Bronte_Shirley.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
sickness of body and mind she owed to me?
she forget what she knows of my poor ambition, my sordid schemes?
she let me expiate these things? she suffer me to prove that,
as once deserted cruelly, trifled wantonly, injured basely, can now
love faithfully, cherish fondly, treasure tenderly?"
hand was in 's still; a gentle pressure answered him.
" mine?"
" is yours."
" will prize her. sense of her value is here, in my heart; the
necessity for her society is blended with my life. more jealous
shall be of the blood whose flow moves my pulses than of her happiness
and well-being."
" love you, too, , and will take faithful care of you."
" you take faithful care of me? care! if that rose
should promise to shelter from tempest this hard gray stone! she
_will_ care for me, in her way. hands will be the gentle
ministrants of every comfort can taste. know the being seek to
entwine with my own will bring me a solace, a charity, a purity, to
which, of myself, am a stranger."
was troubled; her lip quivered.
" flutters my dove?" asked , as she nestled to and then
uneasily shrank from him.
" mamma! am all mamma has. leave her?"
" you know, thought of that difficulty. and 'mamma' have discussed
it."
" me what you wish, what you would like, and will consider if it
is possible to consent. cannot desert her, even for you. cannot
break her heart, even for your sake."
" was faithful when was false--was she not? never came near your
sick-bed, and she watched it ceaselessly."
" must do? but leave her."
" my wish you never shall leave her."
" may live very near us?"
" us--only she will have her own rooms and servant. this she
stipulates herself."
" know she has an income, that, with her habits, makes her quite
independent?"
" told me that, with a gentle pride that reminded me of somebody
else."
" is not at all interfering, and incapable of gossip."
" know her, . if, instead of being the personification of
reserve and discretion, she were something quite opposite, should not
fear her."
" she will be your mother-in-law?" speaker gave an arch little
nod. smiled.
" and are not of the order of men who fear their mothers-in-law,
. foes never have been, nor will be, those of our own household.
doubt not my mother-in-law will make much of me."
" she will--in her quiet way, you know. is not demonstrative;
and when you see her silent, or even cool, you must not fancy her
displeased; it is only a manner she has. sure to let me interpret for
her whenever she puzzles you; always believe my account of the matter,
."
", implicitly! apart, feel that she and will suit--_on ne
peut mieux_. , you know, is exquisitely susceptible--in our
sense of the word--and not, perhaps, always reasonable in her
requirements; yet, dear, honest girl, never painfully wounded her
feelings or had a serious quarrel with her in my life."
"; you are most generously considerate, indeed, most tenderly
indulgent to her; and you will be considerate with mamma. are a
gentleman all through, , to the bone, and nowhere so perfect a
gentleman as at your own fireside."
" eulogium like; it is very sweet. am well pleased my
should view me in this light."
" just thinks of you as do."
" quite, hope?"
" does not want to marry you--don't be vain; but she said to me the
other day, ' dear, . has pleasing manners; he is one of the
few gentlemen have seen who combine politeness with an air of
sincerity.'"
"'' is rather a misanthropist, is she not? the best opinion of
the sterner sex?"
" forbears to judge them as a whole, but she has her exceptions whom
she admires-- and . , and, of late, yourself. did not
like you once; knew that, because she would never speak of you. ,
----"
", what now? is the new thought?"
" have not seen my uncle yet?"
" have. '' called him into the room. consents conditionally.
prove that can keep a wife, may have her; and _can_ keep her
better than he thinks--better than choose to boast."
" you get rich you will do good with your money, ?"
" _will_ do good; you shall tell me how. , have some schemes of
my own, which you and will talk about on our own hearth one day.
have seen the necessity of doing good; have learned the downright
folly of being selfish. , foresee what will now foretell.
war _must_ ere long draw to a close. is likely to prosper for
some years to come. may be a brief misunderstanding between
and , but that will not last. would you think if,
one day--perhaps ere another ten years elapse-- and divide
parish betwixt us? , at any rate, is certain of power
and property. will not bury his talents. is a benevolent fellow,
and has, besides, an intellect of his own of no trifling calibre.
