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020 - Ch 20 - Men and Gentlemen · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne,
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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty. Men and gentlemen, old and young boy, Let
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Speaker 1: em all eat, I have it, Let em have ten
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Speaker 1: tire of teeth, apiece, I care not rollo, Duke of Normandy.
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Speaker 1: Margaret went home so painfully occupied with what she had
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Speaker 1: heard and seen that she hardly knew how to rouse
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Speaker 1: herself up to the duties which awaited her, the necessity
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Speaker 1: for keeping up a constant flow of cheerful conversation for
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Speaker 1: her mother, who, now that she was unable to go out,
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Speaker 1: always looked to Margaret's return from the shortest walk as
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Speaker 1: bringing in some news. And can that factory friend of
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Speaker 1: yours come on Thursday to see you dressed? She was
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Speaker 1: so ill, I never thought of asking her, said Margaret dolefully. Dear,
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Speaker 1: everybody is ill now, I think, said missus Hale, with
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Speaker 1: a little of the jealousy which one invalid is apt
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Speaker 1: to feel of another. But it must be very sad
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Speaker 1: to be ill in one of those little back streets,
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Speaker 1: her kindly nature prevailing, and the old Helstone habits of
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Speaker 1: thought returning. It's bad enough here. What could you do
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Speaker 1: for her? Margaret? Mister Thornton has sent me some of
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Speaker 1: his old port wine since she went out. Would a
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Speaker 1: bottle of that do her good? Think you? No, Mamma,
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Speaker 1: I don't believe they are very poor, at least they
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Speaker 1: don't speak as if they were. And at any rate,
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Speaker 1: Bessy's illness is consumption. She won't want wine. Perhaps I
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Speaker 1: might take her a little preserve made of our dear
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Speaker 1: helstone fruit. No, there's another family to whom I should
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Speaker 1: like to give. Oh, Mamma, Mamma, how am I to
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Speaker 1: dress up in my finery and go off and away
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Speaker 1: to smart places after the sorrow I have seen to day,
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Speaker 1: exclaimed Margaret, bursting the bounds she had preordained for herself
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Speaker 1: before she came in and telling her mother of what
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Speaker 1: she had seen and heard at Higgins's cottage. It distressed
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Speaker 1: missus Hale excessively. It made her restlessly irritated till she
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Speaker 1: could do something. She directed Margaret to pack up a
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Speaker 1: basket in the very drawing room to be sent there
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Speaker 1: and then to the family, and was almost angry with
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Speaker 1: her for saying that it would not signify if it
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Speaker 1: did not go till morning, as she knew Higgins had
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Speaker 1: provided for their immediate wants, and she herself had left
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Speaker 1: money with Bessy Missus. Hale called her unfeeling for saying this,
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Speaker 1: and never gave herself breathing time till the basket was
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Speaker 1: sent out of the house. Then she said, after all,
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Speaker 1: we may have been doing wrong. It was only the
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Speaker 1: last time mister Thornton was here that he said, those
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Speaker 1: were not true friends who helped to prolong the struggle
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Speaker 1: by assisting the turnouts. And this boucher Man was a
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Speaker 1: turn out, was he not? The question was referred to
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Speaker 1: mister Hale by his wife when he came upstairs fresh
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Speaker 1: from giving a lesson to mister Thornton, which had ended
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Speaker 1: in conversation, as was their wont Margaret did not care
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Speaker 1: if their gifts had prolonged the strike. She did not
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Speaker 1: think far enough for that in her present excited state.
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Speaker 1: Mister Hale listened and tried to be as calm as
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Speaker 1: a judge. He recalled all that had seemed so clear
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Speaker 1: not half an hour before, as it came out of
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Speaker 1: mister Thornton's lips, and then he made an unsatisfactory compromise.
