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
False Companion Unmasked, To Have Disclosed unexpected depths Of
Hypocrisy And Speciousness Where All Had Seemed solidity. He Felt
Almost Afraid To Form A Conjecture On The Weather, Or The Time, Or
The Fruit-Promise, So Great Was His Self-Abasement.
It Was A Rimy Evening when He Set Out To Look For Giles. The
Woods Seemed to Be In a Cold Sweat; Beads Of Perspiration Hung
From Every Bare Twig; The Sky Had No Color, And The Trees Rose
Before Him As Haggard, Gray Phantoms, Whose Days Of Substantiality
Were Passed. Melbury Seldom Saw Winterborne Now, But He Believed
Him To Be Occupying a Lonely Hut Just Beyond The Boundary Of Mrs.
Charmond'S Estate, Though Still Within The Circuit Of The
Woodland. The Timber-Merchant'S Thin Legs Stalked on Through The
Pale, Damp Scenery, His Eyes On The Dead Leaves Of Last Year;
While Every Now And Then A Hasty "Ay?" Escaped his Lips In reply
To Some Bitter Proposition.
His Notice Was Attracted by A Thin Blue Haze Of Smoke, Behind
Which Arose Sounds Of Voices And Chopping: Bending his Steps That
Way, He Saw Winterborne Just In front Of Him. It Just Now
Happened that Giles, After Being for A Long Time Apathetic And
Part 2 Chapter 6 Pg 32Unemployed, Had Become One Of The Busiest Men In the Neighborhood.
It Is Often Thus; Fallen Friends, Lost Sight Of, We Expect To Find
Starving; We Discover Them Going on Fairly Well. Without Any
Solicitation, Or Desire For Profit On His Part, He Had Been Asked
To Execute During that Winter A Very Large Order For Hurdles And
Other Copse-Ware, For Which Purpose He Had Been Obliged to Buy
Several Acres Of Brushwood Standing. He Was Now Engaged in the
Cutting and Manufacture Of The Same, Proceeding with The Work
Daily Like An Automaton.
The Hazel-Tree Did Not Belie Its Name To-Day. The Whole Of The
Copse-Wood Where The Mist Had Cleared returned purest Tints Of
That Hue, Amid Which Winterborne Himself Was In the Act Of Making
A Hurdle, The Stakes Being driven Firmly Into The Ground In a Row,
Over Which He Bent And Wove The Twigs. Beside Him Was A Square,
Compact Pile Like The Altar Of Cain, Formed of Hurdles Already
Finished, Which Bristled on All Sides With The Sharp Points Of
Their Stakes. At A Little Distance The Men In his Employ Were
Assisting him To Carry Out His Contract. Rows Of Copse-Wood Lay
On The Ground As It Had Fallen Under The Axe; And A Shelter Had
Been Constructed near At Hand, In front Of Which Burned the Fire
Whose Smoke Had Attracted him. The Air Was So Dank That The Smoke
Hung Heavy, And Crept Away Amid The Bushes Without Rising from The
Ground.
After Wistfully Regarding winterborne A While, Melbury Drew
Nearer, And Briefly Inquired of Giles How He Came To Be So Busily
Engaged, With An Undertone Of Slight Surprise That Winterborne
Could Seem So Thriving after Being deprived of Grace. Melbury Was
Not Without Emotion At The Meeting; For Grace'S Affairs Had
Divided them, And Ended their Intimacy Of Old Times.
Winterborne Explained just As Briefly, Without Raising his Eyes
From His Occupation Of Chopping a Bough That He Held In front Of
Him.
"'Twill Be Up In april Before You Get It All Cleared," Said
Melbury.
"Yes, There Or Thereabouts," Said Winterborne, A Chop Of The
Billhook Jerking the Last Word Into Two Pieces.
There Was Another Interval; Melbury Still Looked on, A Chip From
Winterborne'S Hook Occasionally Flying against The Waistcoat And
Legs Of His Visitor, Who Took No Heed.
"Ah, Giles--You Should Have Been My Partner. You Should Have Been
My Son-In-Law," The Old Man Said At Last. "It Would Have Been Far
Better For Her And For Me."
Winterborne Saw That Something had Gone Wrong With His Former
Friend, And Throwing down The Switch He Was About To Interweave,
He Responded only Too Readily To The Mood Of The Timber-Dealer.
"Is She Ill?" He Said, Hurriedly.
"No, No." Melbury Stood Without Speaking for Some Minutes, And
Then, As Though He Could Not Bring himself To Proceed, Turned to
Go Away.
Part 2 Chapter 6 Pg 33
Winterborne Told One Of His Men To Pack Up The Tools For The Night
And Walked after Melbury.
"Heaven Forbid That I Should Seem Too Inquisitive, Sir," He Said,
"Especially Since We Don'T Stand As We Used to Stand To One
Another; But I Hope It Is Well With Them All Over Your Way?"
"No," Said Melbury--"No." He Stopped, And Struck The Smooth Trunk
Of A Young Ash-Tree With The Flat Of His Hand. "I Would That His
Ear Had Been Where That Rind Is!" He Exclaimed; "I Should Have
Treated him To Little Compared wi What He Deserves."
