The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
Book online «The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗». Author Thomas Hardy
Se'Night, And Have Wondered for Days And Days Where He'S Been
Keeping. There Was I Expecting him To Come And Tell Me To Wash
Out The Cider-Barrels Against The Making, And Here Was He-- Well,
I'Ve Knowed him From Table-High; I Knowed his Father--Used to Bide
About Upon Two Sticks In the Sun Afore He Died!--And Now I'Ve Seen
The End Of The Family, Which We Can Ill Afford To Lose, Wi' Such A
Scanty Lot Of Good Folk In hintock As We'Ve Got. And Now Robert
Part 2 Chapter 18 Pg 116Creedle Will Be Nailed up In parish Boards 'A B'Lieve; And Noboby
Will Glutch Down A Sigh For He!"
They Started for Home, Marty And Creedle Remaining behind. For A
Time Grace And Her Father Walked side By Side Without Speaking.
It Was Just In the Blue Of The Dawn, And The Chilling tone Of The
Sky Was Reflected in her Cold, Wet Face. The Whole Wood Seemed to
Be A House Of Death, Pervaded by Loss To Its Uttermost Length And
Breadth. Winterborne Was Gone, And The Copses Seemed to Show The
Want Of Him; Those Young Trees, So Many Of Which He Had Planted,
And Of Which He Had Spoken So Truly When He Said That He Should
Fall Before They Fell, Were At That Very Moment Sending out Their
Roots In the Direction That He Had Given Them With His Subtle
Hand.
"One Thing made It Tolerable To Us That Your Husband Should Come
Back To The House," Said Melbury At Last--"The Death Of Mrs.
Charmond."
"Ah, Yes," Said Grace, Arousing slightly To The Recollection, "He
Told Me So."
"Did He Tell You How She Died? It Was No Such Death As Giles'S.
She Was Shot--By A Disappointed lover. It Occurred in germany.
The Unfortunate Man Shot Himself Afterwards. He Was That South
Carolina Gentleman Of Very Passionate Nature Who Used to Haunt
This Place To Force Her To An Interview, And Followed her About
Everywhere. So Ends The Brilliant Felice Charmond--Once A Good
Friend To Me--But No Friend To You."
"I Can Forgive Her," Said Grace, Absently. "Did Edgar Tell You Of
This?"
"No; But He Put A London Newspaper, Giving an Account Of It, On
The Hall Table, Folded in such A Way That We Should See It. It
Will Be In the Sherton Paper This Week, No Doubt. To Make The
Event More Solemn Still To Him, He Had Just Before Had Sharp Words
With Her, And Left Her. He Told Lucy This, As Nothing about Him
Appears In the Newspaper. And The Cause Of The Quarrel Was, Of
All People, She We'Ve Left Behind Us."
"Do You Mean Marty?" Grace Spoke The Words But Perfunctorily.
For, Pertinent And Pointed as Melbury'S Story Was, She Had No
Heart For It Now.
"Yes. Marty South." Melbury Persisted in his Narrative, To
Divert Her From Her Present Grief, If Possible. "Before He Went
Away She Wrote Him A Letter, Which He Kept In his, Pocket A Long
While Before Reading. He Chanced to Pull It Out In mrs.
Charmond'S, Presence, And Read It Out Loud. It Contained
Something which Teased her Very Much, And That Led to The Rupture.
She Was Following him To Make It Up When She Met With Her Terrible
Death."
Melbury Did Not Know Enough To Give The Gist Of The Incident,
Which Was That Marty South'S Letter Had Been Concerning a Certain
Personal Adornment Common To Herself And Mrs. Charmond. Her
Bullet Reached its Billet At Last. The Scene Between Fitzpiers
Part 2 Chapter 18 Pg 117And Felice Had Been Sharp, As Only A Scene Can Be Which Arises Out
Of The Mortification Of One Woman By Another In the Presence Of A
Lover. True, Marty Had Not Effected it By Word Of Mouth; The
Charge About The Locks Of Hair Was Made Simply By Fitzpiers
Reading her Letter To Him Aloud To Felice In the Playfully
Ironical Tones Of One Who Had Become A Little Weary Of His
Situation, And Was Finding his Friend, In the Phrase Of George
Herbert, A "Flat Delight." He Had Stroked those False Tresses
With His Hand Many A Time Without Knowing them To Be Transplanted,
And It Was Impossible When The Discovery Was So Abruptly Made To
Avoid Being finely Satirical, Despite Her Generous Disposition.
That Was How It Had Begun, And Tragedy Had Been Its End. On His
Abrupt Departure She Had Followed him To The Station But The Train
Was Gone; And In travelling to Baden In search Of Him She Had Met
His Rival, Whose Reproaches Led to An Altercation, And The Death
Of Both. Of That Precipitate Scene Of Passion And Crime Fitzpiers
Had Known Nothing till He Saw An Account Of It In the Papers,
Where, Fortunately For Himself, No Mention Was Made Of His Prior
Acquaintance With The Unhappy Lady; Nor Was There Any Allusion To
Him In the Subsequent Inquiry, The Double Death Being attributed
To Some Gambling losses, Though, In point Of Fact, Neither One Of
Them Had Visited the Tables.