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Speaker 1: His wife and daughter had not only done quite right
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Speaker 1: in this instance, but he did not see for a
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Speaker 1: moment how they could have done otherwise. Nevertheless, as a
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Speaker 1: general rule, it was very true what mister Thornton said
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Speaker 1: that as the strike, if prolonged, must end in the
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Speaker 1: master's bringing hands from a distance. If indeed the final
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Speaker 1: results were not, as it had often been before, the
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Speaker 1: invention of some machine which would diminish the need of
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Speaker 1: hands at all, why it was clear enough that the
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Speaker 1: kindest thing was to refuse all help which might bolster
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Speaker 1: them up in their folly. But as to this Boucher,
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Speaker 1: he would go and see him first thing in the
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Speaker 1: morning and try and find out what could be done
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Speaker 1: for him. Mister Hale went the next morning as he proposed.
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Speaker 1: He did not find Boucher at home, but he had
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Speaker 1: a long talk with his wife, promised to ask for
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Speaker 1: an infirmary order for her, and seen the plenty provided
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Speaker 1: by missus Hale and somewhat lavishly used by the children
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Speaker 1: who were masters downstairs in their father's absence. He came
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Speaker 1: back with a more consoling and cheerful account than Margaret
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Speaker 1: had dared to hope. For Indeed, what she had said
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Speaker 1: the night before had prepared her father for so much
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Speaker 1: worse a state of things, that, by a reaction of
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Speaker 1: his imagination, he described all as better than it really was.
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Speaker 1: But I will go again and see the man, said,
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Speaker 1: mister Hale, I hardly know as yet how to compare
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Speaker 1: one of these houses with our helstone cottages. I see
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Speaker 1: furniture here which our laborers would never have thought of buying,
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Speaker 1: and food commonly used which they would consider luxuries. Yet
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Speaker 1: for these very families there seems no other resource, now
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Speaker 1: that their weekly wages are stopped, but the pawn shop.
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Speaker 1: One had need to learn a different language and measure
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Speaker 1: by a different standard. Up here in Milton. Bessy too
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Speaker 1: was rather better this day. Still, she was so weak
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Speaker 1: that she seemed to have entirely forgotten her wish to
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Speaker 1: see Margaret dressed, if indeed that had not been the
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Speaker 1: feverish desire of a half delirious state. Margaret could not
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Speaker 1: help comparing this strange dressing of hers to go where
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Speaker 1: she did not care to be, her heart heavy with
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Speaker 1: various anxieties, with the old, merry, girlish toiletries that she
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Speaker 1: and Edith had performed scarcely more than a year ago.
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Speaker 1: Her only pleasure now in decking herself out was in
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Speaker 1: thinking that her mother would take delight in seeing her dressed.
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Speaker 1: She blushed when Dixon, throwing the drawing room door open,
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Speaker 1: made an appeal for admiration. Miss Hale looks well, ma'am,
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Speaker 1: doesn't she? Missus Shaw's coral couldn't have come in better.
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Speaker 1: It just gives the right touch of color, ma'am. Otherwise,
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Speaker 1: Miss Margaret, you would have been too pale. Margaret's black
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Speaker 1: hair was too thick to be plaited. It needed rather
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Speaker 1: to be twisted round and round and have its fine
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Speaker 1: silkiness compressed into massive coils that encircled her head like
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Speaker 1: a crown, and then were gathered into a large spiral
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Speaker 1: knot behind. She kept its weight together by two large
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Speaker 1: coral pins like small arrows. For length, Her white silk
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Speaker 1: sleeves were looped up with strings of the same material,
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Speaker 1: and on her neck, just below the base of her
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Speaker 1: curved and milk white throat, there lay heavy coral beads. Oh, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: how I should like to be going with you one
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Speaker 1: of the old Bearrington assemblies, taking you as Lady Beresford
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Speaker 1: used to take me. Margaret kissed her mother for this
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Speaker 1: little burst of maternal vanity, but she could hardly smile
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Speaker 1: at it. She felt so much out of spirits. I
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Speaker 1: would rather stay at home with you much rather, Mamma. Nonsense, darling,
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Speaker 1: be sure you notice the dinner well. I shall like
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Speaker 1: to hear how they manage these things in Milton, particularly
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Speaker 1: the second course. Dear, look what they have instead of game.
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Speaker 1: Missus Hale would have been more than interested. She would
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Speaker 1: have been astonished if she had seen the sumptuousness of
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Speaker 1: the dinner table and its appointments. Margaret, with her London
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Speaker 1: cultivated taste, felt the number of delicacies to be oppressive.