mind is slow but strong. must work. may work deliberately, but it
will work well. will be made magistrate of the district-- says
he shall. would proceed impetuously and prematurely to obtain for
him this dignity, if he would let her, but he will not. usual, he
will be in no haste. he has been master of a year all the
district will feel his quiet influence, and acknowledge his unassuming
superiority. magistrate is wanted; they will, in time, invest him with
the office voluntarily and unreluctantly. admires his future
wife, and everybody will, in time, like him. is of the _pte_
generally approved, _bon comme le pain_--daily bread for the most
fastidious, good for the infant and the aged, nourishing for the poor,
wholesome for the rich. , in spite of her whims and oddities, her
dodges and delays, has an infatuated fondness for him. will one day
see him as universally beloved as even _she_ could wish. will also be
universally esteemed, considered, consulted, depended on--too much so.
advice will be always judicious, his help always good-natured.
long both will be in inconvenient request. will have to impose
restrictions. for me, if succeed as intend to do, my success will
add to his and 's income. can double the value of their mill
property. can line yonder barren with lines of cottages and
rows of cottage-gardens----"
"! root up the copse?"
" copse shall be firewood ere five years elapse. beautiful wild
ravine shall be a smooth descent; the green natural terrace shall be a
paved street. shall be cottages in the dark ravine, and cottages
on the lonely slopes. rough pebbled track shall be an even, firm,
broad, black, sooty road, bedded with the cinders from my mill; and my
mill, --my mill shall fill its present yard."
"! will change our blue hill-country air into the '
smoke atmosphere."
" will pour the waters of through the valley of ."
" like the beck a thousand times better."
" will get an for enclosing , and parcelling it out
into farms."
"' , however, defies you, thank ! can you grow in
? will flourish on ?"
", the houseless, the starving, the unemployed shall come to
's from far and near; and shall give them work, and
, ., shall let them a tenement, and . shall mete
them a portion till the first pay-day."
smiled up in his face.
" a school as you will have, ! such collections as you
will get! such a day school as you and and will have
to manage between you! mill shall find salaries for a master and
mistress, and the squire or the clothier shall give a treat once a
quarter."
mutely offered a kiss--an offer taken unfair advantage of, to the
extortion of about a hundred kisses.
" day-dreams," said , with a sigh and smile, "yet
perhaps we may realize some of them. , the dew is falling. .
, shall take you in."
* * * * *
is . bells clash out again, not only through , but
through . the voice of a trumpet has sounded long; it
now waxes louder and louder; it proclaims won. night is
to be illuminated. this day the tenantry dine
together; the 's workpeople will be assembled for a like
festal purpose; the schools have a grand treat. morning there were
two marriages solemnized in church-- , .,
late of , to , daughter of the late ,
., of ; , ., of 's , to
, niece of the . , .., rector of
.
ceremony, in the first instance, was performed by . ,
, ., of , giving the bride away. the second
instance, . , vicar of , officiated. the bridal
train the two most noticeable personages were the youthful bridesmen,
and .
suppose 's prophecies were, partially at least, fulfilled.
other day passed up the , which tradition says was once
green, and lone, and wild; and there saw the manufacturer's day-dreams
embodied in substantial stone and brick and ashes--the cinder-black
highway, the cottages, and the cottage gardens; there saw a mighty
mill, and a chimney ambitious as the tower of . told my old
housekeeper when came home where had been.
"," said she, "this world has queer changes. can remember the old
mill being built--the very first it was in all the district; and then
can remember it being pulled down, and going with my lake-lasses
[companions] to see the foundation-stone of the new one laid. two
. made a great stir about it. were there, and a deal of
fine folk besides, and both their ladies; very bonny and grand they
looked. . was the grandest; she always wore such handsome
dresses. . was quieter like. . smiled when she
talked. had a real, happy, glad, good-natured look; but she had een
that pierced a body through. is no such ladies nowadays."
" was the like then, ?"
" to what it is now; but can tell of it clean different
again, when there was neither mill, nor cot, nor hall, except ,
within two miles of it. can tell, one summer evening, fifty years
syne, my mother coming running in just at the edge of dark, almost
fleyed out of her wits, saying she had seen a fairish [fairy] in
; and that was the last fairish that ever was seen on
this countryside (though they've been heard within these forty years).
lonesome spot it was, and a bonny spot, full of oak trees and nut trees.
is altered now."
story is told. think now see the judicious reader putting on his
spectacles to look for the moral. would be an insult to his sagacity
to offer directions. only say, speed him in the quest!