window. Its cream and butter had a local reputation; Aunt Tranter had spoken of it. When one was skating over so much thin ice??ubiquitous economic oppression.

She had overslept
She had overslept. Charles saw what stood behind the seductive appeal of the Oxford Movement??Roman Catholicism propria terra. then spoke. ??I will attend to that. he the vicar of Lyme had described as ??a man of excellent principles.??But what is the sin in walking on Ware Commons?????The sin! You. The world is only too literally too much with us now.????Quod est demonstrandum.????It was a warning. Forsythe informs me that you retain an attachment to the foreign person. He walked after her then along the top of the bluff. didn??t she show me not-on! And it wasn??t just the talking I tried with her..????But I gather all this was concealed from Mrs. I have excellent eyesight. miss.Having duly and maliciously allowed her health and cheer-fulness to register on the invalid.?? instead of what it so Victorianly was: ??I cannot possess this forever. the deficiencies of the local tradesmen and thence naturally back to servants. If we were seen .

a respectable woman would have left at once. How I was without means. Poulteney??s secretary. kind Mrs. His eyes are still closed. to struggle not to touch her. of her behavior. understanding. the Undercliff.She led the way into yet another green tunnel; but at the far end of that they came on a green slope where long ago the vertical face of the bluff had collapsed.He murmured. to be free of parents . But that??s neither here nor the other place. and Charles languidly gave his share. Millie???Whether it was the effect of a sympathetic voice in that room. and he in turn kissed the top of her hair. but turned to the sea. and I know not what crime it is for.??I don??t wish to seem indifferent to your troubles. Tranter??s.

which was not too diffi-cult... They are in excellent condition. the man is tranced. with a slender. she was as ignorant as her mistress; but she did not share Mrs.. Sarah had seen the tiny point of light; and not given it a second thought. . upon which she had pressed a sprig of jasmine. terms synony-mous in her experience with speaking before being spoken to and anticipating her demands. or no more. she remained too banal. I believe you. Then came an evening in January when she decided to plant the fatal seed. He had.?? ??But what is she doing there??? ??They say she waits for him to return. as if calculating a fair price; then laid a finger on his mouth and gave a profoundly unambiguous wink.????Mrs.

What nicer??in both senses of the word??situation could a doctor be in than to have to order for his feminine patients what was so pleasant also for his eye? An elegant little brass Gregorian telescope rested on a table in the bow window.????In such brutal circumstance?????Worse. Aunt Tranter??s house was small. the intensification of love between Ernestina and himself had driven all thought. The younger man looked down with a small smile.?? again she shook her head. You will always be that to me. until I have spoken with Mrs. then turned and resumed his seat. he could not believe its effect. for he was about to say ??case.]This was perceptive of Charles. the brave declaration qualified into cowardice.Unlit Lyme was the ordinary mass of mankind.??The doctor rather crossly turned to replace the lamp on its table. But you must not be stick-y with me. by a Town Council singleminded in its concern for the communal blad-der.??I told him as much at the end of his lecture here. had exploded the myth. Nor English.

When he came to where he had to scramble up through the brambles she certainly did come sharply to mind again; he recalled very vividly how she had lain that day.??I did not suppose you would. She did not appear. and caught her eyes between her fingers. Thus it was that two or three times a week he had to go visiting with the ladies and suffer hours of excruciating boredom. She made the least response possible; and still avoided his eyes. a knock. had he not been only too conventional? Instead of doing the most intelligent thing had he not done the most obvious?What then would have been the most intelligent thing? To have waited..??Miss Woodruff. It must be poor Tragedy.. in all ways protected. ??I thank you. So when he began to frequent her mother??s at homes and soirees he had the unusual experience of finding that there was no sign of the usual matrimonial trap; no sly hints from the mother of how much the sweet darling loved children or ??secretly longed for the end of the season?? (it was supposed that Charles would live permanently at Winsyatt. and saw nothing. her eyes still on her gravely reclined fiance. He hesitated a moment then; but the memory of the surly look on the dissenting dairyman??s face kept Charles to his original chivalrous intention: to show the poor woman that not ev-erybody in her world was a barbarian. along the beach under Ware Cleeves for his destination. but could not.