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Speaker 1: One half of the quantity would have been enough, and
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Speaker 1: the effect lighter and more elegant. But it was one
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Speaker 1: of Missus Thornton's rigorous laws of hospitality that of each
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Speaker 1: separate dainty enough should be provided for all the guests
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Speaker 1: to partake if they felt inclined. Careless to abstemiousness. In
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Speaker 1: her daily habits, it was part of her pride to
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Speaker 1: set a feast before such of her guests as cared
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Speaker 1: for it. Her son shared this feeling, he had never known,
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Speaker 1: though he might have imagined and had the capability to
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Speaker 1: relish any kind of society but that which depended on
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Speaker 1: an exchange of superb meals. And even now, though he
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Speaker 1: was denying himself the personal expenditure of an unnecessary sixpence,
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Speaker 1: and had more than once regretted that the invitations for
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Speaker 1: this dinner had been sent out, still as it was
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Speaker 1: to be, he was glad to see the old magnificence
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Speaker 1: of preparation. Margaret and her father were the first to arrive.
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Speaker 1: Mister Hale was anxiously punctual to the time specified. There
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Speaker 1: was no one upstairs in the drawing room but missus
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Speaker 1: Thornton and Fanny. Every cover was taken off, and the
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Speaker 1: apartment blazed forth in yellow silk damask and a brilliantly
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Speaker 1: flowered carpet. Every corner seemed filled up with ornament, until
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Speaker 1: it became a weariness to the eye, and presented a
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Speaker 1: very strange contrast to the bald ugliness of the look
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Speaker 1: out into the great mill yard, where wide folding gates
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Speaker 1: were thrown open for the admission of carriages. The mill
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Speaker 1: loomed high on the left hand side of the windows,
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Speaker 1: casting a shadow down from its many stories, which darkened
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Speaker 1: the summer evening before its time. My son was engaged
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Speaker 1: up to the last moment on business. He will be
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Speaker 1: here directly, mister Hale, May I beg you to take
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Speaker 1: a seat. Mister Hale was standing at one of the
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Speaker 1: windows as Missus Thornton spoke. He turned away, saying, don't
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Speaker 1: you find such a close neighborhood to the mill rather unpleasant?
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Speaker 1: At times? She drew herself up. Never, I am not
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Speaker 1: become so fine as to desire to forget the source
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Speaker 1: of my son's wealth and power. Besides, there is not
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Speaker 1: such another factory in Milton. One room alone is two
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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty square yards. I meant that the smoke
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Speaker 1: and noise, the constant going out and coming in of
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Speaker 1: the work people, might be annoying. I agree with you,
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Speaker 1: mister Hale, said Fanny. There's a continual smell of steam
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Speaker 1: and oily machinery, and the noise is perfectly deafening. I
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Speaker 1: have heard noise that was called music far more deafening.
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Speaker 1: The engine room is at the street end of the factory.
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Speaker 1: We hardly hear it except in summer weather when all
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Speaker 1: the windows are open. And as for the continual murmur
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Speaker 1: of the work people, it disturbs me no more than
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Speaker 1: the humming of a hive of bees. If I think
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Speaker 1: of it at all, I connect it with my son
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Speaker 1: and feel how all belongs to him, and that he
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Speaker 1: is the head that directs it. Just now, there are
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Speaker 1: no sounds to come from the mill. The hands have
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Speaker 1: been ungrateful enough to turn out as perhaps you have heard.
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Speaker 1: But the very business of which I spoke when you
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Speaker 1: entered had reference to the steps he is going to
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Speaker 1: take to make them learn their place. The expression on
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Speaker 1: her face, always stern, deepened into dark anger as she
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Speaker 1: said this, Nor did it clear away when mister Thornton
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Speaker 1: entered the room, for she saw in an instant the
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Speaker 1: weight of care and anxiety which he could not shake off.
