The Woodlanders Part 2 - Thomas Hardy (debian ebook reader txt) 📗
- Author: Thomas Hardy
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Marty Hesitated. "From Me," She Said, Shyly, Though With
Noticeable Firmness.
This Letter Contained, In fact, Marty'S Declaration That She Was
The Original Owner Of Mrs. Charmond'S Supplementary Locks, And
Enclosed a Sample From The Native Stock, Which Had Grown
Considerably By This Time. It Was Her Long Contemplated apple Of
Discord, And Much Her Hand Trembled as She Handed the Document Up
To Him.
But It Was Impossible On Account Of The Gloom For Fitzpiers To
Read It Then, While He Had The Curiosity To Do So, And He Put It
In His Pocket. His Imagination Having already Centred itself On
Hintock House, In his Pocket The Letter Remained unopened and
Forgotten, All The While That Marty Was Hopefully Picturing its
Excellent Weaning effect Upon Him.
He Was Not Long In reaching the Precincts Of The Manor House. He
Drew Rein Under A Group Of Dark Oaks Commanding a View Of The
Front, And Reflected a While. His Entry Would Not Be Altogether
Unnatural In the Circumstances Of Her Possible Indisposition; But
Upon The Whole He Thought It Best To Avoid Riding up To The Door.
By Silently Approaching he Could Retreat Unobserved in the Event
Of Her Not Being alone. Thereupon He Dismounted, Hitched darling
To A Stray Bough Hanging a Little Below The General Browsing line
Of The Trees, And Proceeded to The Door On Foot.
In The Mean Time Melbury Had Returned from Shottsford-Forum. The
Great Court Or Quadrangle Of The Timber-Merchant'S House, Divided
From The Shady Lane By An Ivy-Covered wall, Was Entered by Two
White Gates, One Standing near Each Extremity Of The Wall. It So
Happened that At The Moment When Fitzpiers Was Riding out At The
Lower Gate On His Way To The Manor House, Melbury Was Approaching
The Upper Gate To Enter It. Fitzpiers Being in front Of Melbury
Was Seen By The Latter, But The Surgeon, Never Turning his Head,
Did Not Observe His Father-In-Law, Ambling slowly And Silently
Along Under The Trees, Though His Horse Too Was A Gray One.
"How Is Grace?" Said His Wife, As Soon As He Entered.
Melbury Looked gloomy. "She Is Not At All Well," He Said. "I
Don'T Like The Looks Of Her At All. I Couldn'T Bear The Notion Of
Her Biding away In a Strange Place Any Longer, And I Begged her To
Let Me Get Her Home. At Last She Agreed to It, But Not Till After
Much Persuading. I Was Then Sorry That I Rode Over Instead Of
Driving; But I Have Hired a Nice Comfortable Carriage--The
Easiest-Going i Could Get--And She'Ll Be Here In a Couple Of Hours
Or Less. I Rode On Ahead To Tell You To Get Her Room Ready; But I
See Her Husband Has Come Back."
"Yes," Said Mrs. Melbury. She Expressed her Concern That Her
Husband Had Hired a Carriage All The Way From Shottsford. "What
It Will Cost!" She Said.
"I Don'T Care What It Costs!" He Exclaimed, Testily. "I Was
Determined to Get Her Home. Why She Went Away I Can'T Think! She
Acts In a Way That Is Not At All Likely To Mend Matters As Far As
Part 2 Chapter 9 Pg 51I Can See." (Grace Had Not Told Her Father Of Her Interview With
Mrs. Charmond, And The Disclosure That Had Been Whispered in her
Startled ear.) "Since Edgar Is Come," He Continued, "He Might Have
Waited in till I Got Home, To Ask Me How She Was, If Only For A
Compliment. I Saw Him Go Out; Where Is He Gone?"
Mrs. Melbury Did Not Know Positively; But She Told Her Husband
That There Was Not Much Doubt About The Place Of His First Visit
After An Absence. She Had, In fact, Seen Fitzpiers Take The
Direction Of The Manor House.
Melbury Said No More. It Was Exasperating to Him That Just At
This Moment, When There Was Every Reason For Fitzpiers To Stay
Indoors, Or At Any Rate To Ride Along The Shottsford Road To Meet
His Ailing wife, He Should Be Doing despite To Her By Going
Elsewhere. The Old Man Went Out-Of-Doors Again; And His Horse
Being hardly Unsaddled as Yet, He Told Upjohn To Retighten The
Girths, When He Again Mounted, And Rode Off At The Heels Of The
Surgeon.
By The Time That Melbury Reached the Park, He Was Prepared to Go
Any Lengths In combating this Rank And Reckless Errantry Of His
Daughter'S Husband. He Would Fetch Home Edgar Fitzpiers To-Night
By Some Means, Rough Or Fair: In his View There Could Come Of His
Interference Nothing worse Than What Existed at Present. And Yet
To Every Bad There Is A Worse.
He Had Entered by The Bridle-Gate Which Admitted to The Park On
This Side, And Cantered over The Soft Turf Almost In the Tracks Of
Fitzpiers'S Horse, Till He Reached the Clump Of Trees Under Which
His Precursor Had Halted. The Whitish Object That Was
Indistinctly Visible Here In the Gloom Of The Boughs He Found To
Be Darling, As Left By Fitzpiers.
