The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
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Hedge To The Path Immediately Outside The Boundary. Here, By The
Help Of A Stout Stake, He Set The Trap, And Laid It Carefully
Behind A Bush While He Went Forward To Reconnoitre. As Has Been
Stated, Nobody Passed this Way For Days Together Sometimes; But
There Was Just A Possibility That Some Other Pedestrian Than The
One In request Might Arrive, And It Behooved tim To Be Careful As
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 139To The Identity Of His Victim.
Going about A Hundred yards Along The Rising ground To The Right,
He Reached a Ridge Whereon A Large And Thick Holly Grew. Beyond
This For Some Distance The Wood Was More Open, And The Course
Which Fitzpiers Must Pursue To Reach The Point, If He Came To-
Night, Was Visible A Long Way Forward.
For Some Time There Was No Sign Of Him Or Of Anybody. Then There
Shaped itself A Spot Out Of The Dim Mid-Distance, Between The
Masses Of Brushwood On Either Hand. And It Enlarged, And Tim
Could Hear The Brushing of Feet Over The Tufts Of Sour-Grass. The
Airy Gait Revealed fitzpiers Even Before His Exact Outline Could
Be Seen.
Tim Tangs Turned about, And Ran Down The Opposite Side Of The
Hill, Till He Was Again At The Head Of His Own Garden. It Was The
Work Of A Few Moments To Drag Out The Man-Trap, Very Gently--That
The Plate Might Not Be Disturbed sufficiently To Throw It--To A
Space Between A Pair Of Young Oaks Which, Rooted in contiguity,
Grew Apart Upward, Forming a V-Shaped opening between; And, Being
Backed up By Bushes, Left This As The Only Course For A Foot-
Passenger. In it He Laid The Trap With The Same Gentleness Of
Handling, Locked the Chain Round One Of The Trees, And Finally
Slid Back The Guard Which Was Placed to Keep The Gin From
Accidentally Catching the Arms Of Him Who Set It, Or, To Use The
Local And Better Word, "Toiled" It.
Having completed these Arrangements, Tim Sprang Through The
Adjoining hedge Of His Father'S Garden, Ran Down The Path, And
Softly Entered the House.
Obedient To His Order, Suke Had Gone To Bed; And As Soon As He Had
Bolted the Door, Tim Unlaced and Kicked off His Boots At The Foot
Of The Stairs, And Retired likewise, Without Lighting a Candle.
His Object Seemed to Be To Undress As Soon As Possible. Before,
However, He Had Completed the Operation, A Long Cry Resounded
Without--Penetrating, But Indescribable.
"What'S That?" Said Suke, Starting up In bed.
"Sounds As If Somebody Had Caught A Hare In his Gin."
"Oh No," Said She. "It Was Not A Hare, 'Twas Louder. Hark!"
"Do 'Ee Get To Sleep," Said Tim. "How Be You Going to Wake At
Half-Past Three Else?"
She Lay Down And Was Silent. Tim Stealthily Opened the Window And
Listened. Above The Low Harmonies Produced by The Instrumentation
Of The Various Species Of Trees Around The Premises He Could Hear
The Twitching of A Chain From The Spot Whereon He Had Set The Man-
Trap. But Further Human Sound There Was None.
Tim Was Puzzled. In the Haste Of His Project He Had Not
Calculated upon A Cry; But If One, Why Not More? He Soon Ceased to
Essay An Answer, For Hintock Was Dead To Him Already. In half A
Dozen Hours He Would Be Out Of Its Precincts For Life, On His Way
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 140To The Antipodes. He Closed the Window And Lay Down.
The Hour Which Had Brought These Movements Of Tim To Birth Had
Been Operating actively Elsewhere. Awaiting in her Father'S House
The Minute Of Her Appointment With Her Husband, Grace Fitzpiers
Deliberated on Many Things. Should She Inform Her Father Before
Going out That The Estrangement Of Herself And Edgar Was Not So
Complete As He Had Imagined, And Deemed desirable For Her
Happiness? If She Did So She Must In some Measure Become The
Apologist Of Her Husband, And She Was Not Prepared to Go So Far.
As For Him, He Kept Her In a Mood Of Considerate Gravity. He
Certainly Had Changed. He Had At His Worst Times Always Been
Gentle In his Manner Towards Her. Could It Be That She Might Make
Of Him A True And Worthy Husband Yet? She Had Married him; There
Was No Getting over That; And Ought She Any Longer To Keep Him At
A Distance? His Suave Deference To Her Lightest Whim On The
Question Of His Comings And Goings, When As Her Lawful Husband He
Might Show A Little Independence, Was A Trait In his Character As
Unexpected as It Was Engaging. If She Had Been His Empress, And
He Her Thrall, He Could Not Have Exhibited a More Sensitive Care
To Avoid Intruding upon Her Against Her Will.
Impelled by A Remembrance She Took Down A Prayer-Book And Turned
To The Marriage-Service. Reading it Slowly Through, She Became
Quite Appalled at Her Recent Off-Handedness, When She Rediscovered
What Awfully Solemn Promises She Had Made Him At Those Chancel
Steps Not So Very Long Ago.