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Speaker 1: Although his guest received from him a greeting that appeared
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Speaker 1: both cheerful and cordial, he shook hands with Margaret. He
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Speaker 1: knew it was the first time their hands had met,
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Speaker 1: though she was perfectly unconscious of the fact. He inquired
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Speaker 1: after missus Hale and heard mister Hale's sanguine, hopeful account,
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Speaker 1: and glancing at Margaret to understand how far she agreed
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Speaker 1: with her father, he saw that no dissenting shadow crossed
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Speaker 1: her face, and as he looked with this intention, he
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Speaker 1: was struck anew with her great beauty. He had never
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Speaker 1: seen her in such dress before, and yet now it
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Speaker 1: appeared as if such elegance of attire was so befitting
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Speaker 1: her noble figure and lofty serenity of countenance, that she
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Speaker 1: ought to go always thus apparelled. She was talking to
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Speaker 1: Fanny about what he could not hear. But he saw
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Speaker 1: his sister's restless way of continually arranging some part of
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Speaker 1: her gown, her wandering eyes now glancing here, now there,
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Speaker 1: but without any purpose in her observation. And he contrasted
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Speaker 1: them uneasily with the large, soft eyes that looked forth
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Speaker 1: steadily at one object, as if from out their light
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Speaker 1: beamed some gentle influence of repose. The curving lines of
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Speaker 1: the red lips just parted in the interest of listening
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Speaker 1: to what her companion said, the head a little bent forward,
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Speaker 1: so as to make a long sweeping line from the summit,
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Speaker 1: where the light caught on the glossy raven hair, to
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Speaker 1: the smooth ivory tip of the shoulder. The round white
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Speaker 1: arms and taper hands lightly laid across each other, but
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Speaker 1: perfectly motionless in their pretty attitude. Mister Thornton sighed as
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Speaker 1: he took in all this with one of his sudden
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Speaker 1: comprehensive glances, and then he turned his back to the
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Speaker 1: young ladies and threw himself, with an effort, but with
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Speaker 1: all his heart and soul, into a conversation with mister Hale.
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Speaker 1: More people came, more and more. Fanny left Margaret's side
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Speaker 1: and helped her mother to receive her guests. Mister Thornton
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Speaker 1: felt that in this influx no one was speaking to Margaret,
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Speaker 1: and was restless under this apparent neglect. But he never
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Speaker 1: went near her himself. He did not look at her.
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Speaker 1: Only he knew what she was doing or not doing,
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Speaker 1: better than he knew the movements of any one else
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Speaker 1: in the room. Margaret was so unconscious of herself, and
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Speaker 1: so much amused by watching other people, that she never
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Speaker 1: thought whether she was left unnoticed or not. Somebody took
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Speaker 1: her down to dinner. She did not catch the name,
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Speaker 1: nor did he seem much inclined to talk to her.
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Speaker 1: There was a very animated conversation going on among the gentlemen.
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Speaker 1: The ladies, for the most part, were silent, employing themselves
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Speaker 1: in taking notes of the dinner and criticizing each other's dresses.
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Speaker 1: Margaret caught the clue in the general conversation, grew interested
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Speaker 1: and listened attentively. Mister Horsfall, the stranger whose visit to
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Speaker 1: the town was the original germ of the party, was
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Speaker 1: asking questions relative to the trade and manufactures of the place,
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Speaker 1: and the rest of the gentlemen. All milton Men were
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Speaker 1: giving him answers and explanations. Some dispute arose, which was
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Speaker 1: warmly contested. It was referred to mister Thornton, who had
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Speaker 1: hardly spoken before, but who now gave an opinion, the
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Speaker 1: grounds of which were so clearly stated that even the
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Speaker 1: opponents yielded. Margaret's attention was thus called to her host.
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Speaker 1: His whole manner as master of the house and entertainer
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Speaker 1: of his friends, was so straightforward, yet simple and modest
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Speaker 1: as to be thoroughly dignified. Margaret thought she had never
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Speaker 1: seen him to so much advantage. When he had come
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Speaker 1: to their house. There had always been something either of
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Speaker 1: over eagerness or that kind of vexed annoyance, which seemed
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Speaker 1: ready to presuppose that he was unjustly judged, and yet
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Speaker 1: felt too proud to try and make himself better understood.
