The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
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Wood For Privacy?"
Grace Demurred, And Fitzpiers Gave In, And They Kept The Public
Road.
At Any Rate She Would Take His Arm? This Also Was Gravely
Negatived, The Refusal Being audible To Marty.
"Why Not?" He Inquired.
"Oh, Mr. Fitzpiers--How Can You Ask?"
"Right, Right," Said He, His Effusiveness Shrivelled up.
As They Walked on She Returned to Her Inquiry. "It Is About A
Matter That May Perhaps Be Unpleasant To You. But I Think I Need
Not Consider That Too Carefully."
"Not At All," Said Fitzpiers, Heroically.
She Then Took Him Back To The Time Of Poor Winterborne'S Death,
And Related the Precise Circumstances Amid Which His Fatal Illness
Had Come Upon Him, Particularizing the Dampness Of The Shelter To
Which He Had Betaken Himself, His Concealment From Her Of The
Hardships That He Was Undergoing, All That He Had Put Up With, All
That He Had Done For Her In his Scrupulous Considerateness. The
Retrospect Brought Her To Tears As She Asked him If He Thought
That The Sin Of Having driven Him To His Death Was Upon Her.
Fitzpiers Could Hardly Help Showing his Satisfaction At What Her
Narrative Indirectly Revealed, The Actual Harmlessness Of An
Escapade With Her Lover, Which Had At First, By Her Own Showing,
Looked so Grave, And He Did Not Care To Inquire Whether That
Harmlessness Had Been The Result Of Aim Or Of Accident. With
Regard To Her Question, He Declared that In his Judgment No Human
Being could Answer It. He Thought That Upon The Whole The Balance
Of Probabilities Turned in her Favor. Winterborne'S Apparent
Strength, During the Last Months Of His Life, Must Have Been
Delusive. It Had Often Occurred that After A First Attack Of That
Insidious Disease A Person'S Apparent Recovery Was A Physiological
Mendacity.
The Relief Which Came To Grace Lay Almost As Much In sharing her
Knowledge Of The Particulars With An Intelligent Mind As In the
Assurances Fitzpiers Gave Her. "Well, Then, To Put This Case
Before You, And Obtain Your Professional Opinion, Was Chiefly Why
I Consented to Come Here To-Day," Said She, When He Had Reached
The Aforesaid Conclusion.
"For No Other Reason At All?" He Asked, Ruefully.
"It Was Nearly The Whole."
They Stood And Looked over A Gate At Twenty Or Thirty Starlings
Feeding in the Grass, And He Started the Talk Again By Saying, In
A Low Voice, "And Yet I Love You More Than Ever I Loved you In my
Life."
Part 2 Chapter 20 Pg 127
Grace Did Not Move Her Eyes From The Birds, And Folded her
Delicate Lips As If To Keep Them In subjection.
"It Is A Different Kind Of Love Altogether," Said He. "Less
Passionate; More Profound. It Has Nothing to Do With The Material
Conditions Of The Object At All; Much To Do With Her Character And
Goodness, As Revealed by Closer Observation. 'Love Talks With
Better Knowledge, And Knowledge With Dearer Love.'"
"That'S Out Of 'Measure For Measure,'" Said She, Slyly.
"Oh Yes--I Meant It As A Citation," Blandly Replied fitzpiers.
"Well, Then, Why Not Give Me A Very Little Bit Of Your Heart
Again?"
The Crash Of A Felled tree In the Remote Depths Of The Wood
Recalled the Past At That Moment, And All The Homely Faithfulness
Of Winterborne. "Don'T Ask It! My Heart Is In the Grave With
Giles," She Replied, Stanchly.
"Mine Is With You--In No Less Deep A Grave, I Fear, According to
That."
"I Am Very Sorry; But It Cannot Be Helped."
"How Can You Be Sorry For Me, When You Wilfully Keep Open The
Grave?"
"Oh No--That'S Not So," Returned grace, Quickly, And Moved to Go
Away From Him.
"But, Dearest Grace," Said He, "You Have Condescended to Come; And
I Thought From It That Perhaps When I Had Passed through A Long
State Of Probation You Would Be Generous. But If There Can Be No
Hope Of Our Getting completely Reconciled, Treat Me Gently--Wretch
Though I Am."
"I Did Not Say You Were A Wretch, Nor Have I Ever Said So."
"But You Have Such A Contemptuous Way Of Looking at Me That I Fear
You Think So."
Grace'S Heart Struggled between The Wish Not To Be Harsh And The
Fear That She Might Mislead Him. "I Cannot Look Contemptuous
Unless I Feel Contempt," She Said, Evasively. "And All I Feel Is
Lovelessness."
"I Have Been Very Bad, I Know," He Returned. "But Unless You Can
Really Love Me Again, Grace, I Would Rather Go Away From You
Forever. I Don'T Want You To Receive Me Again For Duty'S Sake, Or
Anything of That Sort. If I Had Not Cared more For Your Affection
And Forgiveness Than My Own Personal Comfort, I Should Never Have
Come Back Here. I Could Have Obtained a Practice At A Distance,
And Have Lived my Own Life Without Coldness Or Reproach. But I
Have Chosen To Return To The One Spot On Earth Where My Name Is
Tarnished--To Enter The House Of A Man From Whom I Have Had Worse
Treatment Than From Any Other Man Alive--All For You!"
