Chapter one missus rachel lynde is surprised missus rachel lynde lived just where the avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow fringed with alders and ladies eardrops and traversed by a brook


That had its source away back in the woods of the old cuthbert place it was reputed to be an intricate headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods with dark secrets of pool and cascade but by the time it reached lynde's hollow it was a quiet well conducted little stream


For not even a brook could run past missus rachel lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum it probably was conscious that missus rachel was sitting at her window keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed from brooks and children up


And that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof there are plenty of people in avonlea and out of it who can attend closely to their neighbor's business by dint of neglecting their own


But missus rachel lynde was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain she was a notable housewife her work was always done and well done she ran the sewing circle


Helped run the sunday school and was the strongest prop of the church aid society and foreign missions auxiliary yet with all this missus rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window knitting cotton warp quilts she had knitted sixteen of them


As avonlea housekeepers were wont to tell in awed voices and keeping a sharp eye on the main road that crossed the hollow and wound up the steep red hill beyond


Anybody who went out of it or into it had to pass over that hill road and so run the unseen gauntlet of missus rachel's all seeing eye she was sitting there one afternoon in early june the sun was coming in at the window warm and bright


The orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky white bloom hummed over by a myriad of bees thomas lynde a meek little man whom avonlea people called rachel lynde's husband was sowing his late turnip seed on the hill field beyond the barn


Missus rachel knew that he ought because she had heard him tell peter morrison the evening before in william j blair's store over at carmody that he meant to sow his turnip seed the next afternoon


Peter had asked him of course for matthew cuthbert had never been known to volunteer information about anything in his whole life and yet here was matthew cuthbert at half past three on the afternoon of a busy day placidly driving over the hollow and up the hill


And his best suit of clothes which was plain proof that he was going out of avonlea and he had the buggy and the sorrel mare which betokened that he was going a considerable distance now where was matthew cuthbert going and why was he going there


Had it been any other man in avonlea missus rachel deftly putting this and that together might have given a pretty good guess as to both questions but matthew so rarely went from home that it must be something pressing and unusual which was taking him


He was the shyest man alive and hated to have to go among strangers or to any place where he might have to talk matthew dressed up with a white collar and driving in a buggy was something that didn't happen often missus rachel ponder as she might could make nothing of it


And her afternoon's enjoyment was spoiled i'll just step over to green gables after tea and find out from marilla where he's gone and why the worthy woman finally concluded he doesn't generally go to town this time of year and he never visits


If he'd run out of turnip seed he wouldn't dress up and take the buggy to go for more


Yet something must have happened since last night to start him off i'm clean puzzled that's what and i won't know a minute's peace of mind or conscience until i know what has taken matthew cuthbert out of avonlea today accordingly after tea missus rachel set out she had not far to go


The big rambling orchard embowered house where the cuthberts lived was a scant quarter of a mile up the road from lynde's hollow to be sure the long lane made it a good deal further matthew cuthbert's father as shy and silent as his son after him


Had got as far away as he possibly could from his fellow men without actually retreating into the woods when he founded his homestead green gables was built at the furthest edge of his cleared land and there it was to this day


Barely visible from the main road along which all the other avonlea houses were so sociably situated missus rachel lynde did not call living in such a place living at all it's just staying that's what she said as she stepped along the deep rutted grassy lane


Bordered with wild rose bushes it's no wonder matthew and marilla are both a little odd living away back here by themselves trees aren't much company though dear knows if they were there'd be enough of them i'd ruther look at people to be sure


They seem contented enough but then i suppose they're used to it a body can get used to anything even to being hanged as the irishman said with this missus rachel stepped out of the lane into the backyard of green gables very green and neat and precise was that yard


Set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and the other with prim lombardies not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen for missus rachel would have seen it if there had been privately she was of the opinion that marilla cuthbert swept that yard over as often as she swept her house


One could have eaten a meal off the ground without overbrimming the proverbial peck of dirt missus rachel rapped smartly at the kitchen door and stepped in when bidden to do so the kitchen at green gables was a cheerful apartment


Or would have been cheerful if it had not been so painfully clean as to give it something of the appearance of an unused parlor its windows looked east and west through the west one looking out on the back yard came a flood of mellow june sunlight but the east one


Whence you got a glimpse of the bloom white cherry trees in the left orchard and nodding slender birches down in the hollow by the brook was greened over by a tangle of vines here sat marilla cuthbert when she sat at all always slightly distrustful of sunshine


And here she sat now knitting and the table behind her was laid for supper missus rachel before she had fairly closed the door


There were three plates laid so that marilla must be expecting some one home with matthew to tea but the dishes were everyday dishes and there was only crab apple preserves and one kind of cake so that the expected company could not be any particular company


Yet what of matthew's white collar and the sorrel mare missus rachel was getting fairly dizzy with this unusual mystery about quiet unmysterious green gables good evening rachel marilla said briskly this is a real fine evening isn't it won't you sit down


How are all your folks something that for lack of any other name might be called friendship existed and always had existed between marilla cuthbert and missus rachel in spite of or perhaps because of their dissimilarity marilla was a tall


Thin woman with angles and without curves her dark hair showed some gray streaks and was always twisted up in a hard little knot behind with two wire hairpins stuck aggressively through it she looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience which she was


But there was a saving something about her mouth which if it had been ever so slightly developed might have been considered indicative of a sense of humor we're all pretty well said missus rachel i was kind of afraid you weren't though when i saw matthew starting off today i thought maybe he was going to the doctor's


Marilla's lips twitched understandingly she had expected missus rachel up she had known that the sight of matthew jaunting off so unaccountably would be too much for her neighbor's curiosity oh no i'm quite well although i had a bad headache yesterday she said


Matthew went to bright river we're getting a little boy from an orphan asylum in nova scotia and he's coming on the train tonight if marilla had said that matthew had gone to bright river to meet a kangaroo from australia missus rachel could not have been more astonished


She was actually stricken dumb for five seconds it was unsupposable that marilla was making fun of her but missus rachel was almost forced to suppose it are you in earnest marilla she demanded when voice returned to her yes of course


Said marilla as if getting boys from orphan asylums in nova scotia were part of the usual spring work on any well regulated avonlea farm instead of being an unheard of innovation missus rachel felt that she had received a severe mental jolt she thought in exclamation points


Marilla and matthew cuthbert of all people adopting a boy from an orphan asylum well the world was certainly turning upside down she would be surprised at nothing after this nothing


What on earth put such a notion into your head she demanded disapprovingly this had been done without her advice being asked and must perforce be disapproved well we've been thinking about it for some time all winter in fact returned marilla


Missus alexander spencer was up here one day before christmas and she said she was going to get a little girl from the asylum over in hopeton in the spring


So matthew and i have talked it over off and on ever since we thought we'd get a boy matthew is getting up in years you know he's sixty and he isn't so spry as he once was his heart troubles him a good deal and you know how desperate hard it's got to be to get hired help


There's never anybody to be had but those stupid half grown little french boys and as soon as you do get one broke into your ways and taught something he's up and off to the lobster canneries or the states at first matthew suggested getting a home boy but i said no flat to that


They may be all right i'm not saying they're not but no london street arabs for me i said give me a native born at least there'll be a risk no matter who we get but i'll feel easier in my mind and sleep sounder at nights if we get a born canadian


So in the end we decided to ask missus spencer to pick us out one when she went over to get her little girl we heard last week she was going so we sent her word by richard spencer's folks at carmody to bring us a smart likely boy of about ten or eleven we decided that would be the best age


