his sad waking dreams. Dixon had got Mary Higgins
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  Speaker 1: to scold and direct in the kitchen, and her scolding
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  Speaker 1: was not the less energetic because it was delivered in
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  Speaker 1: an angry whisper. For speaking above her breath, she would
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  Speaker 1: have thought irreverent as long as there was any one
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  Speaker 1: dead lying in the house. Margaret had resolved not to
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  Speaker 1: mention the crowning and closing affright to her father. There
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  Speaker 1: was no use in speaking about it. It had ended well.
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  Speaker 1: The only thing to be feared was lest Leonards should
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  Speaker 1: in some way borrow money enough to effect his purpose
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  Speaker 1: of following Frederick to London and hunting him out there.
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  Speaker 1: But there were immense chances against the success of any
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  Speaker 1: such plan, and Margaret determined not to torment herself by
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  Speaker 1: thinking of what she could do nothing to prevent. Frederick
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  Speaker 1: would be as much on his guard as she could
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  Speaker 1: put him. In a day or two at most, he
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  Speaker 1: would be safely out of England. I suppose we shall
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  Speaker 1: hear from mister Bell to morrow, said Margaret. Yes, replied
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  Speaker 1: her father. I suppose so if he can come, he
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  Speaker 1: will be here to morrow evening. I should think if
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  Speaker 1: he cannot come, I shall ask mister Thornton to go
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  Speaker 1: with me to the funeral. I cannot go alone. I
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  Speaker 1: should break down utterly. Don't ask mister Thornton. Papa, let
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  Speaker 1: me go with you, said Margaret impetuously. You, my dear women,
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  Speaker 1: do not generally go. No because they can't control themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Women of our class don't go because they have no
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  Speaker 1: power over their emotions, and yet are ashamed of showing them.
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  Speaker 1: Poor women go and don't care if they are seen
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  Speaker 1: overwhelmed with grief. But I promise you, Papa, that if
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  Speaker 1: you will let me go, I will be no trouble.
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  Speaker 1: Don't have a stranger and leave me out, dear Papa,
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  Speaker 1: if mister Bell can't come, I shall go. I won't
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  Speaker 1: urge my wish against your will if he does. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Bell could not come, he had the gout. It was
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  Speaker 1: a most affectionate letter, and expressed great and true regret
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  Speaker 1: for his inability to attend. He hoped to come and
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  Speaker 1: pay them a visit soon if they would have him.
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  Speaker 1: His Milton property required some looking after, and his agent
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  Speaker 1: had written him to say that his presence was absolutely
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  Speaker 1: necessary or else. He had avoided coming near Milton as
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  Speaker 1: long as he could, and now the only thing that
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  Speaker 1: would reconcile him to this necessary visit was the idea
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  Speaker 1: that he should see and might possibly be able to
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  Speaker 1: comfort his old friend. Margaret had all the difficulty in
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  Speaker 1: the world to persuade her father not to invite mister Thornton.
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  Speaker 1: She had an indescribable repugnance to this step being taken.
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  Speaker 1: The night before the funeral came a stately note from
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  Speaker 1: missus Thornton to miss Hale, saying that, at her son's desire,
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  Speaker 1: their carriage should attend the funeral if it would not
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  Speaker 1: be disagreeable to the family. Margaret tossed the note to
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  Speaker 1: her father. Oh, don't let us have these forms, said she.
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  Speaker 1: Let us go alone, you and me, Papa, they don't
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  Speaker 1: care for us, or else he would have offered to
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  Speaker 1: go himself and not have proposed this sending an empty carriage.
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  Speaker 1: I thought you were so extremely averse to his going, Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Hale, in some surprise. And so I am.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want him to come at all, and I
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  Speaker 1: should especially dislike the idea of our asking him. But
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  Speaker 1: this seemed such a mockery of mourning that I did
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  Speaker 1: not expect it from him. She startled her father by
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  Speaker 1: bursting into tears. She had been so subdued in her grief,
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  Speaker 1: so thoughtful for others, so gentle and patient in all things,
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  Speaker 1: that he could not understand her impatient ways. To night
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  Speaker 1: she seemed agitated and restless, and at all the tenderness
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  Speaker 1: which her father, in his turn, now lavished upon her,
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  Speaker 1: she only cried the more. She passed so bad a
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  Speaker 1: night that she was ill prepared for the additional anxiety
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  Speaker 1: caused by a letter received from Frederick. Mister Lennox was
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  Speaker 1: out of town. His clerk said that he would return
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  Speaker 1: by the following Tuesday at the latest, that he might
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  Speaker 1: possibly be at home on Monday. Consequently, after some consideration,
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  Speaker 1: Frederick had determined upon remaining in London. A day or
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  Speaker 1: two longer. He had thought of coming down to Milton again.
