The Woodlanders Part 2, Thomas Hardy [e textbook reader txt] 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
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Sweet Juice Of Apples, His Hat Sprinkled with Pips, And Everywhere
About Him That Atmosphere Of Cider Which At Its First Return Each
Season Has Such An Indescribable Fascination For Those Who Have
Been Born And Bred among The Orchards. Her Heart Rose From Its
Late Sadness Like A Released spring; Her Senses Revelled in the
Sudden Lapse Back To Nature Unadorned. The Consciousness Of
Having to Be Genteel Because Of Her Husband'S Profession, The
Veneer Of Artificiality Which She Had Acquired at The Fashionable
Schools, Were Thrown Off, And She Became The Crude, Country Girl
Of Her Latent, Earliest Instincts.
Nature Was Bountiful, She Thought. No Sooner Had She Been Starved
Off By Edgar Fitzpiers Than Another Being, Impersonating bare And
Undiluted manliness, Had Arisen Out Of The Earth, Ready To Hand.
This Was An Excursion Of The Imagination Which She Did Not
Encourage, And She Said Suddenly, To Disguise The Confused regard
Which Had Followed her Thoughts, "Did You Meet My Husband?"
Winterborne, With Some Hesitation, "Yes."
"Where Did You Meet Him?"
"At Calfhay Cross. I Come From Middleton Abbey; I Have Been
Making there For The Last Week."
"Haven'T They A Mill Of Their Own?"
"Yes, But It'S Out Of Repair."
"I Think--I Heard That Mrs. Charmond Had Gone There To Stay?"
"Yes. I Have Seen Her At The Windows Once Or Twice."
Grace Waited an Interval Before She Went On: "Did Mr. Fitzpiers
Take The Way To Middleton?"
"Yes...I Met Him On Darling." As She Did Not Reply, He Added, With
A Gentler Inflection, "You Know Why The Mare Was Called that?"
"Oh Yes--Of Course," She Answered, Quickly.
They Had Risen So Far Over The Crest Of The Hill That The Whole
West Sky Was Revealed. Between The Broken Clouds They Could See
Far Into The Recesses Of Heaven, The Eye Journeying on Under A
Part 2 Chapter 3 Pg 17Species Of Golden Arcades, And Past Fiery Obstructions, Fancied
Cairns, Logan-Stones, Stalactites And Stalagmite Of Topaz. Deeper
Than This Their Gaze Passed thin Flakes Of Incandescence, Till It
Plunged into A Bottomless Medium Of Soft Green Fire.
Her Abandonment To The Luscious Time After Her Sense Of Ill-Usage,
Her Revolt For The Nonce Against Social Law, Her Passionate Desire
For Primitive Life, May Have Showed in her Face. Winterborne Was
Looking at Her, His Eyes Lingering on A Flower That She Wore In
Her Bosom. Almost With The Abstraction Of A Somnambulist He
Stretched out His Hand And Gently Caressed the Flower.
She Drew Back. "What Are You Doing, Giles Winterborne!" She
Exclaimed, With A Look Of Severe Surprise. The Evident Absence Of
All Premeditation From The Act, However, Speedily Led her To Think
That It Was Not Necessary To Stand Upon Her Dignity Here And Now.
"You Must Bear In mind, Giles," She Said, Kindly, "That We Are Not
As We Were; And Some People Might Have Said That What You Did Was
Taking a Liberty."
It Was More Than She Need have Told Him; His Action Of
Forgetfulness Had Made Him So Angry With Himself That He Flushed
Through His Tan. "I Don'T Know What I Am Coming to!" He
Exclaimed, Savagely. "Ah--I Was Not Once Like This!" Tears Of
Vexation Were In his Eyes.
"No, Now--It Was Nothing. I Was Too Reproachful."
"It Would Not Have Occurred to Me If I Had Not Seen Something like
It Done Elsewhere--At Middleton Lately," He Said, Thoughtfully,
After A While.
"By Whom?"
"Don'T Ask It."
She Scanned him Narrowly. "I Know Quite Well Enough," She
Returned, Indifferently. "It Was By My Husband, And The Woman Was
Mrs. Charmond. Association Of Ideas Reminded you When You Saw
Me....Giles--Tell Me All You Know About That--Please Do, Giles!
But No--I Won'T Hear It. Let The Subject Cease. And As You Are
My Friend, Say Nothing to My Father."
They Reached a Place Where Their Ways Divided. Winterborne
Continued along The Highway Which Kept Outside The Copse, And
Grace Opened a Gate That Entered it.
Part 2 Chapter 4 Pg 18
She Walked up The Soft Grassy Ride, Screened on Either Hand By
Nut-Bushes, Just Now Heavy With Clusters Of Twos And Threes And
Fours. A Little Way On, The Track She Pursued was Crossed by A
Similar One At Right Angles. Here Grace Stopped; Some Few Yards
Up The Transverse Ride The Buxom Suke Damson Was Visible--Her Gown
Tucked up High Through Her Pocket-Hole, And No Bonnet On Her Head--
In The Act Of Pulling down Boughs From Which She Was Gathering
And Eating nuts With Great Rapidity, Her Lover Tim Tangs Standing
Near Her Engaged in the Same Pleasant Meal.
Crack, Crack Went Suke'S Jaws Every Second Or Two. By An
Automatic Chain Of Thought Grace'S Mind Reverted to The Tooth-
Drawing scene Described by Her Husband; And For The First Time She
Wondered if That Narrative Were Really True, Susan'S Jaws Being so
Obviously Sound And Strong. Grace Turned up Towards The Nut-
Gatherers, And Conquered her Reluctance To Speak To The Girl Who
Was A Little In advance Of Tim. "Good-Evening, Susan," She Said.