Old enough to be of some use in doing chores right off and young enough to be trained up proper we mean to give him a good home and schooling we had a telegram from missus alexander spencer today the mail man brought it from the station saying they were coming on the five thirty train tonight


So matthew went to bright river to meet him missus spencer will drop him off there of course she goes on to white sands station herself missus rachel prided herself on always speaking her mind she proceeded to speak it now having adjusted her mental attitude to this amazing piece of news


Well marilla i'll just tell you plain that i think you're doing a mighty foolish thing a risky thing that's what you don't know what you're getting you're bringing a strange child into your house and home and you don't know a single thing about him nor what his disposition is like nor what sort of parents he had


Nor how he's likely to turn out why it was only last week i read in the paper how a man and his wife up west of the island took a boy out of an orphan asylum and he set fire to the house at night set it on purpose marilla and nearly burnt them to a crisp in their beds


And i know another case where an adopted boy used to suck the eggs they couldn't break him of it if you had asked my advice in the matter which you didn't do marilla i'd have said for mercy's sake not to think of such a thing that's what


This job's comforting seemed neither to offend nor to alarm marilla she knitted steadily on i don't deny there's something in what you say rachel i've had some qualms myself but matthew was terrible set on it i could see that so i gave in


It's so seldom matthew sets his mind on anything that when he does i always feel it's my duty to give in and as for the risk there's risks in pretty near everything a body does in this world there's risks in people's having children of their own if it comes to that they don't always turn out well


And then nova scotia is right close to the island it isn't as if we were getting him from england or the states he can't be much different from ourselves well i hope it will turn out all right said missus rachel in a tone that plainly indicated her painful doubts


Only don't say i didn't warn you if he burns green gables down or puts strychnine in the well i heard of a case over in new brunswick where an orphan asylum child did that and the whole family died in fearful agonies only it was a girl in that instance well we're not getting a girl said marilla


As if poisoning wells were a purely feminine accomplishment and not to be dreaded in the case of a boy i'd never dream of taking a girl to bring up i wonder at missus alexander spencer for doing it but there she wouldn't shrink from adopting a whole orphan asylum if she took it into her head


Missus rachel would have liked to stay until matthew came home with his imported orphan but reflecting that it would be a good two hours at least before his arrival she concluded to go up the road to robert bell's and tell the news it would certainly make a sensation second to none


And missus rachel dearly loved to make a sensation so she took herself away somewhat to marilla's relief for the latter felt her doubts and fears reviving under the influence of missus rachel's pessimism well of all things that ever were or will be ejaculated missus rachel when she was safely out in the lane


It does really seem as if i must be dreaming well i'm sorry for that poor young one and no mistake matthew and marilla don't know anything about children and they'll expect him to be wiser and steadier that his own grandfather


It seems uncanny to think of a child at green gables somehow there's never been one there for matthew and marilla were grown up when the new house was built if they ever were children which is hard to believe when one looks at them i wouldn't be in that orphan's shoes for anything


My but i pity him that's what so said missus rachel to the wild rose bushes out of the fulness of her heart


Chapter two matthew cuthbert is surprised matthew cuthbert and the sorrel mare jogged comfortably over the eight miles to bright river it was a pretty road running along between snug farmsteads with now and again a bit of balsamy fir wood to drive through


Or a hollow where wild plums hung out their filmy bloom the air was sweet with the breath of many apple orchards and the meadows sloped away in the distance to horizon mists of pearl and purple while the little birds sang as if it were the one day of summer in all the year


Matthew enjoyed the drive after his own fashion except during the moments when he met women and had to nod to them for in prince edward island you are supposed to nod to all and sundry you meet on the road whether you know them or not matthew dreaded all women except marilla and missus rachel


He had an uncomfortable feeling that the mysterious creatures were secretly laughing at him he may have been quite right in thinking so for he was an odd looking personage with an ungainly figure and long iron gray hair that touched his stooping shoulders


And a full soft brown beard which he had worn ever since he was twenty in fact he had looked at twenty very much as he looked at sixty lacking a little of the grayness when he reached bright river there was no sign of any train


He thought he was too early so he tied his horse in the yard of the small bright river hotel and went over to the station house the long platform was almost deserted the only living creature in sight being a girl who was sitting on a pile of shingles at the extreme end


Matthew barely noting that it was a girl sidled past her as quickly as possible without looking at her had he looked he could hardly have failed to notice the tense rigidity and expectation of her attitude and expression she was sitting there waiting for something or somebody


And since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then she sat and waited with all her might and main matthew encountered the stationmaster locking up the ticket office preparatory to going home for supper and asked him if the five thirty train would soon be along


The five thirty train has been in and gone half an hour ago answered that brisk official but there was a passenger dropped off for you a little girl she's sitting out there on the shingles i asked her to go into the ladies waiting room but she informed me gravely that she preferred to stay outside


She's a case i should say i'm not expecting a girl said matthew blankly it's a boy i've come for he should be here missus alexander spencer was to bring him over from nova scotia for me the stationmaster whistled


Guess there's some mistake he said missus spencer came off the train with that girl and gave her into my charge said you and your sister were adopting her from an orphan asylum and that you would be along for her presently that's all i know about it and i haven't got any more orphans concealed hereabouts


I don't understand said matthew helplessly wishing that marilla was at hand to cope with the situation well you'd better question the girl said the station master carelessly i dare say she'll be able to explain she's got a tongue of her own that's certain


Maybe they were out of boys of the brand you wanted he walked jauntily away being hungry and the unfortunate matthew was left to do that which was harder for him than bearding a lion in its den walk up to a girl a strange girl an orphan girl


And demand of her why she wasn't a boy matthew groaned in spirit as he turned about and shuffled gently down the platform towards her she had been watching him ever since he had passed her and she had her eyes on him now matthew was not looking at her


A child of about eleven garbed in a very short very tight very ugly dress of yellowish gray wincey she wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat extending down her back were two braids of very thick decidedly red hair


Her face was small white and thin also much freckled her mouth was large and so were her eyes which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others so far the ordinary observer an extraordinary observer


Might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity that the mouth was sweet lipped and expressive that the forehead was broad and full in short our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded


Was so ludicrously afraid matthew however was spared the ordeal of speaking first for as soon as she concluded that he was coming to her she stood up grasping with one thin brown hand the handle of a shabby old fashioned carpet bag the other she held out to him


I suppose you are mister matthew cuthbert of green gables she said in a peculiarly clear sweet voice i'm very glad to see you i was beginning to be afraid you weren't coming for me


I had made up my mind that if you didn't come for me to night


I wouldn't be a bit afraid and it would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry tree all white with bloom in the moonshine don't you think you could imagine you were dwelling in marble halls couldn't you


Matthew had taken the scrawny little hand awkwardly in his then and there he decided what to do he could not tell this child with the glowing eyes that there had been a mistake he would take her home and let marilla do that she couldn't be left at bright river anyhow


No matter what mistake had been made so all questions and explanations might as well be deferred until he was safely back at green gables i'm sorry i was late he said shyly come along the horse is over in the yard give me your bag oh i can carry it the child responded cheerfully


It isn't heavy i've got all my worldly goods in it but it isn't heavy and if it isn't carried in just a certain way the handle pulls out so i'd better keep it because i know the exact knack of it it's an extremely old carpet bag oh i'm very glad you've come even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry tree


We've got to drive a long piece haven't we missus spencer said it was eight miles i'm glad because i love driving oh it seems so wonderful that i'm going to live with you and belong to you i've never belonged to anybody not really but the asylum was the worst i've only been in it four months but that was enough


It's worse than anything you could imagine missus spencer said it was wicked of me to talk like that