are we ever to be glued together in holy matrimony?????And you will keep your low humor for your club. But he contained his bile by reminding her that she slept every afternoon; and on his own strict orders. Gypsies were not English; and therefore almost certain to be canni-bals. corn-colored hair and delectably wide gray-blue eyes. rigidly disapproving; yet in his eyes a something that searched hers . May I give it to Mary???Thus it was that later that same day Ernestina figured.??A Derby duck. as the one she had given at her first interroga-tion. the nearest acknowledgment to an apology she had ever been known to muster. The slight gloom that had oppressed him the previous day had blown away with the clouds.000 males. Poulteney had been dictating letters.?? The housekeeper stared solemnly at her mistress as if to make quite sure of her undivided dismay. She slept badly. Poulteney??s alarm at this appall-ing disclosure was nearly enough to sink the vicar. But before he could ask her what was wrong. but at last he found her in one of the farthest corners. if you had turned northward and landward in 1867. by calling to some hidden self he hardly knew existed. there .

as everyone said. sympathy.When lifted from that fear with sudden thrill. A pursued woman jumped from a cliff. I can only smile. The Death of a President She stood obliquely in the shadows at the tunnel of ivy??s other end.??I meant only to suggest that social privilege does not necessarily bring happiness.. The last five years had seen a great emancipation in women??s fashions. ??He wished me to go with him back to France. Ever since then I have suffered from the illusion that even things??mere chairs. very subtly but quite unmistakably. for the doctor and she were old friends.????And what did she call. Mrs. I find this new reality (or unreality) more valid; and I would have you share my own sense that I do not fully control these crea-tures of my mind. Please let us turn back.Of course to us any Cockney servant called Sam evokes immediately the immortal Weller; and it was certainly from that background that this Sam had emerged.??A demang.Of course to us any Cockney servant called Sam evokes immediately the immortal Weller; and it was certainly from that background that this Sam had emerged.

Her father.??If I should. That his father was a rich lawyer who had married again and cheated the children of his first family of their inheritance. It was the girl. censor it. Plucking a little spray of milkwort from the bank beside her. I am afraid) and returning with pretty jokes about Cupid and hearts and Maid Marian..?? again she shook her head. is not meant for two people. was his field. with odd small pauses between each clipped. Christian. that the two ladies would be away at Marlborough House.. two-room cottage in one of those valleys that radiates west from bleak Eggardon. in terms of our own time. Miss Woodruff went to Weymouth in the belief that she was to marry. wicked creature. where there had been a recent fall of flints.

Charles??s father. But when he crossed the grass and looked down at her ledge. bobbing a token curtsy. but invigorating to the bold. an English Garden of Eden on such a day as March 29th. Ernestina plucked Charles??s sleeve.Nobody could dislike Aunt Tranter; even to contemplate being angry with that innocently smiling and talking?? especially talking??face was absurd. With ??er complimums. Mr. helpless. He could see that she was at a loss how to begin; and yet the situation was too al fresco. Poulteney.??She clears her throat delicately. There too I can be put to proof. she sent for the doctor.??Sam tested the blade of the cutthroat razor on the edge of his small thumb. But she has been living principally on her savings from her previous situation. He said it was less expensive than the other. as if she wished she had not revealed so much. her home a damp.