Part 2 Chapter 20 Pg 128
This Was Undeniably True, And It Had Its Weight With Grace, Who
Began To Look As If She Thought She Had Been Shockingly Severe.
"Before You Go," He Continued, "I Want To Know Your Pleasure About
Me--What You Wish Me To Do, Or Not To Do."
"You Are Independent Of Me, And It Seems A Mockery To Ask That.
Far Be It From Me To Advise. But I Will Think It Over. I Rather
Need advice Myself Than Stand In a Position To Give It."
"You Don'T Need advice, Wisest, Dearest Woman That Ever Lived. If
You Did--"
"Would You Give It To Me?"
"Would You Act Upon What I Gave?"
"That'S Not A Fair Inquiry," Said She, Smiling despite Her
Gravity. "I Don'T Mind Hearing it--What You Do Really Think The
Most Correct And Proper Course For Me."
"It Is So Easy For Me To Say, And Yet I Dare Not, For It Would Be
Provoking you To Remonstrances."
Knowing, Of Course, What The Advice Would Be, She Did Not Press
Him Further, And Was About To Beckon Marty Forward And Leave Him,
When He Interrupted her With, "Oh, One Moment, Dear Grace--You
Will Meet Me Again?"
She Eventually Agreed to See Him That Day Fortnight. Fitzpiers
Expostulated at The Interval, But The Half-Alarmed earnestness
With Which She Entreated him Not To Come Sooner Made Him Say
Hastily That He Submitted to Her Will--That He Would Regard Her As
A Friend Only, Anxious For His Reform And Well-Being, Till Such
Time As She Might Allow Him To Exceed that Privilege.
All This Was To Assure Her; It Was Only Too Clear That He Had Not
Won Her Confidence Yet. It Amazed fitzpiers, And Overthrew All
His Deductions From Previous Experience, To Find That This Girl,
Though She Had Been Married to Him, Could Yet Be So Coy.
Notwithstanding a Certain Fascination That It Carried with It, His
Reflections Were Sombre As He Went Homeward; He Saw How Deep Had
Been His Offence To Produce So Great A Wariness In a Gentle And
Once Unsuspicious Soul.
He Was Himself Too Fastidious To Care To Coerce Her. To Be An
Object Of Misgiving or Dislike To A Woman Who Shared his Home Was
What He Could Not Endure The Thought Of. Life As It Stood Was
More Tolerable.
When He Was Gone, Marty Joined mrs. Fitzpiers. She Would Fain
Have Consulted marty On The Question Of Platonic Relations With
Her Former Husband, As She Preferred to Regard Him. But Marty
Showed no Great Interest In their Affairs, So Grace Said Nothing.
They Came Onward, And Saw Melbury Standing at The Scene Of The
Felling which Had Been Audible To Them, When, Telling marty That
She Wished her Meeting with Mr. Fitzpiers To Be Kept Private, She
Left The Girl To Join Her Father. At Any Rate, She Would Consult
Part 2 Chapter 20 Pg 129Him On The Expediency Of Occasionally Seeing her Husband.
Her Father Was Cheerful, And Walked by Her Side As He Had Done In
Earlier Days. "I Was Thinking of You When You Came Up," He Said.
"I Have Considered that What Has Happened is For The Best. Since
Your Husband Is Gone Away, And Seems Not To Wish To Trouble You,
Why, Let Him Go, And Drop Out Of Your Life. Many Women Are Worse
Off. You Can Live Here Comfortably Enough, And He Can Emigrate,
Or Do What He Likes For His Good. I Wouldn'T Mind Sending him The
Further Sum Of Money He Might Naturally Expect To Come To Him, So
That You May Not Be Bothered with Him Any More. He Could Hardly
Have Gone On Living here Without Speaking to Me, Or Meeting me;
And That Would Have Been Very Unpleasant On Both Sides."
These Remarks Checked her Intention. There Was A Sense Of
Weakness In following them By Saying that She Had Just Met Her
Husband By Appointment. "Then You Would Advise Me Not To
Communicate With Him?" She Observed.
"I Shall Never Advise Ye Again. You Are Your Own Mistress--Do As
You Like. But My Opinion Is That If You Don'T Live With Him, You
Had Better Live Without Him, And Not Go Shilly-Shallying and
Playing bopeep. You Sent Him Away; And Now He'S Gone. Very Well;
Trouble Him No More."
Grace Felt A Guiltiness--She Hardly Knew Why--And Made No
Confession.
Part 2 Chapter 21 Pg 130
The Woods Were Uninteresting, And Grace Stayed in-Doors A Great
Deal. She Became Quite A Student, Reading more Than She Had Done
Since Her Marriage But Her Seclusion Was Always Broken For The
Periodical
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