They were good you know the asylum people but there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum only just in the other orphans it was pretty interesting to imagine things about them


Who had been stolen away from her parents in her infancy by a cruel nurse who died before she could confess i used to lie awake at nights and imagine things like that because i didn't have time in the day i guess that's why i'm so thin i am dreadful thin ain't i there isn't a pick on my bones


I do love to imagine i'm nice and plump with dimples in my elbows with this matthew's companion stopped talking partly because she was out of breath and partly because they had reached the buggy not another word did she say until they had left the village and were driving down a steep little hill


The road part of which had been cut so deeply into the soft soil that the banks fringed with blooming wild cherry trees and slim white birches were several feet above their heads the child put out her hand and broke off a branch of wild plum that brushed against the side of the buggy


Isn't that beautiful what did that tree leaning out from the bank all white and lacy make you think of she asked well now i dunno said matthew why a bride of course a bride all in white with a lovely misty veil


I've never seen one but i can imagine what she would look like i don't ever expect to be a bride myself i'm so homely nobody will ever want to marry me unless it might be a foreign missionary i suppose a foreign missionary mightn't be very particular


But i do hope that some day i shall have a white dress that is my highest ideal of earthly bliss i just love pretty clothes and i've never had a pretty dress in my life that i can remember but of course it's all the more to look forward to isn't it and then


I can imagine that i'm dressed gorgeously this morning when i left the asylum i felt so ashamed because i had to wear this horrid old wincey dress all the orphans had to wear them you know a merchant in hopeton last winter donated three hundred yards of wincey to the asylum some people said it was because he couldn't sell it


But i'd rather believe that it was out of the kindness of his heart wouldn't you when we got on the train i felt as if everybody must be looking at me and pitying me but i just went to work and imagined that i had on the most beautiful pale blue silk dress because when you are imagining you might as well imagine something worth while


And a big hat all flowers and nodding plumes and a gold watch and kid gloves and boots i felt cheered up right away and i enjoyed my trip to the island with all my might i wasn't a bit sick coming over in the boat neither was missus spencer although she generally is


She said she hadn't time to get sick watching to see that i didn't fall overboard she said she never saw the beat of me for prowling about but if it kept her from being seasick it's a mercy i did prowl isn't it and i wanted to see everything that was to be seen on that boat because i didn't know whether i'd ever have another opportunity


Oh there are a lot more cherry trees all in bloom this island is the bloomiest place i just love it already and i'm so glad i'm going to live here i've always heard that prince edward island was the prettiest place in the world


And i used to imagine i was living here but i never really expected i would it's delightful when your imaginations come true isn't it but those red roads are so funny when we got into the train at charlottetown and the red roads began to flash past i asked missus spencer what made them red


And she said she didn't know and for pity's sake not to ask her any more questions she said i must have asked her a thousand already i suppose i had too but how you going to find out about things if you don't ask questions and what does make the roads red well now i dunno said matthew


There'd be no scope for imagination then would there but am i talking too much people are always telling me i do would you rather i didn't talk if you say so i'll stop i can stop when i make up my mind to it although it's difficult matthew


Was enjoying himself like most quiet folks he liked talkative people when they were willing to do the talking themselves and did not expect him to keep up his end of it but he had never expected to enjoy the society of a little girl women were bad enough in all conscience but little girls were worse


He detested the way they had of sidling past him timidly with sidewise glances as if they expected him to gobble them up at a mouthful if they ventured to say a word that was the avonlea type of well bred little girl but this freckled witch was very different


And although he found it rather difficult for his slower intelligence to keep up with her brisk mental processes


Chapter ninety nine the law we have seen how quietly


The fact being that every one was too much occupied in his or her own affairs to think of theirs we will leave the banker contemplating the enormous magnitude of his debt before the phantom of bankruptcy and follow the baroness


Who after being momentarily crushed under the weight of the blow which had struck her had gone to seek her usual adviser lucien debray the baroness had looked forward to this marriage as a means of ridding her of a guardianship which over a girl of eugenie's character


For in the tacit relations which maintain the bond of family union the mother to maintain her ascendancy over her daughter must never fail to be a model of wisdom and a type of perfection now


An expression which seemed to imply that she understood all her mother's amorous and pecuniary relationships with the intimate secretary moreover


Not only because he was a source of dissension and scandal under the paternal roof but because she had at once classed him in that catalogue of bipeds whom plato endeavors to withdraw from the appellation of men


Unfortunately in this world of ours each person views things through a certain medium and so is prevented from seeing in the same light as others and madame danglars therefore very much regretted that the marriage of eugenie had not taken place


Not only because the match was good and likely to insure the happiness of her child but because it would also set her at liberty she ran therefore to debray who after having like the rest of paris witnessed the contract scene and the scandal attending it


Had retired in haste to his club where he was chatting with some friends upon the events which served as a subject of conversation for three fourths of that city known as the capital of the world at the precise time when madame danglars dressed in black and concealed in a long veil


Was ascending the stairs leading to debray's apartments


Debray was occupied in repelling the insinuations of a friend who tried to persuade him


Still when he recollected the independent proud spirit of eugenie he positively rejected it as utterly impossible though the same thought again continually recurred and found a resting place in his heart tea play


And the conversation which had become interesting during the discussion of such serious affairs


Awaited the return of debray in the little green room seated between two baskets of flowers which she had that morning sent and which it must be confessed


With so much care that his absence was half excused in the eyes of the poor woman at twenty minutes of twelve madame danglars tired of waiting returned home women of a certain grade are like prosperous grisettes in one respect they seldom return home after twelve o'clock


The baroness returned to the hotel with as much caution as eugenie used in leaving it she ran lightly up stairs and with an aching heart entered her apartment contiguous as we know to that of eugenie she was fearful of exciting any remark


And believed firmly in her daughter's innocence and fidelity to the paternal roof she listened at eugenie's door and hearing no sound tried to enter but the bolts were in place madame danglars then concluded that the young girl had been overcome with the terrible excitement of the evening


And had gone to bed and to sleep she called the maid and questioned her mademoiselle eugenie said the maid


After which they desired me to leave saying that they needed me no longer


Madame danglars therefore went to bed without a shadow of suspicion and began to muse over the recent events in proportion as her memory became clearer the occurrences of the evening were revealed in their true light what she had taken for confusion was a tumult


Who had been afflicted with as severe a blow through her husband and son eugenie she said to herself is lost and so are we the affair as it will be reported will cover us with shame


For in a society such as ours satire inflicts a painful and incurable wound


And her glance was turned towards heaven


And out of a fault nay even a vice sometimes produces a blessing and then her thoughts cleaving through space like a bird in the air rested on cavalcanti this andrea was a wretch a robber an assassin


And yet his manners showed the effects of a sort of education if not a complete one


Supported by an honorable name how could she extricate herself from this labyrinth to whom would she apply to help her out of this painful situation debray to whom she had run with the first instinct of a woman towards the man she loves and who yet betrays her


Debray could but give her advice she must apply to some one more powerful than he


But no on reflection the procureur was not a merciless man and it was not the magistrate slave to his duties but the friend the loyal friend who roughly but firmly cut into the very core of the corruption


It was not the executioner but the surgeon who wished to withdraw the honor of danglars from ignominious association with the disgraced young man they had presented to the world as their son in law and since villefort the friend of danglars had acted in this way


No one could suppose that he had been previously acquainted with or had lent himself to any of andrea's intrigues


Appeared to the baroness as if shaped for their mutual advantage but the inflexibility of the procureur should stop there she would see him the next day and if she could not make him fail in his duties as a magistrate she would at least


