A Terrible Temptation (Fiscle Part 3), Charles Reade [good story books to read .txt] 📗

Part 3 Chapter 19 Pg 149

Tongue; And She Who Persuades Us Is Stronger Than He Who Convinces Us.

 

Thus Influenced,  Sir Charles Walked Every Day In The Garden With His

Wife,  And Forbore All Direct Allusion To Her Condition,  Though His

Conversation Was Redolent Of It.

 

He Was Still Subject To Sudden Collapses Of The Intellect; But He

Became Conscious When They Were Coming On; And At The First Warning He

Would Insist On Burying Himself In His Room.

 

After Some Days He Consented To Take Short Drives With Lady Bassett In

The Open Carriage. This Made Her Very Joyful. Sir Charles Refused To

Enter A Single House,  So High Was His Pride And So Great His Terror

Lest He Should Expose Himself; But It Was A Great Point Gained That She

Could Take Him About The County,  And Show Him In The Character Of A

Mere Invalid.

 

Every Thing Now Looked Like A Cure,  Slow,  Perhaps,  But Progressive; And

Lady Bassett Had Her Joyful Hours,  Yet Not Without A Bitter Alloy: Her

Divining Mind Asked Itself What She Should Say And Do When Sir Charles

Should Be Quite Recovered. This Thought Tormented Her,  And Sometimes So

Goaded Her That She Hated Mary Wells For Her Well-Meant Interference,

And,  By A Natural Recoil From The Familiarity Circumstances Had Forced

On Her,  Treated That Young Woman With Great Coldness And Hauteur.

 

The Artful Girl Met This With Extreme Meekness And Servility; The Only

Reply She Ever Hazarded Was An Adroit One; She Would Take This

Opportunity To Say,  "How Much Better Master Do Get Ever Since I Took In

Hand To Cure Him!"

 

This Oblique Retort Seldom Failed. Lady Bassett Would Look At Her

Husband,  And Her Face Would Clear; And She Would Generally End By

Giving Mary A Collar,  Or A Scarf,  Or Something.

 

Thus Did Circumstances Enable The Lower Nature To Play With The Higher.

Lady Bassett's Struggles Were Like Those Of A Bird In A Silken Net;

They Led To Nothing. When It Came To The Point She Could Neither Do Nor

Say Any Thing To Retard His Cure. Any Day The Court Of Chancery,  Set In

Motion By Richard Bassett,  Might Issue A Commission _De Lunatico,_ And,

If Sir Charles Was Not Cured By That Time,  Richard Bassett Would

Virtually Administer The Estate--So Mr. Oldfield Had Told Her--And

That,  She Felt Sure,  Would Drive Sir Charles Mad For Life.

 

So There Was No Help For It. She Feared,  She Writhed,  She Hated

Herself; But Sir Charles Got Better Daily,  And So She Let Herself Drift

Along.

 

Mary Wells Made It Fatally Easy To Her. She Was The Agent. Lady Bassett

Was Silent And Passive.

 

After All She Had A Hope Of Extrication. Sir Charles Once Cured,  She

Would Make Him Travel Europe With Her. Money Would Relieve Her Of Mary

Wells,  And Distance Cut All The Other Cords.

Part 3 Chapter 19 Pg 150

And,  Indeed,  A Time Came When She Looked Back On Her Present Situation

With Wonder At The Distress It Had Caused Her. "I Was In Shallow Water

Then," Said She--"But Now!"

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Publication Date: 05-14-2014

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