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Speaker 1: But now among his fellows there was no uncertainty as
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Speaker 1: to his position. He was regarded by them as a
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Speaker 1: man of great force, of character, of power in many ways.
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Speaker 1: There was no need to struggle for their respect. He
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Speaker 1: had it, and he knew it, And the security of
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Speaker 1: this gave a fine, grand quietness to his voice and ways,
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Speaker 1: which Margaret had missed before. He was not in the
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Speaker 1: habit of talking to ladies, and what he did say
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Speaker 1: was a little formal. To Margaret herself, he hardly spoke
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Speaker 1: at all. She was surprised to think how much she
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Speaker 1: enjoyed this dinner. She knew enough now to understand many
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Speaker 1: local interests, nay even some of the technical words employed
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Speaker 1: by the eager mill owners. She silently took a very
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Speaker 1: decided part in the question they were discussing. At any rate,
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Speaker 1: they talked in desperate earnest, not in the used up
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Speaker 1: style that wearied her so in the old London parties.
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Speaker 1: She wondered that, with all this dwelling on the manufactures
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Speaker 1: and trades of the place, no allusion was made to
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Speaker 1: the strike then pending. She did not yet know how
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Speaker 1: coolly such things were taken by the masters as having
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Speaker 1: only one possible end. To be sure, the men were
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Speaker 1: cutting their own throats, as they had done many a
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Speaker 1: time before. But if they would be fools and put
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Speaker 1: themselves into the hands of a rascally set of paid delegates,
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Speaker 1: they must take the consequences one or two, thought Thorne,
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Speaker 1: and looked out of spirits. And of course he must
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Speaker 1: lose by this turn out. But it was an accident
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Speaker 1: that might happen to themselves any day, and Thornton was
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Speaker 1: as good to manage a strike as any one, for
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Speaker 1: he was as iron a chap as any in Milton.
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Speaker 1: The hands had mistaken their man in trying that dodge
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Speaker 1: on him, and they chuckled inwardly at the idea of
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Speaker 1: the workmen's discomfiture and defeat. In their attempt to alter
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Speaker 1: one iota of what Thornton had decreed. It was rather
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Speaker 1: dull for Margaret after dinner. She was glad when the
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Speaker 1: gentlemen came, not merely because she caught her father's eye
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Speaker 1: to brighten her sleepiness up, but because she could listen
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Speaker 1: to something larger and grander than the petty interests which
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Speaker 1: the ladies had been talking about. She liked the exultation
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Speaker 1: in the sense of power which these Milton men had.
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Speaker 1: It might be rather rampant in its display and savor
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Speaker 1: of boasting, but still they seemed to defy the old
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Speaker 1: limits of possibility in a kind of fine intoxication caused
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Speaker 1: by the recollection of what had been achieved and what
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Speaker 1: yet should be. In her cooler moments, she might not
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Speaker 1: approve of their spirit in all things. Still there was
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Speaker 1: much to admire in their forgetfulness of themselves and the present,
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Speaker 1: in their anticipated triumphs over all inanimate matter at some
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Speaker 1: future time which none of them should live to see.
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Speaker 1: She was rather startled when mister Thornton spoke to her
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Speaker 1: close at her elbow. I could see you were on
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Speaker 1: our side in our discussion at dinner, were you not,
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Speaker 1: Miss Hale? Certainly? But then I know so little about it.
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Speaker 1: I was surprised, however, to find from what mister Horsfall
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Speaker 1: said that there were others who thought in so diametrically
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Speaker 1: opposite a manner as the mister Morrison he spoke about.
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Speaker 1: He cannot be a gentleman, is he? I am not
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Speaker 1: quite the person to decide on another's gentlemanliness. Miss Hale.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't quite understand your application of the word,
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Speaker 1: but I should say that this Morrison is no true man.
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Speaker 1: I don't know who he is. I merely judge him
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Speaker 1: from mister Horsfall's account. I suspect my gentleman includes your
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Speaker 1: true man, and a great deal more you would imply.