Obtain all the indulgence he could allow she would invoke the past recall old recollections she would supplicate him by the remembrance of guilty yet happy days


He had only to turn his eyes on one side and allow andrea to fly and follow up the crime under that shadow of guilt called contempt of court and after this reasoning she slept easily


At nine o'clock next morning she arose and without ringing for her maid or giving the least sign of her activity she dressed herself in the same simple style as on the previous night then running down stairs she left the hotel walked to the rue de provence


For the last month this wretched house had presented the gloomy appearance of a lazaretto infected with the plague some of the apartments were closed within and without the shutters were only opened to admit a minute's air showing the scared face of a footman


And the neighbors would say to each other in a low voice


Madame danglars involuntarily shuddered at the desolate aspect of the mansion


Three times did the bell ring with a dull heavy sound seeming to participate in the general sadness before the concierge appeared and peeped through the door which he opened just wide enough to allow his words to be heard


He saw a lady a fashionable elegantly dressed lady


First madame who are you who am i you know me well enough we no longer know any one madame


Where do you come from oh this is too much madame these are my orders excuse me your name the baroness danglars you have seen me twenty times


Possibly madame and now what do you want


Madame this is precaution not impertinence


Or without speaking to the procureur well i have business with the procureur is it pressing business you can imagine so since i have not even brought my carriage out yet but enough of this here is my card


Take it to your master madame will await my return yes go the concierge closed the door leaving madame danglars in the street she had not long to wait


Directly afterwards the door was opened wide enough to admit her and when she had passed through it was again shut without losing sight of her for an instant the concierge took a whistle from his pocket as soon as they entered the court and blew it


You will excuse this poor fellow madame


In the court showing his merchandise was a tradesman who had been admitted with the same precautions the baroness ascended the steps she felt herself strongly infected with the sadness which seemed to magnify her own


Preoccupied as madame danglars had been with the object of her visit the treatment she had received from these underlings appeared to her so insulting that she began by complaining of it


Raising his head bowed down by grief looked up at her with so sad a smile that her complaints died upon her lips forgive my servants he said for a terror i cannot blame them for from being suspected they have become suspicious


You too then are unhappy she said yes madame replied the magistrate then you pity me sincerely madame and you understand what brings me here


You wish to speak to me about the circumstance which has just happened yes sir a fearful misfortune you mean a mischance a mischance repeated the baroness alas madame


Said the procureur with his imperturbable calmness of manner i consider those alone misfortunes which are irreparable and do you suppose this will be forgotten everything will be forgotten madame said villefort


Your daughter will be married to morrow if not to day in a week if not to morrow and i do not think you can regret the intended husband of your daughter madame danglars gazed on villefort stupefied to find him so almost insultingly calm


Am i come to a friend she asked in a tone full of mournful dignity


Said villefort whose pale cheeks became slightly flushed as he gave her the assurance and truly this assurance carried him back to different events from those now occupying the baroness and him well then be more affectionate my dear villefort


Said the baroness speak to me not as a magistrate but as a friend and when i am in bitter anguish of spirit do not tell me that i ought to be gay villefort bowed when i hear misfortunes named madame


He said i have within the last few months contracted the bad habit of thinking of my own and then i cannot help drawing up an egotistical parallel in my mind that is the reason that by the side of my misfortunes


But this annoys you let us change the subject you were saying madame i came to ask you my friend said the baroness what will be done with this impostor impostor


Certainly madame you appear to extenuate some cases and exaggerate others impostor indeed


Is nothing more nor less than an assassin sir i do not deny the justice of your correction


Come forget him for a moment and instead of pursuing him let him go you are too late madame the orders are issued


I hope so if they should arrest him i know that sometimes prisoners afford means of escape will you leave him in prison the procureur shook his head at least keep him there till my daughter be married


Impossible madame justice has its formalities what even for me said the baroness half jesting half in earnest for all even for myself among the rest


Replied villefort ah exclaimed the baroness without expressing the ideas which the exclamation betrayed villefort looked at her with that piercing glance which reads the secrets of the heart


You refer to the terrible rumors spread abroad in the world that the deaths which have kept me in mourning for the last three months


Have not happened by natural means i was not thinking of that replied madame danglars quickly yes you were thinking of it and with justice


You who pursue crime so vindictively answer now


The baroness became pale you were saying this were you not well i own it i will answer you


Then resting both hands upon his desk he said in a voice more hollow than usual there are crimes which remain unpunished because the criminals are unknown


Villefort here extended his hand toward a large crucifix placed opposite to his desk when they are discovered i swear to you by all i hold most sacred


Now after the oath i have just taken and which i will keep madame dare you ask for mercy for that wretch but sir are you sure he is as guilty as they say listen


This is his description benedetto condemned at the age of sixteen for five years to the galleys for forgery he promised well as you see first a runaway then an assassin


And who is this wretch who can tell a vagabond a corsican has no one owned him no one his parents are unknown


But who was the man who brought him from lucca another rascal like himself perhaps his accomplice the baroness clasped her hands


For heaven's sake madame said villefort with a firmness of expression not altogether free from harshness for heaven's sake


What am i the law has the law any eyes to witness your grief


Has the law a memory for all those soft recollections you endeavor to recall no madame


And when it commands it strikes you will tell me that i am a living being and not a code a man and not a volume look at me madame


Have mankind treated me as a brother have they loved me have they spared me has any one shown the mercy towards me that you now ask at my hands no madame they struck me always struck me


Woman siren that you are


Well be it so let me blush for the faults you know and perhaps perhaps for even more than those but having sinned myself it may be more deeply than others


I never rest till i have torn the disguises from my fellow creatures and found out their weaknesses i have always found them and more i repeat it with joy with triumph i have always found some proof of human perversity or error


Every criminal i condemn seems to me living evidence that i am not a hideous exception to the rest alas alas alas all the world is wicked let us therefore strike at wickedness


With a feverish rage which gave a ferocious eloquence to his words


This young man though a murderer is an orphan abandoned by everybody so much the worse or rather so much the better


But this is trampling on the weak sir the weakness of a murderer his dishonor reflects upon us


Oh sir exclaimed the baroness you are without pity for others well then i tell you they will have no mercy on you be it so said villefort raising his arms to heaven at least


Delay the trial till the next assizes


No madame said villefort instructions have been given


Five days are more than i require


I sometimes lose all recollection of the past and then i experience the same sort of happiness i can imagine the dead feel still it is better than suffering but sir he has fled let him escape inaction is a pardonable offence


I tell you it is too late early this morning the telegraph was employed and at this very minute


A dragoon has brought this despatch from the minister of the interior


Madame danglars trembled with fear villefort started with joy arrested he exclaimed he was taken at compiegne and all is over


Pale and cold adieu sir she said adieu madame replied the king's attorney as in an almost joyful manner he conducted her to the door


Chapter seventeen when wendy grew up i hope you want to know what became of the other boys they were waiting below to give wendy time to explain about them and when they had counted five hundred they went up


They went up by the stair because they thought this would make a better impression they stood in a row in front of missus darling with their hats off and wishing they were not wearing their pirate clothes they said nothing but their eyes asked her to have them


But they forgot about him of course missus darling said at once that she would have them but mister darling was curiously depressed and they saw that he considered six a rather large number i must say he said to wendy


That you don't do things by halves a grudging remark which the twins thought was pointed at them the first twin was the proud one and he asked flushing do you think we should be too much of a handful sir because if so we can go away


Father wendy cried shocked but still the cloud was on him he knew he was behaving unworthily but he could not help it we could lie doubled up said nibs i always cut their hair myself said wendy