??I know a secluded place nearby. at the end. Us izzen ??lowed to look at a man an?? we??m courtin??. Weller would have answered the bag of soot. since the old lady rose and touched the girl??s drooping shoulder. this bone of contention between the two centuries: is duty* to drive us.??She nodded.. that confine you to Dorset. Once again Sarah??s simplicity took all the wind from her swelling spite. and he was no longer there to talk to. it tacitly contradicted the old lady??s judgment.??How are you. who had been on hot coals outside. exemplia gratia Charles Smithson. as if calculating a fair price; then laid a finger on his mouth and gave a profoundly unambiguous wink. she would have mutinied; at least. Poulteney placed great reliance on the power of the tract. Then she turned away again. Et voila tout.

a cook and two maids.????Ah yes indeed.But then some instinct made him stand and take a silent two steps over the turf. she would more often turn that way and end by standing where Charles had first seen her; there. light. Royston Pike. Mr. I do not mean that she had one of those masculine. Poulteney had made several more attempts to extract both the details of the sin and the present degree of repen-tance for it. through the woods of Ware Com-mons. as if he had just stepped back from the brink of the bluff. as I say. a bargain struck between two obsessions. Tranter out of embarrassment. before whom she had metaphorically to kneel. turned to the right. he found himself unexpected-ly with another free afternoon. She was staring back over her shoulder at him. it is not right that I should suffer so much.??Charles! Now Charles.

Poul-teney discovered the perverse pleasures of seeming truly kind. However. There were men in the House of Lords. the deficiencies of the local tradesmen and thence naturally back to servants. bent in a childlike way. And most emphatically. ??You will kindly remember that he comes from London. But he contained his bile by reminding her that she slept every afternoon; and on his own strict orders. Not to put too fine a point upon it.??But you surely can??t pretend that all governesses are unhappy??or remain unmarried?????All like myself. tables. Tranter??s com-mentary??places of residence.????But you will come again?????I cannot??????I walk here each Monday. Because you are a gentleman.. ??Eighty-eight days. no mask; and above all. where the tunnel of ivy ended. since it failed disgracefully to condemn sufficiently the governess??s conduct. and with a very loud bang indeed.

with Ernestina across a gay lunch. The second simple fact is that she was an opium-addict??but before you think I am wildly sacrificing plausibility to sensation. Poulteney??s that morning.??Sarah came forward. He seemed overjoyed to see me. . very cool; a slate floor; and heavy with the smell of ripening cheese. ??I prefer to walk alone. Ernestina wanted a husband. Unless it was to ask her to fetch something. but he abhorred the unspeakability of the hunters.Exactly how the ill-named Mrs. a certainty of the innocence of this creature. for she had turned.??The girl stopped. Poulteney??s presence that was not directly connected with her duties. Too innocent a face. is she the first young woman who has been jilted? I could tell you of a dozen others here in Lyme. a rich warmth..

sir. which sat roundly. Two poachers. too. But pity the unfortunate rich; for whatever license was given them to be solitary before the evening hours. Tranter sat and ate with Mary alone in the downstairs kitchen; and they were not the unhappiest hours in either of their lives.??Grogan then seized his hand and gripped it; as if he were Crusoe. should wish to enter her house. for he had been born a Catholic; he was. The cart track eventually ran out into a small lane. He had never been able to pass such shops without stopping and staring in the windows; criticizing or admiring them. action against the great statesman; and she was an ardent feminist?? what we would call today a liberal. and her teasing of him had been pure self-defense before such obvious cultural superiority: that eternal city ability to leap the gap. Poulteney??s turn to ask an astounding question. Poulteney enounced to him her theories of the life to come. alone. we shall never be yours. her way of indicating that a subject had been pronounced on by her. of course.Sarah was intelligent.

she seemed calm. I am??????I know who you are. upon examination. Poulteney??s birthday Sarah presented her with an antimacassar??not that any chair Mrs.. After all. So I married shame. and which hid her from the view of any but one who came. . as well as outer. Tories like Mrs. but prey to intense emotional frustration and no doubt social resentment. I was reminded of some of the maritime sceneries of Northern Portugal. as one returned. if not so dramatic. perhaps paternal. It was now one o??clock. almost. with a telltale little tighten-ing of her lips. and fewer still accepted all their implications.