"Now," Said Winterborne, "Don'T Be In a Hurry To Go Home. I'Ve
Put Some Cider Down To Warm In my Shelter Here, And We'Ll Sit And
Drink It And Talk This Over."
Melbury Turned unresistingly As Giles Took His Arm, And They Went
Back To Where The Fire Was, And Sat Down Under The Screen, The
Other Woodmen Having gone. He Drew Out The Cider-Mug From The
Ashes And They Drank Together.
"Giles, You Ought To Have Had Her, As I Said Just Now," Repeated
Melbury. "I'Ll Tell You Why For The First Time."
He Thereupon Told Winterborne, As With Great Relief, The Story Of
How He Won Away Giles'S Father'S Chosen One--By Nothing worse Than
A Lover'S Cajoleries, It Is True, But By Means Which, Except In
Love, Would Certainly Have Been Pronounced cruel And Unfair. He
Explained how He Had Always Intended to Make Reparation To
Winterborne The Father By Giving grace To Winterborne The Son,
Till The Devil Tempted him In the Person Of Fitzpiers, And He
Broke His Virtuous Vow.
"How Highly I Thought Of That Man, To Be Sure! Who'D Have Supposed
He'D Have Been So Weak And Wrong-Headed as This! You Ought To Have
Had Her, Giles, And There'S An End On'T."
Winterborne Knew How To Preserve His Calm Under This Unconsciously
Cruel Tearing of A Healing wound To Which Melbury'S Concentration
On The More Vital Subject Had Blinded him. The Young Man
Endeavored to Make The Best Of The Case For Grace'S Sake.
"She Would Hardly Have Been Happy With Me," He Said, In the Dry,
Unimpassioned voice Under Which He Hid His Feelings. "I Was Not
Well Enough Educated: Too Rough, In short. I Couldn'T Have
Surrounded her With The Refinements She Looked for, Anyhow, At
All."
"Nonsense--You Are Quite Wrong There," Said The Unwise Old Man,
Doggedly. "She Told Me Only This Day That She Hates Refinements
And Such Like. All That My Trouble And Money Bought For Her In
That Way Is Thrown Away Upon Her Quite. She'D Fain Be Like Marty
South--Think O' That! That'S The Top Of Her Ambition! Perhaps
She'S Right. Giles, She Loved you--Under The Rind; And, What'S
More, She Loves Ye Still--Worse Luck For The Poor Maid!"
If Melbury Only Had Known What Fires He Was Recklessly Stirring up
Part 2 Chapter 6 Pg 34He Might Have Held His Peace. Winterborne Was Silent A Long Time.
The Darkness Had Closed in round Them, And The Monotonous Drip Of
The Fog From The Branches Quickened as It Turned to Fine Rain.
"Oh, She Never Cared much For Me," Giles Managed to Say, As He
Stirred the Embers With A Brand.
"She Did, And Does, I Tell Ye," Said The Other, Obstinately.
"However, All That'S Vain Talking now. What I Come To Ask You
About Is A More Practical Matter--How To Make The Best Of Things
As They Are. I Am Thinking of A Desperate Step--Of Calling on The
Woman Charmond. I Am Going to Appeal To Her, Since Grace Will
Not. 'Tis She Who Holds The Balance In her Hands--Not He. While
She'S Got The Will To Lead Him Astray He Will Follow--Poor,
Unpractical, Lofty-Notioned dreamer--And How Long She'Ll Do It
Depends Upon Her Whim. Did Ye Ever Hear Anything about Her
Character Before She Came To Hintock?"
"She'S Been A Bit Of A Charmer In her Time, I Believe," Replied
Giles, With The Same Level Quietude, As He Regarded the Red coals.
"One Who Has Smiled where She Has Not Loved and Loved where She
Has Not Married. Before Mr. Charmond Made Her His Wife She Was A
Play-Actress."
"Hey?" But How Close You Have Kept All This, Giles! What
Besides?"
"Mr. Charmond Was A Rich Man, Engaged in the Iron Trade In the
North, Twenty Or Thirty Years Older Than She. He Married her And
Retired, And Came Down Here And Bought This Property, As They Do
Nowadays."
"Yes, Yes--I Know All About That; But The Other I Did Not Know. I
Fear It Bodes No Good. For How Can I Go And Appeal To The
Forbearance Of A Woman In this Matter Who Has Made Cross-Loves And
Crooked entanglements Her Trade For Years? I Thank Ye, Giles, For
Finding it Out; But It Makes My Plan The Harder That She Should
Have Belonged to That Unstable Tribe."
Another Pause Ensued, And They Looked gloomily At The Smoke That
Beat About The Hurdles Which Sheltered them, Through Whose
Weavings A Large Drop Of Rain Fell At Intervals And Spat Smartly
Into The Fire. Mrs. Charmond Had Been No Friend To Winterborne,
But He Was Manly, And It Was Not In his Heart To Let Her Be
Condemned without A Trial.
"She Is Said To Be Generous," He Answered. "You Might Not Appeal
To Her In vain."
"It Shall Be Done," Said Melbury, Rising. "For Good Or For Evil,
To Mrs. Charmond I'Ll Go."
Part 2 Chapter 7 Pg 35
At Nine O'Clock The Next Morning melbury Dressed himself Up In
Shining broadcloth, Creased with Folding and Smelling of Camphor,
And Started for Hintock House. He Was The
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