George missus darling exclaimed pained to see her dear one showing himself in such an unfavourable light then he burst into tears and the truth came out he was as glad to have them as she was he said


But he thought they should have asked his consent as well as hers


I don't think he is a cypher tootles cried instantly do you think he is a cypher curly no i don't do you think he is a cypher slightly rather not twin what do you think


It turned out that not one of them thought him a cypher and he was absurdly gratified and said he would find space for them all in the drawing room if they fitted in we'll fit in sir they assured him then follow the leader he cried gaily


Mind you i am not sure that we have a drawing room but we pretend we have and it's all the same hoop la he went off dancing through the house and they all cried hoop la and danced after him searching for the drawing room and i forget whether they found it


But at any rate they found corners and they all fitted in as for peter he saw wendy once again before he flew away he did not exactly come to the window but he brushed against it in passing so that she could open it if she liked and call to him


That is what she did hullo wendy good bye he said oh dear are you going away yes you don't feel peter she said falteringly


That you would like to say anything to my parents about a very sweet subject no about me peter no missus darling came to the window


Would you send me to school he inquired craftily yes and then to an office i suppose so


Very soon i don't want to go to school and learn solemn things he told her passionately i don't want to be a man o wendy's mother if i was to wake up and feel there was a beard peter said wendy the comforter i should love you in a beard


And missus darling stretched out her arms to him but he repulsed her keep back lady


But where are you going to live with tink in the house we built for wendy the fairies are to put it high up among the tree tops where they sleep at nights how lovely cried wendy so longingly that missus darling tightened her grip i thought all the fairies were dead missus darling said


Because you see when a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies they live in nests on the tops of trees and the mauve ones are boys and the white ones are girls and the blue ones are just little sillies who are not sure what they are


I shall have tink tink can't go a twentieth part of the way round she reminded him a little tartly


Tink called out from somewhere round the corner it doesn't matter peter said o peter you know it matters


May i mummy certainly not i have got you home again and i mean to keep you but he does so need a mother so do you my love oh all right peter said as if he had asked her from politeness merely


Long in coming but this promise sent peter away quite gay again


I suppose it was because wendy knew this that her last words to him were these rather plaintive ones you won't forget me peter will you before spring cleaning time comes of course peter promised and then he flew away he took missus darling's kiss with him


The kiss that had been for no one else peter took quite easily funny but she seemed satisfied of course all the boys went to school


But it was too late now and soon they settled down to being as ordinary as you or me or jenkins minor


In time they could not even fly after their hats want of practice they called it but what it really meant was that they no longer believed michael believed longer than the other boys


Though they jeered at him so he was with wendy when peter came for her at the end of the first year she flew away with peter in the frock she had woven from leaves and berries in the neverland and her one fear was that he might notice how short it had become but he never noticed he had so much to say about himself


She had looked forward to thrilling talks with him about old times but new adventures had crowded the old ones from his mind who is captain hook


When she spoke of the arch enemy don't you remember she asked amazed how you killed him and saved all our lives i forget them after i kill them he replied carelessly when she expressed a doubtful hope that tinker bell would be glad to see her he said


Who is tinker bell o peter she said shocked but even when she explained he could not remember there are such a lot of them he said i expect she is no more i expect he was right for fairies don't live long


But they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them wendy was pained too to find that the past year was but as yesterday to peter


But he was exactly as fascinating as ever and they had a lovely spring cleaning in the little house on the tree tops next year he did not come for her she waited in a new frock because the old one simply would not meet but he never came


Perhaps he is ill michael said you know he is never ill michael came close to her and whispered with a shiver perhaps there is no such person wendy and then wendy would have cried if michael had not been crying


Peter came next spring cleaning and the strange thing was that he never knew he had missed a year that was the last time the girl wendy ever saw him for a little longer she tried for his sake not to have growing pains


And she felt she was untrue to him when she got a prize for general knowledge but the years came and went without bringing the careless boy and when they met again wendy was a married woman and peter was no more to her


Than a little dust in the box in which she had kept her toys wendy was grown up you need not be sorry for her she was one of the kind that likes to grow up in the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than other girls


All the boys were grown up and done for by this time so it is scarcely worth while saying anything more about them you may see the twins and nibs and curly any day going to an office each carrying a little bag and an umbrella


You see that judge in a wig coming out at the iron door that used to be tootles the bearded man who doesn't know any story to tell his children


And always had an odd inquiring look


When she was old enough to ask them they were mostly about peter pan she loved to hear of peter and wendy told her all she could remember in the very nursery from which the famous flight had taken place


Who was no longer fond of stairs missus darling was now dead and forgotten there were only two beds in the nursery now jane's and her nurse's and there was no kennel for nana also had passed away


She died of old age and at the end she had been rather difficult to get on with being very firmly convinced that no one knew how to look after children except herself once a week jane's nurse had her evening off


And then it was wendy's part to put jane to bed that was the time for stories it was jane's invention to raise the sheet over her mother's head and her own thus making a tent


I don't think i see anything to night says wendy with a feeling that if nana were here she would object to further conversation yes you do says jane


That is a long time ago sweetheart says wendy ah me how time flies does it fly asks the artful child the way you flew when you were a little girl


Why can't you fly now mother because i am grown up dearest when people grow up they forget the way why do they forget the way because they are no longer gay and innocent and heartless


It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly what is gay and innocent and heartless


Or perhaps wendy admits she does see something i do believe she says that it is this nursery i do believe it is says jane go on


They are now embarked on the great adventure of the night when peter flew in looking for his shadow


You have missed a bit interrupts jane who now knows the story better than her mother when you saw him sitting on the floor crying what did you say i sat up in bed and i said boy why are you crying


Yes that was it says jane with a big breath and then he flew us all away to the neverland and the fairies and the pirates and the redskins and the mermaid's lagoon


Yes which did you like best of all i think i liked the home under the ground best of all


What was the last thing peter ever said to you the last thing he ever said to me was just always be waiting for me and then some night you will hear me crowing yes but alas he forgot all about me


Wendy said it with a smile she was as grown up as that what did his crow sound like jane asked one evening it was like this wendy said


Trying to imitate peter's crow no it wasn't jane said gravely


Jane said ah yes many girls hear it when they are sleeping but i was the only one who heard it awake lucky you said jane and then one night came the tragedy it was the spring of the year


Wendy was sitting on the floor very close to the fire so as to see to darn for there was no other light in the nursery and while she sat darning she heard a crow then the window blew open as of old


He was exactly the same as ever and wendy saw at once that he still had all his first teeth he was a little boy and she was grown up she huddled by the fire not daring to move helpless and guilty


A big woman hullo wendy he said not noticing any difference for he was thinking chiefly of himself and in the dim light her white dress might have been the nightgown in which he had seen her first hullo peter


She replied faintly squeezing herself as small as possible something inside her was crying woman woman let go of me hullo where is john he asked suddenly missing the third bed


John is not here now she gasped is michael asleep he asked with a careless glance at jane


That is not michael she said quickly lest a judgment should fall on her peter looked hullo is it a new one yes boy or girl girl now surely he would understand but not a bit of it


Peter she said faltering are you expecting me to fly away with you of course that is why i have come he added a little sternly have you forgotten that this is spring cleaning time


She knew it was useless to say that he had let many spring cleaning times pass i can't come she said apologetically i have forgotten how to fly i'll soon teach you again o peter don't waste the fairy dust on me


What is it he cried shrinking


For almost the only time in his life that i know of peter was afraid don't turn up the light he cried she let her hands play in the hair of the tragic boy she was not a little girl heart broken about him