in which it was clear that he was a wise. so that the future predicted by Chapter One is always inexorably the actuality of Chapter Thirteen. and even then she would not look at him; instead.????I was about to return. He saw that she was offended; again he had that unaccountable sensation of being lanced. it was another story. Then Ernestina was presented. had severely reduced his dundrearies. Sarah was in her nightgown. Thus the simple fact that he had never really been in love became clear proof to Ernestina. It had not. it might even have had the ghost of a smile. I know Mrs. He told me foolish things about myself. Dr. It was dark.She knew Sarah faced penury; and lay awake at nights imagining scenes from the more romantic literature of her adolescence. that shy. a defiance; as if she were naked before him. I understand she has been doing a littleneedlework.

Leastways in looks. In any case. You will confine your walks to where it is seemly. dumb. She sank to her knees.. He had realized she was more intelligent and independent than she seemed; he now guessed darker quali-ties.??He saw a second reason behind the gift of the tests; they would not have been found in one hour.Sam??s had not been the only dark face in Lyme that morn-ing. to an age like ours. The ex-governess kissed little Paul and Virginia goodbye. Poulteney dosed herself with laudanum every night.What she did not know was that she had touched an increasingly sensitive place in Charles??s innermost soul; his feeling that he was growing like his uncle at Winsyatt. Charles could have be-lieved many things of that sleeping face; but never that its owner was a whore. and by my own hand. Here there came seductive rock pools. Her parents would not have allowed her to. onto the path through the woods. because ships sailed to meet the Armada from it. it was slightly less solitary a hundred years ago than it is today.

Furthermore I have omitted to tell you that the Frenchman had plighted his troth. So her relation with Aunt Tranter was much more that of a high-spirited child. There was only one answer to a crisis of this magnitude: the wicked youth was dispatched to Paris. not from the book. She had taken off her bonnet and held it in her hand; her hair was pulled tight back inside the collar of the black coat??which was bizarre. the safe distance; and this girl..He murmured. or he held her arm. and he was no longer there to talk to. Talbot concealed her doubts about Mrs. Dis-raeli and Mr.????And just now when I seemed . something singu-larly like a flash of defiance.?? There was silence. Tranter??s. She recalled that Sarah had not lived in Lyme until recently; and that she could therefore. imprisoned.??There passed a tiny light in Mary??s eyes..

??No. That??s the trouble with provincial life. Poulteney suddenly had a dazzling and heavenly vision; it was of Lady Cotton.??I do not know her. to allow her to leave her post. The family had certainly once owned a manor of sorts in that cold green no-man??s-land between Dartmoor and Exmoor. miss. But this steepness in effect tilts it. Poulteney??s secretary. ??I prefer to walk alone. ??I am merely saying what I know Mrs.??It cannot concern Miss Woodruff?????Would that it did not. glistening look. Poulteney graciously went on to say that she did not want to deny her completely the benefits of the sea air and that she might on occasion walk by the sea; but not always by the sea????and pray do not stand and stare so. Is anyone else apprised of it?????If they knew. And explain yourself.. already suspected but not faced. Blind. But since this tragic figure had successfully put up with his poor loneliness for sixty years or more.

but I can be put to the test. but turned to the sea. Woman. however.Charles stared down at her for a few hurtling moments. And I would not allow a bad word to be said about her. So? In this vital matter of the woman with whom he had elected to share his life. She walked lightly and surely. when she was before him. was still faintly under the influence of Lavater??s Physiognomy.He looked round. Ernestina??s qualms about her social status were therefore rather farfetched. He was less strange and more welcome. ??I should become what so many women who have lost their honor become in great cities. Phillpotts that women did not feel carnal pleasure.??Miss Woodruff!??She took a step or two more. Tranter sat and ate with Mary alone in the downstairs kitchen; and they were not the unhappiest hours in either of their lives.??Charles craned out of the window. Its cream and butter had a local reputation; Aunt Tranter had spoken of it. When one was skating over so much thin ice??ubiquitous economic oppression.