The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
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Admitted, To The Urgency Of His Questioning, A Good Deal
Concerning her Past Levities. Putting all Things Together, He
Could Hardly Avoid Connecting fitzpiers'S Mysterious Visits To
This Spot With Suke'S Residence Under His Roof. But He Made
Himself Fairly Easy: The Vessel In which They Were About To
Emigrate Sailed that Month; And Then Suke Would Be Out Of
Fitzpiers'S Way Forever.
The Interval At Last Expired, And The Eve Of Their Departure
Arrived. They Were Pausing in the Room Of The Cottage Allotted to
Them By Tim'S Father, After A Busy Day Of Preparation, Which Left
Them Weary. In a Corner Stood Their Boxes, Crammed and Corded,
Their Large Case For The Hold Having already Been Sent Away. The
Firelight Shone Upon Suke'S Fine Face And Form As She Stood
Looking into It, And Upon The Face Of Tim Seated in a Corner, And
Upon The Walls Of His Father'S House, Which He Was Beholding that
Night Almost For The Last Time.
Tim Tangs Was Not Happy. This Scheme Of Emigration Was Dividing
Him From His Father--For Old Tangs Would On No Account Leave
Hintock--And Had It Not Been For Suke'S Reputation And His Own
Dignity, Tim Would At The Last Moment Have Abandoned the Project.
As He Sat In the Back Part Of The Room He Regarded her Moodily,
And The Fire And The Boxes. One Thing he Had Particularly Noticed
This Evening--She Was Very Restless; Fitful In her Actions, Unable
To Remain Seated, And In a Marked degree Depressed.
"Sorry That You Be Going, After All, Suke?" He Said.
Part 2 Chapter 21 Pg 135She Sighed involuntarily. "I Don'T Know But That I Be," She
Answered. "'Tis Natural, Isn'T It, When One Is Going away?"
"But You Wasn'T Born Here As I Was."
"No."
"There'S Folk Left Behind That You'D Fain Have With 'Ee, I
Reckon?"
"Why Do You Think That?"
"I'Ve Seen Things And I'Ve Heard Things; And, Suke, I Say 'Twill
Be A Good Move For Me To Get 'Ee Away. I Don'T Mind His Leavings
Abroad, But I Do Mind 'Em At Home."
Suke'S Face Was Not Changed from Its Aspect Of Listless
Indifference By The Words. She Answered nothing; And Shortly
After He Went Out For His Customary Pipe Of Tobacco At The Top Of
The Garden.
The Restlessness Of Suke Had Indeed owed its Presence To The
Gentleman Of Tim'S Suspicions, But In a Different--And It Must Be
Added in justice To Her--More Innocent Sense Than He Supposed,
Judging from Former Doings. She Had Accidentally Discovered that
Fitzpiers Was In the Habit Of Coming secretly Once Or Twice A Week
To Hintock, And Knew That This Evening was A Favorite One Of The
Seven For His Journey. As She Was Going next Day To Leave The
Country, Suke Thought There Could Be No Great Harm In giving way
To A Little Sentimentality By Obtaining a Glimpse Of Him Quite
Unknown To Himself Or To Anybody, And Thus Taking a Silent Last
Farewell. Aware That Fitzpiers'S Time For Passing was At Hand She
Thus Betrayed her Feeling. No Sooner, Therefore, Had Tim Left The
Room Than She Let Herself Noiselessly Out Of The House, And
Hastened to The Corner Of The Garden, Whence She Could Witness The
Surgeon'S Transit Across The Scene--If He Had Not Already Gone By.
Her Light Cotton Dress Was Visible To Tim Lounging in the Arbor Of
The Opposite Corner, Though He Was Hidden From Her. He Saw Her
Stealthily Climb Into The Hedge, And So Ensconce Herself There
That Nobody Could Have The Least Doubt Her Purpose Was To Watch
Unseen For A Passer-By.
He Went Across To The Spot And Stood Behind Her. Suke Started,
Having in her Blundering way Forgotten That He Might Be Near. She
At Once Descended from The Hedge.
"So He'S Coming to-Night," Said Tim, Laconically. "And We Be
Always Anxious To See Our Dears."
"He Is Coming to-Night," She Replied, With Defiance. "And We Be
Anxious For Our Dears."
"Then Will You Step In-Doors, Where Your Dear Will Soon Jine 'Ee?
We'Ve To Mouster By Half-Past Three To-Morrow, And If We Don'T Get
To Bed by Eight At Latest Our Faces Will Be As Long As Clock-Cases
All Day."
Part 2 Chapter 21 Pg 136She Hesitated for A Minute, But Ultimately Obeyed, Going slowly
Down The Garden To The House, Where He Heard The Door-Latch Click
Behind Her.
Tim Was Incensed beyond Measure. His Marriage Had So Far Been A
Total Failure, A Source Of Bitter Regret; And The Only Course For
Improving his Case, That Of Leaving the Country, Was A Sorry, And
Possibly Might Not Be A Very Effectual One. Do What He Would, His
Domestic Sky Was Likely To Be Overcast To The End Of The Day.