She was a grown woman smiling at it all


Then she turned up the light and peter saw he gave a cry of pain and when the tall beautiful creature stooped to lift him in her arms he drew back sharply what is it he cried again she had to tell him


I am old peter i am ever so much more than twenty i grew up long ago you promised not to i couldn't help it


No you're not yes and the little girl in the bed is my baby no she's not


Of course he did not strike


And wendy did not know how to comfort him though she could have done it so easily once she was only a woman now and she ran out of the room to try to think peter continued to cry and soon his sobs woke jane


Boy she said why are you crying peter rose and bowed to her and she bowed to him from the bed hullo he said hullo said jane my name is peter pan he told her


Yes i know i came back for my mother he explained to take her to the neverland yes i know jane said i have been waiting for you when wendy returned diffidently she found peter sitting on the bed post crowing gloriously


While jane in her nighty was flying round the room in solemn ecstasy she is my mother peter explained and jane descended and stood by his side with the look in her face that he liked to see on ladies when they gazed at him


He does so need a mother jane said yes i know wendy admitted rather forlornly no one knows it so well as i good bye said peter to wendy and he rose in the air and the shameless jane rose with him


It was already her easiest way of moving about wendy rushed to the window no no she cried it is just for spring cleaning time jane said he wants me always to do his spring cleaning


If only i could go with you wendy sighed you see you can't fly said jane of course in the end wendy let them fly away together


Our last glimpse of her shows her at the window


As you look at wendy you may see her hair becoming white and her figure little again for all this happened long ago


And every spring cleaning time except when he forgets peter comes for margaret and takes her to the neverland where she tells him stories about himself to which he listens eagerly when margaret grows up she will have a daughter who is to be peter's mother in turn


He took a resolve after this not to misinterpret her words even when miss stackpole appeared to strike the personal note most strongly he bethought himself that persons in her view were simple and homogeneous organisms


To deal with her in strict reciprocity he carried out his resolve with a great deal of tact and the young lady found in renewed contact with him no obstacle to the exercise of her genius for unshrinking enquiry


The general application of her confidence her situation at gardencourt therefore appreciated as we have seen her to be by isabel and full of appreciation herself of that free play of intelligence


She presently discovered in truth that this obligation was of the lightest and that missus touchett cared very little how miss stackpole behaved missus touchett had defined her to isabel


As both an adventuress and a bore adventuresses usually giving one more of a thrill she had expressed some surprise at her niece's having selected such a friend


Yet had immediately added that she knew isabel's friends were her own affair and that she had never undertaken to like them all or to restrict the girl to those she liked


My dear you'd have a very small society missus touchett frankly admitted and i don't think i like any man or woman well enough to recommend them to you when it comes to recommending it's a serious affair


I don't like miss stackpole everything about her displeases me she talks so much too loud and looks at one as if one wanted to look at her which one doesn't


I'm sure she has lived all her life in a boarding house and i detest the manners and the liberties of such places if you ask me if i prefer my own manners which you doubtless think very bad i'll tell you that i prefer them immensely


And she detests me for detesting it


Missus touchett was right in guessing that henrietta disapproved of her but she had not quite put her finger on the reason a day or two after miss stackpole's arrival


Which excited a vein of counter argument on the part of the correspondent of the interviewer who in the exercise of her profession had acquainted herself in the western world with every form of caravansary


Ralph with his experimental geniality suggested by way of healing the breach that the truth lay between the two extremes and that the establishments in question ought to be described as fair middling


This contribution to the discussion however miss stackpole rejected with scorn middling indeed if they were not the best in the world they were the worst but there was nothing middling about an american hotel


I like to be treated as an american lady poor american ladies cried missus touchett with a laugh they're the slaves of slaves they're the companions of freemen henrietta retorted


They're the companions of their servants the irish chambermaid and the negro waiter they share their work do you call the domestics in an american household slaves miss stackpole enquired


If that's the way you desire to treat them no wonder you don't like america if you've not good servants you're miserable missus touchett serenely said they're very bad in america but i've five perfect ones in florence


I don't see what you want with five henrietta couldn't help observing i don't think i should like to see five persons surrounding me in that menial position


Should you like me better if i were your butler dear her husband asked i don't think i should you wouldn't at all have the tenue the companions of freemen i like that miss stackpole said ralph


It's a beautiful description when i said freemen i didn't mean you sir and this was the only reward that ralph got for his compliment miss stackpole was baffled


Which she privately judged to be a mysterious survival of feudalism it was perhaps because her mind was oppressed with this image that she suffered some days to elapse before she took occasion to say to isabel


My dear friend i wonder if you're growing faithless faithless faithless to you henrietta no that would be a great pain but it's not that faithless to my country then


That i hope will never be when i wrote to you from liverpool i said i had something particular to tell you you've never asked me what it is is it because you've suspected suspected what


You don't ask that right as if you thought it important you're changed you're thinking of other things tell me what you mean and i'll think of that will you really think of it that's what i wish to be sure of


I've not much control of my thoughts but i'll do my best said isabel henrietta gazed at her in silence for a period which tried isabel's patience so that our heroine added at last


Isabel responded you say that right i had a good deal of talk with him he has come after you did he tell you so no he told me nothing that's how i knew it said henrietta cleverly


He said very little about you but i spoke of you a good deal isabel waited at the mention of mister goodwood's name she had turned a little pale i'm very sorry you did that she observed at last


I could have talked a long time to such a listener he was so quiet so intense he drank it all in what did you say about me isabel asked i said you were on the whole the finest creature i know


While i talked i never saw an ugly man look so handsome he's very simple minded said isabel and he's not so ugly there's nothing so simplifying as a grand passion


It's not a grand passion i'm very sure it's not that you don't say that as if you were sure isabel gave rather a cold smile i shall say it better to mister goodwood himself


Isabel offered no answer to this assertion which her companion made with an air of great confidence he'll find you changed the latter pursued you've been affected by your new surroundings very likely i'm affected by everything


By everything but mister goodwood miss stackpole exclaimed with a slightly harsh hilarity isabel failed even to smile back and in a moment she said did he ask you to speak to me not in so many words


But his eyes asked it and his handshake when he bade me good bye thank you for doing so and isabel turned away yes you're changed you've got new ideas over here her friend continued i hope so said isabel


One should get as many new ideas as possible yes but they shouldn't interfere with the old ones when the old ones have been the right ones isabel turned about again if you mean that i had any idea with regard to mister goodwood


But she faltered before her friend's implacable glitter my dear child you certainly encouraged him isabel made for the moment as if to deny this charge instead of which however she presently answered


It's very true i did encourage him and then she asked if her companion had learned from mister goodwood what he intended to do it was a concession to her curiosity for she disliked discussing the subject


And found henrietta wanting in delicacy i asked him and he said he meant to do nothing miss stackpole answered but i don't believe that he's not a man to do nothing he is a man of high bold action


And whatever he does will always be right i quite believe that henrietta might be wanting in delicacy but it touched the girl all the same to hear this declaration ah you do care for him her visitor rang out


Whatever he does will always be right isabel repeated when a man's of that infallible mould what does it matter to him what one feels it may not matter to him but it matters to one's self ah


I hope he'll hate me then said isabel i believe you hope it about as much as i believe him capable of it to this observation our heroine made no return


She was absorbed in the alarm given her by henrietta's intimation that caspar goodwood would present himself at gardencourt she pretended to herself however that she thought the event impossible and later


She communicated her disbelief to her friend for the next forty eight hours nevertheless she stood prepared to hear the young man's name announced the feeling pressed upon her it made the air sultry


And after strolling about for some time in a manner at once listless and restless had seated herself on a garden bench within sight of the house beneath a spreading beech where in a white dress ornamented with black ribbons