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Speaker 1: I differ from you. A man to me is a
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Speaker 1: higher and a completer being than a gentleman. What do
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Speaker 1: you mean, asked Margaret. We must understand the words differently.
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Speaker 1: I take it that gentleman is a term that only
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Speaker 1: describes a person in his relation to others. But when
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Speaker 1: we speak of him as a man, we consider him
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Speaker 1: not merely with regard to his fellow men, but in
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Speaker 1: relation to himself, to life, to time, to eternity, a
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Speaker 1: castaway lonely as Robinson Crusoe, a prisoner immured in a
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Speaker 1: dungeon for life. Nay, even a saint in Patmos has
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Speaker 1: his endurance, his strength, his faith best described by being
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Speaker 1: spoken of as a man. I am rather weary of
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Speaker 1: this word gentlemanly, which seems to me to be often
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Speaker 1: inappropriately used, and often too with such exaggerated distortion of meaning.
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Speaker 1: While the full simplicity of the noun man and the
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Speaker 1: adjective manly are unacknowledged. That I am induced to class
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Speaker 1: it with the cant of the day. Margaret thought a moment,
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Speaker 1: but before she could speak her slow conviction, he was
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Speaker 1: called away by some of the eager manufacturers, whose speeches
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Speaker 1: she could not hear, though she could guess at their
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Speaker 1: import by the short, clear answers mister Thornton gave, which
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Speaker 1: came steady and firm as the boom of a distant
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Speaker 1: minute gun. They were evidently talking of the turnout and
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Speaker 1: suggesting what course had best be pursued. She heard mister
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Speaker 1: Thornton say that has been done. There came a hurried
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Speaker 1: in which two or three joined. All those arrangements have
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Speaker 1: been made. Some doubts were implied, some difficulties named by
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Speaker 1: mister Slickson, who took hold of mister Thornton's arm, the
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Speaker 1: better to impress his words. Mister Thornton moved slightly away,
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Speaker 1: lifted his eyebrows a very little, and then replied, I
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Speaker 1: take the risk. You need not join in it unless
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Speaker 1: you choose. Still, some more fears were urged. I am
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Speaker 1: not afraid of anything, so dastardly as incendiarism. We are
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Speaker 1: open enemies, and I can protect myself from any violence
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Speaker 1: that I apprehend, and I will assuredly protect all others
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Speaker 1: who come to me for work. They know my determination
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Speaker 1: by this time as well and as fully as you do.
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Speaker 1: Mister Horsfall took him a little on one side as
21:51
Speaker 1: Margaret conjectured to ask him some other question about the strike.
21:55
Speaker 1: But in truth it was to inquire who she herself
21:58
Speaker 1: was so quiet, so stately and so beautiful. A Milton lady,
22:04
Speaker 1: he asked, as the name was given. No from the
22:09
Speaker 1: south of England, Hampshire, I believe, was the cold, indifferent answer.
22:15
Speaker 1: Missus Slickson was catechising Fanny on the same subject. Who
22:19
Speaker 1: is that fine distinguished looking girl, a sister of mister Horsfall's.
22:24
Speaker 1: Oh dear, No, that is mister Hale her father talking
22:29
Speaker 1: now to mister Stephens. He gives lessons, that is to say,
22:34
Speaker 1: he reads with young men. My brother John goes to
22:37
Speaker 1: him twice a week, and so he begged Mamma to
22:39
Speaker 1: ask them here in hopes of getting him known. I
22:43
Speaker 1: believe we have some of their prospectuses. If you would
22:46
Speaker 1: like to have one mister Thornton, does he really find
22:51
Speaker 1: time to read with a tutor in the midst of
22:53
Speaker 1: all his business and this abominable strike in hand as well.
22:59
Speaker 1: Fanny was not sure from Missus Slickson's manner whether she
23:02
Speaker 1: ought to be proud or ashamed of her brother's conduct,
23:06
Speaker 1: And like all people who try and take other people's
23:09
Speaker 1: ought for the rule of their feelings, she was inclined
23:12
Speaker 1: to blush for any singularity of action. Her shame was
23:16
Speaker 1: interrupted by the dispersion of the guests end of chapter
23:21
Speaker 1: twenty