Melbury And His Daughter Drew Near Their House, Having seen But
One Living thing on Their Way, A Squirrel, Which Did Not Run Up
Its Tree, But, Dropping the Sweet Chestnut Which It Carried, Cried
Chut-Chut-Chut, And Stamped with Its Hind Legs On The Ground.
When The Roofs And Chimneys Of The Homestead Began To Emerge From
The Screen Of Boughs, Grace Started, And Checked herself In her
Abstracted advance.
"You Clearly Understand," She Said To Her Step-Mother Some Of Her
Old Misgiving returning, "That I Am Coming back Only On Condition
Of His Leaving as He Promised? Will You Let Him Know This, That
There May Be No Mistake?"
Mrs. Melbury, Who Had Some Long Private Talks With Fitzpiers,
Assured grace That She Need have No Doubts On That Point, And That
He Would Probably Be Gone By The Evening. Grace Then Entered with
Them Into Melbury'S Wing of The House, And Sat Down Listlessly In
The Parlor, While Her Step-Mother Went To Fitzpiers.
The Prompt Obedience To Her Wishes Which The Surgeon Showed did
Honor To Him, If Anything could. Before Mrs. Melbury Had Returned
To The Room Grace, Who Was Sitting on The Parlor Window-Bench, Saw
Her Husband Go From The Door Under The Increasing light Of
Morning, With A Bag In his Hand. While Passing through The Gate
He Turned his Head. The Firelight Of The Room She Sat In threw
Her Figure Into Dark Relief Against The Window As She Looked
Through The Panes, And He Must Have Seen Her Distinctly. In a
Moment He Went On, The Gate Fell To, And He Disappeared. At The
Hut She Had Declared that Another Had Displaced him; And Now She
Had Banished him.
Part 2 Chapter 19 Pg 118
Fitzpiers Had Hardly Been Gone An Hour When Grace Began To Sicken.
The Next Day She Kept Her Room. Old Jones Was Called in; He
Murmured some Statements In which The Words "Feverish Symptoms"
Occurred. Grace Heard Them, And Guessed the Means By Which She
Had Brought This Visitation Upon Herself.
One Day, While She Still Lay There With Her Head Throbbing,
Wondering if She Were Really Going to Join Him Who Had Gone
Before, Grammer Oliver Came To Her Bedside. "I Don'T Know Whe'R
This Is Meant For You To Take, Ma'Am," She Said, "But I Have Found
It On The Table. It Was Left By Marty, I Think, When She Came
This Morning."
Grace Turned her Hot Eyes Upon What Grammer Held Up. It Was The
Phial Left At The Hut By Her Husband When He Had Begged her To
Take Some Drops Of Its Contents If She Wished to Preserve Herself
From Falling a Victim To The Malady Which Had Pulled down
Winterborne. She Examined it As Well As She Could. The Liquid
Was Of An Opaline Hue, And Bore A Label With An Inscription In
Italian. He Had Probably Got It In his Wanderings Abroad. She
Knew But Little Italian, But Could Understand That The Cordial Was
A Febrifuge Of Some Sort. Her Father, Her Mother, And All The
Household Were Anxious For Her Recovery, And She Resolved to Obey
Her Husband'S Directions. Whatever The Risk, If Any, She Was
Prepared to Run It. A Glass Of Water Was Brought, And The Drops
Dropped in.
The Effect, Though Not Miraculous, Was Remarkable. In less Than
An Hour She Felt Calmer, Cooler, Better Able To Reflect--Less
Inclined to Fret And Chafe And Wear Herself Away. She Took A Few
Drops More. From That Time The Fever Retreated, And Went Out Like
A Damped conflagration.
"How Clever He Is!" She Said, Regretfully. "Why Could He Not Have
Had More Principle, So As To Turn His Great Talents To Good
Account? Perhaps He Has Saved my Useless Life. But He Doesn'T
Know It, And Doesn'T Care Whether He Has Saved it Or Not; And On
That Account Will Never Be Told By Me! Probably He Only Gave It To
Me In the Arrogance Of His Skill, To Show The Greatness Of His
Resources Beside Mine, As Elijah Drew Down Fire From Heaven."
As Soon As She Had Quite Recovered from This Foiled attack Upon
Her Life, Grace Went To Marty South'S Cottage. The Current Of Her
Being had Again Set Towards The Lost Giles Winterborne.
"Marty," She Said, "We Both Loved him. We Will Go To His Grave
Together."
Great Hintock Church Stood At The Upper Part Of The Village, And
Could Be Reached without Passing through The Street. In the Dusk
Part 2 Chapter 19 Pg 119Of The Late September Day They Went Thither By Secret Ways,
Walking mostly In silence Side By Side, Each Busied with Her Own
Thoughts. Grace Had A Trouble Exceeding marty'S--That Haunting
Sense Of Having put Out The Light Of His Life
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