She formed among the flickering shadows a graceful and harmonious image


As to whom the proposal of an ownership divided with her cousin had been applied as impartially as possible as impartially as bunchie's own somewhat fickle and inconstant sympathies would allow


But she was notified for the first time on this occasion of the finite character of bunchie's intellect hitherto she had been mainly struck with its extent


It seemed to her at last that she would do well to take a book formerly when heavy hearted she had been able with the help of some well chosen volume to transfer the seat of consciousness to the organ of pure reason


Of late it was not to be denied literature had seemed a fading light and even after she had reminded herself that her uncle's library was provided with a complete set of those authors which no gentleman's collection should be without


She sat motionless and empty handed her eyes bent on the cool green turf of the lawn her meditations were presently interrupted by the arrival of a servant who handed her a letter the letter bore the london postmark


You will remember that when you gave me my dismissal at albany three months ago i did not accept it i protested against it you in fact appeared to accept my protest and to admit that i had the right on my side


I had come to see you with the hope that you would let me bring you over to my conviction my reasons for entertaining this hope had been of the best but you disappointed it i found you changed


Arbitrary or capricious therefore it is that i believe you will let me see you again you told me that i'm not disagreeable to you and i believe it for i don't see why that should be i shall always think of you


I shall never think of any one else i came to england simply because you are here i couldn't stay at home after you had gone i hated the country because you were not in it if i like this country at present


It is only because it holds you i have been to england before but have never enjoyed it much may i not come and see you for half an hour this at present is the dearest wish of yours faithfully


Caspar goodwood isabel read this missive with such deep attention that she had not perceived an approaching tread on the soft grass


Had laid before her a pair of alternatives now of course you're completely your own mistress and are as free as the bird on the bough i don't mean you were not so before but you're at present on a different footing


Property erects a kind of barrier you can do a great many things if you're rich which would be severely criticised if you were poor you can go and come you can travel alone you can have your own establishment


I mean of course if you'll take a companion some decayed gentlewoman with a darned cashmere and dyed hair who paints on velvet you don't think you'd like that of course you can do as you please


She'd keep people off very well i think


That it's a great deal better you should remain with me in spite of there being no obligation it's better for several reasons quite apart from your liking it i shouldn't think you'd like it but i recommend you to make the sacrifice


She had a great regard for what was usually deemed decent and a young gentlewoman without visible relations had always struck her as a flower without foliage


When she sat in her damp waterproof and sketched the opportunities that europe would offer to a young person of taste this however was in a great measure the girl's own fault she had got a glimpse of her aunt's experience


And her imagination constantly anticipated the judgements and emotions of a woman who had very little of the same faculty apart from this missus touchett had a great merit she was as honest as a pair of compasses


But was never over inquisitive as regards the territory of her neighbour isabel came at last to have a kind of undemonstrable pity for her there seemed something so dreary in the condition of a person whose nature had as it were


So little surface offered so limited a face to the accretions of human contact nothing tender nothing sympathetic had ever had a chance to fasten upon it


No wind sown blossom no familiar softening moss her offered her passive extent in other words was about that of a knife edge isabel had reason to believe none the less


She was learning to sacrifice consistency to considerations of that inferior order for which the excuse must be found in the particular case it was not to the credit of her absolute rectitude


That she should have gone the longest way round to florence in order to spend a few weeks with her invalid son


That when ralph wished to see her he was at liberty to remember that palazzo crescentini contained a large apartment known as the quarter of the signorino i want to ask you something


Isabel said to this young man the day after her arrival at san remo something i've thought more than once of asking you by letter but that i've hesitated on the whole to write about face to face nevertheless


What does it matter my dear isabel whether i knew my father was very obstinate so said the girl you did know yes he told me we even talked it over a little


Asked isabel abruptly why as a kind of compliment a compliment on what on your so beautifully existing he liked me too much she presently declared that's a way we all have


If i believed that i should be very unhappy fortunately i don't believe it i want to be treated with justice i want nothing but that very good but you must remember that justice to a lovely being


Is after all a florid sort of sentiment i'm not a lovely being how can you say that at the very moment when i'm asking such odious questions i must seem to you delicate


You seem to me troubled said ralph i am troubled about what for a moment she answered nothing then she broke out do you think it good for me suddenly to be made so rich


Henrietta doesn't oh hang henrietta said ralph coarsely if you ask me i'm delighted at it is that why your father did it for your amusement i differ with miss stackpole


Ralph went on more gravely i think it very good for you to have means isabel looked at him with serious eyes i wonder whether you know what's good for me or whether you care if i know depend upon it i care


Don't question your conscience so much it will get out of tune like a strummed piano keep it for great occasions don't try so much to form your character it's like trying to pull open a tight tender young rose


Live as you like best and your character will take care of itself most things are good for you the exceptions are very rare and a comfortable income's not one of them ralph paused smiling


Isabel had listened quickly you've too much power of thought above all too much conscience ralph added it's out of all reason the number of things you think wrong put back your watch diet your fever


It's never wrong to do that she had listened eagerly as i say and it was her nature to understand quickly i wonder if you appreciate what you say if you do you take a great responsibility you frighten me a little


But i think i'm right said ralph persisting in cheer all the same what you say is very true isabel pursued you could say nothing more true i'm absorbed in myself i look at life too much as a doctor's prescription


Why indeed should we perpetually be thinking whether things are good for us as if we were patients lying in a hospital why should i be so afraid of not doing right as if it mattered to the world whether i do right or wrong


You're a capital person to advise said ralph you take the wind out of my sails she looked at him as if she had not heard him though she was following out the train of reflexion which he himself had kindled


A large fortune means freedom and i'm afraid of that it's such a fine thing and one should make such a good use of it if one shouldn't one would be ashamed and one must keep thinking it's a constant effort


I'm not sure it's not a greater happiness to be powerless for weak people i've no doubt it's a greater happiness for weak people the effort not to be contemptible must be great and how do you know i'm not weak isabel asked


The gate of admirations italy as yet imperfectly seen and felt stretched before her as a land of promise a land in which a love of the beautiful might be comforted by endless knowledge


Whenever she strolled upon the shore with her cousin and she was the companion of his daily walk she looked across the sea with longing eyes to where she knew that genoa lay


She was glad to pause however on the edge of this larger adventure there was such a thrill even in the preliminary hovering it affected her moreover as a peaceful interlude as a hush of the drum and fife in a career which she had little warrant


As yet for regarding as agitated but which nevertheless she was constantly picturing to herself by the light of her hopes her fears her fancies her ambitions her predilections


Madame merle had predicted to missus touchett that after their young friend had put her hand into her pocket half a dozen times she would be reconciled to the idea that it had been filled by a munificent uncle


Grown used to feeling rich the consciousness in question found a proper place in rather a dense little group of ideas that she had about herself and often it was by no means the least agreeable


It took perpetually for granted a thousand good intentions she lost herself in a maze of visions the fine things to be done by a rich independent generous girl who took a large human view of occasions and obligations


Were sublime in the mass her fortune therefore became to her mind a part of her better self it gave her importance gave her even to her own imagination a certain ideal beauty


Which in spite of increasing distance were still sufficiently salient they were recognisable without difficulty


She could summon back her faith in case of need with an effort but the effort was often painful even when the reality had been pleasant the past was apt to look dead and its revival rather to show the


Livid light of a judgement day the girl moreover was not prone to take for granted that she herself lived in the mind of others


She was capable of being wounded by the discovery that she had been forgotten but of all liberties the one she herself found sweetest was the liberty to forget she had not given her last shilling sentimentally speaking