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  Speaker 1: The temptation had been very strong, but the idea of
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  Speaker 1: mister Bell domesticated in his father's house, and the alarm
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  Speaker 1: he had received at the last moment at the railway station,
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  Speaker 1: had made him resolve to stay in London. Margaret might
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  Speaker 1: be assured he would take every precaution against being tracked
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  Speaker 1: by Leonard's. Margaret was thankful that she received this letter
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  Speaker 1: while her father was absent in her mother's room. If
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  Speaker 1: he had been present, he would have expected her to
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  Speaker 1: read it aloud to him, and it would have raised
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  Speaker 1: in him a state of nervous alarm which she could
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  Speaker 1: have found it impossible to soothe a way. There was
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  Speaker 1: not merely the fact which disturbed her excessively of Frederick's
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  Speaker 1: detention in London, but there were allusions to the recognition
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  Speaker 1: at the last moment at Milton and the possibility of
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  Speaker 1: a pursuit, which made her blood run cold. And how
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  Speaker 1: then would it have affected her father. Many a time
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  Speaker 1: did Margaret repent of having suggested and urged on the
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  Speaker 1: plan of consulting mister Lennox. At the moment, it had
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  Speaker 1: seemed as if it would occasion so little delay, add
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  Speaker 1: so little to the apparently small chance of detection, And
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  Speaker 1: yet everything that had since occurred tended to make it
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  Speaker 1: so undesirable. Margaret battled hard against this regret of hers
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  Speaker 1: for what could not now be helped, this self reproach,
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  Speaker 1: for having said what at the time appeared to be wise,
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  Speaker 1: but which after events were proving to have been so foolish.
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  Speaker 1: But her father was in too depressed a state of
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  Speaker 1: mind and body to struggle healthily. He would succumb to
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  Speaker 1: all the causes for morbid regret over what could not
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  Speaker 1: be recalled. Margaret summoned up all her forces to her aid.
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  Speaker 1: Her father seemed to have forgotten that they had any
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  Speaker 1: reason to expect a letter from Frederick that morning. He
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  Speaker 1: was absorbed in one idea that last visible token of
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  Speaker 1: the presence of his wife was to be carried away
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  Speaker 1: from him and hidden from their sight. He trembled pitifully
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  Speaker 1: as the undertaker's man was arranging his crape draperies around him.
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  Speaker 1: He looked wistfully at Margaret and When released, he tottered
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  Speaker 1: toward her, murmuring, pray for me, Margaret. I have no
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  Speaker 1: strength left in me. I cannot pray. I give her
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  Speaker 1: up because I must. I try to bear it. Indeed
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  Speaker 1: I do, for I know it is God's will, but
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  Speaker 1: I cannot see why she died. Pray for me, Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: that I may have faith to pray. It is a
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  Speaker 1: great strait my child. Margaret sat by him in the coach,
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  Speaker 1: almost supporting him in her arms, and repeating all the
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  Speaker 1: noble verses of holy comforts or texts expressive of faithful
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  Speaker 1: resignation that she could remember. Her voice never faltered, and
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  Speaker 1: she herself gained strength by doing this. Her father's lips
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  Speaker 1: moved after her repeating the well known texts as her
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  Speaker 1: words suggested them. It was terrible to see the patient's
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  Speaker 1: struggling effort to obtain the resignation which he had not
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  Speaker 1: the strength to take into his heart as part of himself.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret's fortitude nearly gave way as Dixon, with a slight
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  Speaker 1: motion of her hand, directed her notice to Nicholas Higgins
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  Speaker 1: and his daughter, standing a little aloof but deeply attentive
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  Speaker 1: to the ceremonial Nicholas wore his usual fustian clothes, but
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  Speaker 1: had a bit of black stuff sewn round his hat,
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  Speaker 1: a mark of mourning which he had never shown to
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  Speaker 1: his daughter Bessy's memory. But mister Hale saw nothing. He
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  Speaker 1: went on repeating to himself mechanically, as it were all
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  Speaker 1: the funeral service, as it was read by the officiating clergyman.