"Good-Evening, Miss Melbury" (Crack).
"Mrs. Fitzpiers."
"Oh Yes, Ma'Am--Mrs. Fitzpiers," Said Suke, With A Peculiar Smile.
Grace, Not To Be Daunted, Continued: "Take Care Of Your Teeth,
Suke. That Accounts For The Toothache."
"I Don'T Know What An Ache Is, Either In tooth, Ear, Or Head,
Thank The Lord" (Crack).
"Nor The Loss Of One, Either?"
"See For Yourself, Ma'Am." She Parted her Red lips, And Exhibited
The Whole Double Row, Full Up And Unimpaired.
"You Have Never Had One Drawn?"
"Never."
"So Much The Better For Your Stomach," Said Mrs. Fitzpiers, In an
Altered voice. And Turning away Quickly, She Went On.
As Her Husband'S Character Thus Shaped itself Under The Touch Of
Time, Grace Was Almost Startled to Find How Little She Suffered
From That Jealous Excitement Which Is Conventionally Attributed to
All Wives In such Circumstances. But Though Possessed by None Of
That Feline Wildness Which It Was Her Moral Duty To Experience,
She Did Not Fail To Know That She Had Made A Frightful Mistake In
Her Marriage. Acquiescence In her Father'S Wishes Had Been
Degradation To Herself. People Are Not Given Premonitions For
Nothing; She Should Have Obeyed her Impulse On That Early Morning,
And Steadfastly Refused her Hand.
Oh, That Plausible Tale Which Her Then Betrothed had Told Her
About Suke--The Dramatic Account Of Her Entreaties To Him To Draw
The Aching enemy, And The Fine Artistic Touch He Had Given To The
Story By Explaining that It Was A Lovely Molar Without A Flaw!
Part 2 Chapter 4 Pg 19
She Traced the Remainder Of The Woodland Track Dazed by The
Complications Of Her Position. If His Protestations To Her Before
Their Marriage Could Be Believed, Her Husband Had Felt Affection
Of Some Sort For Herself And This Woman Simultaneously; And Was
Now Again Spreading the Same Emotion Over Mrs. Charmond And
Herself Conjointly, His Manner Being still Kind And Fond At Times.
But Surely, Rather Than That, He Must Have Played the Hypocrite
Towards Her In each Case With Elaborate Completeness; And The
Thought Of This Sickened her, For It Involved the Conjecture That
If He Had Not Loved her, His Only Motive For Making her His Wife
Must Have Been Her Little Fortune. Yet Here Grace Made A Mistake,
For The Love Of Men Like Fitzpiers Is Unquestionably Of Such
Quality As To Bear Division And Transference. He Had Indeed, Once
Declared, Though Not To Her, That On One Occasion He Had Noticed
Himself To Be Possessed by Five Distinct Infatuations At The Same
Time. Therein It Differed from The Highest Affection As The Lower
Orders Of The Animal World Differ From Advanced organisms,
Partition Causing, Not Death, But A Multiplied existence. He Had
Loved her Sincerely, And Had By No Means Ceased to Love Her Now.
But Such Double And Treble Barrelled hearts Were Naturally Beyond
Her Conception.
Of Poor Suke Damson, Grace Thought No More. She Had Had Her Day.
"If He Does Not Love Me I Will Not Love Him!" Said Grace, Proudly.
And Though These Were Mere Words, It Was A Somewhat Formidable
Thing for Fitzpiers That Her Heart Was Approximating to A State In
Which It Might Be Possible To Carry Them Out. That Very Absence
Of Hot Jealousy Which Made His Courses So Easy, And On Which,
Indeed, He Congratulated himself, Meant, Unknown To Either Wife Or
Husband, More Mischief Than The Inconvenient Watchfulness Of A
Jaundiced eye.
Her Sleep That Night Was Nervous. The Wing allotted to Her And
Her Husband Had Never Seemed so Lonely. At Last She Got Up, Put
On Her Dressing-Gown, And Went Down-Stairs. Her Father, Who Slept
Lightly, Heard Her Descend, And Came To The Stair-Head.
"Is That You, Grace? What'S The Matter?" He Said.
"Nothing more Than That I Am Restless. Edgar Is Detained by A
Case At Owlscombe In white Hart Vale."
"But How'S That? I Saw The Woman'S Husband At Great Hintock Just
Afore Bedtime; And She Was Going on Well, And The Doctor Gone
Then."
"Then He'S Detained somewhere Else," Said Grace. "Never Mind Me;
He Will Soon Be Home. I Expect Him About One."
She Went Back To Her Room, And Dozed and Woke Several Times. One
O'Clock Had Been The Hour Of His Return On The Last Occasion; But
It Passed now By A Long Way, And Fitzpiers Did Not Come. Just
Before Dawn She Heard The Men Stirring in the Yard; And The
Flashes Of Their Lanterns Spread Every Now And Then Through Her
Window-Blind. She Remembered that Her Father Had Told Her Not To
Be Disturbed if She Noticed them, As They Would Be Rising early To
Send Off Four Loads Of Hurdles To A Distant Sheep-Fair. Peeping
Part 2 Chapter 4 Pg 20Out, She Saw Them Bustling about, The Hollow-Turner Among The
Rest; He Was Loading his Wares--Wooden-Bowls, Dishes, Spigots,
Spoons, Cheese-Vats, Funnels, And So On--Upon One Of Her
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