Thus He Brooded, And His Resentment Gathered force. He Craved a
Means Of Striking one Blow Back At The Cause Of His Cheerless
Plight, While He Was Still On The Scene Of His Discomfiture. For
Some Minutes No Method Suggested itself, And Then He Had An Idea.
Coming to A Sudden Resolution, He Hastened along The Garden, And
Entered the One Attached to The Next Cottage, Which Had Formerly
Been The Dwelling of A Game-Keeper. Tim Descended the Path To The
Back Of The House, Where Only An Old Woman Lived at Present, And
Reaching the Wall He Stopped. Owing to The Slope Of The Ground
The Roof-Eaves Of The Linhay Were Here Within Touch, And He Thrust
His Arm Up Under Them, Feeling about In the Space On The Top Of
The Wall-Plate.
"Ah, I Thought My Memory Didn'T Deceive Me!" He Lipped silently.
With Some Exertion He Drew Down A Cobwebbed object Curiously
Framed in iron, Which Clanked as He Moved it. It Was About Three
Feet In length And Half As Wide. Tim Contemplated it As Well As
He Could In the Dying light Of Day, And Raked off The Cobwebs With
His Hand.
"That Will Spoil His Pretty Shins For'N, I Reckon!" He Said.
It Was A Man-Trap.
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 137
Were The Inventors Of Automatic Machines To Be Ranged according to
The Excellence Of Their Devices For Producing sound Artistic
Torture, The Creator Of The Man-Trap Would Occupy A Very
Respectable If Not A Very High Place.
It Should Rather, However, Be Said, The Inventor Of The Particular
Form Of Man-Trap Of Which This Found In the Keeper'S Out-House Was
A Specimen. For There Were Other Shapes And Other Sizes,
Instruments Which, If Placed in a Row Beside One Of The Type
Disinterred by Tim, Would Have Worn The Subordinate Aspect Of The
Bears, Wild Boars, Or Wolves In a Travelling menagerie, As
Compared with The Leading lion Or Tiger. In short, Though Many
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 138Varieties Had Been In use During those Centuries Which We Are
Accustomed to Look Back Upon As The True And Only Period Of Merry
England--In The Rural Districts More Especially--And Onward Down
To The Third Decade Of The Nineteenth Century, This Model Had
Borne The Palm, And Had Been Most Usually Followed when The
Orchards And Estates Required new Ones.
There Had Been The Toothless Variety Used by The Softer-Hearted
Landlords--Quite Contemptible In their Clemency. The Jaws Of
These Resembled the Jaws Of An Old Woman To Whom Time Has Left
Nothing but Gums. There Were Also The Intermediate Or Half-
Toothed sorts, Probably Devised by The Middle-Natured squires, Or
Those Under The Influence Of Their Wives: Two Inches Of Mercy, Two
Inches Of Cruelty, Two Inches Of Mere Nip, Two Inches Of Probe,
And So On, Through The Whole Extent Of The Jaws. There Were Also,
As A Class Apart, The Bruisers, Which Did Not Lacerate The Flesh,
But Only Crushed the Bone
The Sight Of One Of These Gins When Set Produced a Vivid
Impression That It Was Endowed with Life. It Exhibited the
Combined aspects Of A Shark, A Crocodile, And A Scorpion. Each
Tooth Was In the Form Of A Tapering spine, Two And A Quarter
Inches Long, Which, When The Jaws Were Closed, Stood In
Alternation From This Side And From That. When They Were Open,
The Two Halves Formed a Complete Circle Between Two And Three Feet
In Diameter, The Plate Or Treading-Place In the Midst Being about
A Foot Square, While From Beneath Extended in opposite Directions
The Soul Of The Apparatus, The Pair Of Springs, Each One Being of
A Stiffness To Render Necessary A Lever Or The Whole Weight Of The
Body When Forcing it Down.
There Were Men At This Time Still Living at Hintock Who Remembered
When The Gin And Others Like It Were In use. Tim Tangs'S Great-
Uncle Had Endured a Night Of Six Hours In this Very Trap, Which
Lamed him For Life. Once A Keeper Of Hintock Woods Set It On The
Track Of A Poacher, And Afterwards, Coming back That Way,
Forgetful Of What He Had Done, Walked into It Himself. The Wound
Brought On Lockjaw, Of Which He Died. This Event Occurred during
The Thirties, And By The Year 1840 The Use Of Such Implements Was
Well-Nigh Discontinued in the Neighborhood. But Being made
Entirely Of Iron, They By No Means Disappeared, And In almost
Every Village One Could Be Found In some Nook Or Corner As Readily
As This Was Found By Tim. It Had, Indeed, Been A Fearful
Amusement Of Tim And Other Hintock Lads--Especially Those Who Had
A Dim Sense Of Becoming renowned poachers When They Reached their
Prime--To Drag Out This Trap From Its Hiding, Set It, And Throw It
With Billets Of Wood, Which Were Penetrated by The Teeth To The
Depth Of Near An Inch.
As Soon As He Had Examined the Trap, And Found That The Hinges And
Springs Were Still Perfect, He Shouldered it Without More Ado, And
Returned with His Burden To His Own Garden,
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