She Became Lost In long Ponderings On How Far A Person'S
Conscience Might Be Bound By Vows Made Without At The Time A Full
Recognition Of Their Force. That Particular Sentence, Beginning
"Whom God Hath Joined together," Was A Staggerer For A Gentlewoman
Of Strong Devotional Sentiment. She Wondered whether God Really
Did Join Them Together. Before She Had Done Deliberating the Time
Of Her Engagement Drew Near, And She Went Out Of The House Almost
At The Moment That Tim Tangs Retired to His Own.
The Position Of Things At That Critical Juncture Was Briefly As
Follows.
Two Hundred yards To The Right Of The Upper End Of Tangs'S Garden
Fitzpiers Was Still Advancing, Having now Nearly Reached the
Summit Of The Wood-Clothed ridge, The Path Being the Actual One
Which Further On Passed between The Two Young Oaks. Thus Far It
Was According to Tim'S Conjecture. But About Two Hundred yards To
The Left, Or Rather Less, Was Arising a Condition Which He Had Not
Divined, The Emergence Of Grace As Aforesaid From The Upper Corner
Of Her Father'S Garden, With The View Of Meeting tim'S Intended
Victim. Midway Between Husband And Wife Was The Diabolical Trap,
Silent, Open, Ready.
Fitzpiers'S Walk That Night Had Been Cheerful, For He Was
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 141Convinced that The Slow And Gentle Method He Had Adopted was
Promising success. The Very Restraint That He Was Obliged to
Exercise Upon Himself, So As Not To Kill The Delicate Bud Of
Returning confidence, Fed his Flame. He Walked so Much More
Rapidly Than Grace That, If They Continued advancing as They Had
Begun, He Would Reach The Trap A Good Half-Minute Before She Could
Reach The Same Spot.
But Here A New Circumstance Came In; To Escape The Unpleasantness
Of Being watched or Listened to By Lurkers--Naturally Curious By
Reason Of Their Strained relations--They Had Arranged that Their
Meeting for To-Night Should Be At The Holm-Tree On The Ridge Above
Named. So Soon, Accordingly, As Fitzpiers Reached the Tree He
Stood Still To Await Her.
He Had Not Paused under The Prickly Foliage More Than Two Minutes
When He Thought He Heard A Scream From The Other Side Of The
Ridge. Fitzpiers Wondered what It Could Mean; But Such Wind As
There Was Just Now Blew In an Adverse Direction, And His Mood Was
Light. He Set Down The Origin Of The Sound To One Of The
Superstitious Freaks Or Frolicsome Scrimmages Between Sweethearts
That Still Survived in hintock From Old-English Times; And Waited
On Where He Stood Till Ten Minutes Had Passed. Feeling then A
Little Uneasy, His Mind Reverted to The Scream; And He Went
Forward Over The Summit And Down The Embowered incline, Till He
Reached the Pair Of Sister Oaks With The Narrow Opening between
Them.
Fitzpiers Stumbled and All But Fell. Stretching down His Hand To
Ascertain The Obstruction, It Came In contact With A Confused mass
Of Silken Drapery And Iron-Work That Conveyed absolutely No
Explanatory Idea To His Mind At All. It Was But The Work Of A
Moment To Strike A Match; And Then He Saw A Sight Which Congealed
His Blood.
The Man-Trap Was Thrown; And Between Its Jaws Was Part Of A
Woman'S Clothing--A Patterned silk Skirt--Gripped with Such
Violence That The Iron Teeth Had Passed through It, Skewering its
Tissue In a Score Of Places. He Immediately Recognized the Skirt
As That Of One Of His Wife'S Gowns--The Gown That She Had Worn
When She Met Him On The Very Last Occasion.
Fitzpiers Had Often Studied the Effect Of These Instruments When
Examining the Collection At Hintock House, And The Conception
Instantly Flashed through Him That Grace Had Been Caught, Taken
Out Mangled by Some Chance Passer, And Carried home, Some Of Her
Clothes Being left Behind In the Difficulty Of Getting her Free.
The Shock Of This Conviction, Striking into The Very Current Of
High Hope, Was So Great That He Cried out Like One In corporal
Agony, And In his Misery Bowed himself Down To The Ground.
Of All The Degrees And Qualities Of Punishment That Fitzpiers Had
Undergone Since His Sins Against Grace First Began, Not Any Even
Approximated in intensity To This.
"Oh, My Own--My Darling! Oh, Cruel Heaven--It Is Too Much, This!"
He Cried, Writhing and Rocking himself Over The Sorry Accessaries
Of Her He Deplored.
Part 2 Chapter 22 Pg 142
The Voice Of His Distress Was Sufficiently Loud To Be Audible To
Any One Who Might Have Been There To Hear It; And One There Was.
Right And Left Of The Narrow Pass Between The Oaks Were Dense
Bushes; And Now From Behind These A Female Figure Glided, Whose
Appearance Even In the Gloom Was, Though Graceful In outline,
Noticeably
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