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  Speaker 1: He sighed twice or thrice when all was ended, and then,
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  Speaker 1: putting his hand on Margaret's arm, he mutely entreated to
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  Speaker 1: be led away, as if he were blind, and she
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  Speaker 1: his faithful guide Dixon sobbed aloud. She covered her face
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  Speaker 1: with her handkerchief, and was so absorbed in her own
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  Speaker 1: grief that she did not perceive that the crowd attracted
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  Speaker 1: on such occasions was dispersing till she was spoken to
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  Speaker 1: by some one close at hand. It was mister Thornton.
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  Speaker 1: He I been present all the time, standing with head
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  Speaker 1: bent behind a group of people, so that in fact
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  Speaker 1: no one recognized him. I beg your pardon, but can
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  Speaker 1: you tell me how mister Hale is and miss Hale too?
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  Speaker 1: I should like to know how they both are. Of course, sir,
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  Speaker 1: they are much as is to be expected. Master is
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  Speaker 1: terribly broken down. Miss Hale bears up better than likely.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Thornton would rather have heard that she was suffering
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  Speaker 1: the natural sorrow. In the first place, there was selfishness
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  Speaker 1: enough in him to have taken pleasure in the idea
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  Speaker 1: that he, his great love, might come in to comfort
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  Speaker 1: and console her, much the same kind of strange, passionate
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  Speaker 1: pleasure which comes stinging through a mother's heart when her
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  Speaker 1: drooping infant nestles close to her and is dependent upon
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  Speaker 1: her for everything. But this delicious vision of what might
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  Speaker 1: have been, in which, in spite of all Margaret's repulse,
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  Speaker 1: he would have indulged. Only a few days ago, was
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  Speaker 1: miserably disturbed by the recollection of what he had seen
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  Speaker 1: near the Outwood station. Miserably disturbed. That is not strong enough.
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  Speaker 1: He was haunted by the remembrance of the handsome young
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  Speaker 1: man with whom she stood in an attitude of such
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  Speaker 1: familiar confidence. And the remembrance shot through him like an agony,
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  Speaker 1: till it made him clench his hands tight in order
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  Speaker 1: to subdue the pain. At that late hour, so far
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  Speaker 1: from home, it took a great moral effort to galvanize
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  Speaker 1: his trust erstwhile so pure in Margaret's pure and exquisite
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  Speaker 1: maidenliness into life. As soon as the effort ceased, his
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  Speaker 1: trust dropped down, dead and powerless, and all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: wild fancies chased each other like dreams through his mind.
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  Speaker 1: Here was a little piece of miserable, gnawing confirmation she
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  Speaker 1: bore up better than likely under this grief. She had
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  Speaker 1: then some hope to look to, so bright that even
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  Speaker 1: in her affectionate nature, it could come in to lighten
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  Speaker 1: the dark hours of a daughter newly made motherless. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he knew how she would love had he not loved
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  Speaker 1: her without gaining that instinctive knowledge of what capabilities were
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  Speaker 1: in her, Her soul would walk in glorious sunlight if
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  Speaker 1: any man was worthy, by his power of loving, to
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  Speaker 1: win back her love. Even in her mourning, she would
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  Speaker 1: rest with a peaceful faith upon his sympathy. His sympathy
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  Speaker 1: whose that other man's, and that it was another was
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  Speaker 1: enough to make mister Thornton's pale, grave face grow doubly
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  Speaker 1: wan and stern at Dixon's answer. I suppose I may call,
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  Speaker 1: he said coldly on mister Hale. I mean he will
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  Speaker 1: perhaps admit me after tomorrow, or so he spoke, as
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  Speaker 1: if the answer were a matter of indifference to him.
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  Speaker 1: But it was not so. For all his pain, he
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  Speaker 1: longed to see the author of it. Although he hated Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: at times, when he thought of that gentle, familiar attitude
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  Speaker 1: and all the attendant circumstances, he had a restless desire
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  Speaker 1: to renew her picture in his mind, a longing for
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  Speaker 1: the very atmosphere she breathed. He was in the charybdis
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  Speaker 1: of passion, and must perforce circle and circle ever nearer
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  Speaker 1: round the fatal center. I dare say, sir, Master will
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  Speaker 1: see you. He was very sorry to have to deny
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  Speaker 1: you the other day, but the circumstances was not agreeable
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  Speaker 1: just then. For some reason or other, Dixon never named
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  Speaker 1: this interview that she had with mister Thornton to Margaret.
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  Speaker 1: It might have been mere chance, But so it was
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  Speaker 1: that Margaret never heard that he had attended her poor
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  Speaker 1: mother's funeral. End of Chapter thirty three.