"D--N Him! Why Did He Not Ride Up To The House In an Honest Way?"
Said Melbury.
He Profited by Fitzpiers'S Example; Dismounting, He Tied his Horse
Under An Adjoining tree, And Went On To The House On Foot, As The
Other Had Done. He Was No Longer Disposed to Stick At Trifles In
His Investigation, And Did Not Hesitate To Gently Open The Front
Door Without Ringing.
The Large Square Hall, With Its Oak Floor, Staircase, And
Wainscot, Was Lighted by A Dim Lamp Hanging from A Beam. Not A
Soul Was Visible. He Went Into The Corridor And Listened at A
Door Which He Knew To Be That Of The Drawing-Room; There Was No
Sound, And On Turning the Handle He Found The Room Empty. A Fire
Burning low In the Grate Was The Sole Light Of The Apartment; Its
Beams Flashed mockingly On The Somewhat Showy Versaillese
Furniture And Gilding here, In style As Unlike That Of The
Structural Parts Of The Building as It Was Possible To Be, And
Probably Introduced by Felice To Counteract The Fine Old-English
Gloom Of The Place. Disappointed in his Hope Of Confronting his
Son-In-Law Here, He Went On To The Dining-Room; This Was Without
Light Or Fire, And Pervaded by A Cold Atmosphere, Which Signified
That She Had Not Dined there That Day.
Part 2 Chapter 9 Pg 52
By This Time Melbury'S Mood Had A Little Mollified. Everything
Here Was So Pacific, So Unaggressive In its Repose, That He Was No
Longer Incited to Provoke A Collision With Fitzpiers Or With
Anybody. The Comparative Stateliness Of The Apartments Influenced
Him To An Emotion, Rather Than To A Belief, That Where All Was
Outwardly So Good And Proper There Could Not Be Quite That
Delinquency Within Which He Had Suspected. It Occurred to Him,
Too, That Even If His Suspicion Were Justified, His Abrupt, If Not
Unwarrantable, Entry Into The House Might End In confounding its
Inhabitant At The Expense Of His Daughter'S Dignity And His Own.
Any Ill Result Would Be Pretty Sure To Hit Grace Hardest In the
Long-Run. He Would, After All, Adopt The More Rational Course,
And Plead With Fitzpiers Privately, As He Had Pleaded with Mrs.
Charmond.
He Accordingly Retreated as Silently As He Had Come. Passing the
Door Of The Drawing-Room Anew, He Fancied that He Heard A Noise
Within Which Was Not The Crackling of The Fire. Melbury Gently
Reopened the Door To A Distance Of A Few Inches, And Saw At The
Opposite Window Two Figures In the Act Of Stepping out--A Man And
A Woman--In Whom He Recognized the Lady Of The House And His Son-
In-Law. In a Moment They Had Disappeared amid The Gloom Of The
Lawn.
He Returned into The Hall, And Let Himself Out By The Carriage-
Entrance Door, Coming round To The Lawn Front In time To See The
Two Figures Parting at The Railing which Divided the Precincts Of
The House From The Open Park. Mrs. Charmond Turned to Hasten Back
Immediately That Fitzpiers Had Left Her Side, And He Was Speedily
Absorbed into The Duskiness Of The Trees.
Melbury Waited till Mrs. Charmond Had Re-Entered the Drawing-Room,
And Then Followed after Fitzpiers, Thinking that He Would Allow
The Latter To Mount And Ride Ahead A Little Way Before Overtaking
Him And Giving him A Piece Of His Mind. His Son-In-Law Might
Possibly See The Second Horse Near His Own; But That Would Do Him
No Harm, And Might Prepare Him For What He Was To Expect.
The Event, However, Was Different From The Plan. On Plunging into
The Thick Shade Of The Clump Of Oaks, He Could Not Perceive His
Horse Blossom Anywhere; But Feeling his Way Carefully Along, He
By-And-By Discerned fitzpiers'S Mare Darling still Standing as
Before Under The Adjoining tree. For A Moment Melbury Thought
That His Own Horse, Being young And Strong, Had Broken Away From
Her Fastening; But On Listening intently He Could Hear Her Ambling
Comfortably Along A Little Way Ahead, And A Creaking of The Saddle
Which Showed that She Had A Rider. Walking on As Far As The Small
Gate In the Corner Of The Park, He Met A Laborer, Who, In reply To
Melbury'S Inquiry If He Had Seen Any Person On A Gray Horse, Said
That He Had Only Met Dr. Fitzpiers.
It Was Just What Melbury Had Begun To Suspect: Fitzpiers Had
Mounted the Mare Which Did Not Belong To Him In mistake For His
Own--An Oversight Easily Explicable, In a Man Ever Unwitting in
Horse-Flesh, By The Darkness Of The Spot And The Near Similarity
Of The Animals In appearance, Though Melbury'S Was Readily Enough
Seen To Be The Grayer Horse By Day. He Hastened back, And Did
What Seemed best In the Circumstances--Got Upon Old Darling, And
Part 2 Chapter 9 Pg 53Rode Rapidly After Fitzpiers.
Melbury Had Just Entered the Wood, And Was Winding along The Cart-
Way Which Led through It, Channelled deep In the Leaf-Mould With
Large Ruts That Were Formed by The Timber-Wagons In fetching the
Spoil Of The
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