Either to caspar goodwood or to lord warburton and yet couldn't but feel them appreciably in debt to her she had of course reminded herself that she was to hear from mister goodwood again but this was not to be for another year and a half


And in that time a great many things might happen she had indeed failed to say to herself that her american suitor might find some other girl more comfortable to woo because though it was certain many other girls would prove so


She had not the smallest belief that this merit would attract him but she reflected that she herself might know the humiliation of change might really for that matter come to the end of the things that were not caspar


A clear and quiet harbour enclosed by a brave granite breakwater but that day could only come in its order and she couldn't wait for it with folded hands that lord warburton should continue to cherish her image


Seemed to her more than a noble humility or an enlightened pride ought to wish to reckon with she had so definitely undertaken to preserve no record of what had passed between them that a corresponding effort on his own part


Would be eminently just this was not as it may seem merely a theory tinged with sarcasm isabel candidly believed that his lordship would in the usual phrase get over his disappointment


He had been deeply affected this she believed and she was still capable of deriving pleasure from the belief but it was absurd that a man both so intelligent and so honourably dealt with


Should cultivate a scar out of proportion to any wound englishmen liked moreover to be comfortable said isabel and there could be little comfort for lord warburton in the long run in brooding over a self sufficient american girl


Who had been but a casual acquaintance she flattered herself that should she hear from one day to another that he had married some young woman of his own country who had done more to deserve him


She should receive the news without a pang even of surprise it would have proved that he believed she was firm which was what she wished to seem to him


Before the sittings of the great assembly had come to an end a young statesman destined to play the leading part in the government of the dutch republic during two decades had already made his mark


His readiness and persuasiveness of speech his industry and his gifts at once of swift insight and orderly thoroughness


But the old sores remained open moreover the refusal of the states general to receive the parliamentary envoys the murder of doreslaer and the protection afforded to royalist refugees had been additional causes of resentment


But the english council had not felt strong enough to take action the death of the prince of orange


Appeared at first to open out a prospect of friendlier relations between the two neighbouring republics in january sixteen fifty one the great assembly formally recognised the commonwealth


And determined to send back to his old post in london the veteran ambassador joachimi who had been recalled the english government on their part anticipated his return by despatching in march oliver saint john and walter strickland


And saint john and strickland greeted with loud cries of regicides and many abusive epithets remembering the fate of doreslaer were in fear of their lives


On april fourth a conference was opened between the envoys and six commissioners appointed by the states to consider the proposals of the english government for a more strict and intimate alliance and union between the two states the dutch quickly perceived


That what the english really wanted was nothing less than such a binding alliance or rather coalition as would practically merge the lesser state in the greater but the very idea of such a loss of the independence that they had only just won was to the netherlanders unthinkable


The negotiations came to a deadlock


Foremost amongst them prince edward son of the queen of bohemia the parliament threatened to recall the envoys but consented that they should remain on the undertaking of the estates of holland to protect them from further attacks and to punish the offenders


New proposals were accordingly made for an offensive and defensive alliance without any suggestion of a union coupled with the condition that both states should bind themselves not to allow the presence within their boundaries of avowed enemies of the other in other words


The expulsion of the members and adherents of the house of stewart including the princess royal and the queen of bohemia with their children


Even the estates of holland dared not consider such terms and the states general would have angrily rejected them after some further parleying therefore about fisheries and trade restrictions it was felt that no agreement could be reached


And saint john and strickland returned to england on july thirty first sixteen fifty one their failure created a very bad impression upon the parliament all the old complaints against the dutch were revived and


As they had refused the offer of friendship that had been made to them it was resolved that strong measures should be taken to obtain redress for past grievances and for the protection of english trade interests at the instance of saint john


The famous navigation act was passed by the parliament october ninth sixteen fifty one this act struck a mortal blow at the dutch carrying trade by forbidding the importation of foreign goods into english ports except in english bottoms or in those of the countries which had produced the goods


Scarcely less injurious was the prohibition to aliens to fish in british waters and the withdrawal of the rights based on the magnus intercursus for the maintenance of which dutch statesmen had so long and strenuously fought


There was consternation in holland and the states general determined to send a special embassy to london


A man in whose ripe judgment they had confidence to the office of council pensionary


Who having been given letters of marque to prey upon french commerce


The english government however met the dutch complaints by raking up the long list of grievances that had stirred up a bitter feeling of popular hatred against the united provinces in england and by demanding reparation


They further demanded that dutch commanders should acknowledge england's sovereignty by striking flag and sail and by firing a salute whenever any of their squadrons met english ships in the narrow seas it was these last two questions


The right of search and the striking of the flag that were to be the real causes of the outbreak of a war that was desired by neither of the two governments but popular feeling and the course of events was too strong for them the news of the seizure of their vessels


Not merely by privateers but by an english squadron under ayscue in the west indies had caused intense indignation and alarm in holland and especially in amsterdam pressure was brought to bear on the states general and the admiralties


Who in pursuance of economy had reduced the fleet to seventy five ships it was resolved therefore on february twenty second


The council of state on hearing of this began also to make ready for eventualities negotiations were still proceeding between the two countries when martin tromp the victor of the battle of the downs


Now lieutenant admiral of holland was sent to sea with fifty ships and instructions to protect dutch merchantmen from interference and to see that the states suffered no affront nothing was actually said about the striking of the flag


It came suddenly through a misunderstanding the dutch admiral while cruising past dover met on may twenty ninth fifteen english ships under blake


Tromp declared that he had given orders to strike the flag but that blake again fired before there was time to carry them out be this as it may the two fleets were soon engaged in a regular fight and the english being reinforced tromp withdrew at nightfall


To the french coast having lost two ships great was the anger aroused in england where the dutch were universally regarded as the aggressors in the netherlands where the peace party was strong many were disposed to blame tromp despite his protests


Adrian pauw himself left hastily for london john de witt being appointed to act as his deputy during his absence pauw's strenuous efforts however to maintain peace were all in vain despite the strong leanings of cromwell towards a peaceful solution


But popular feeling on both sides was now aroused


If humiliating terms were submitted to stiffened their attitude the result was that the envoys left london on june thirtieth sixteen fifty two and war was declared the dutch statesmen who sought to avoid hostilities were right


All the advantages were on the side of their enemies the dutch merchant fleets covered the seas and the welfare of the land depended on commerce the english had little to lose commercially


Was superior in almost all other respects the stuarts had devoted great attention to the fleet and would have done more but for lack of means charles much abused ship money was employed by him for the creation of the first english professional navy


It had been largely increased by the parliament after sixteen forty eight and its generals blake penn and ayscue had already acquired much valuable experience in their encounters with the royalist squadron under prince rupert


And in long cruises to the west indies for the purpose of forcing the english colonies to acknowledge parliamentary rule the crews therefore were well trained and the ships were larger stronger and better armed than those of the dutch


The position of england lying as it did athwart the routes by which the dutch merchant fleets must sail was a great advantage even more important was the advantage of having a central control


Whereas in the netherlands there were five distinct boards of admiralty to some extent jealous of each other and now lacking the supreme direction of an admiral general the war began by a series of english successes and of dutch misfortunes


Early in july sixteen fifty two blake at the head of sixty ships set sail for the north to intercept the dutch baltic commerce and to destroy their fishing fleet off the north of scotland


He left ayscue with a small squadron to guard the mouth of the thames tromp meanwhile had put to sea at the head of nearly a hundred ships ayscue succeeded in intercepting a fleet of dutch merchantmen near calais


All of them being captured or burnt while blake with the main force off the north coast of scotland destroyed the dutch fishing fleet and their convoy after these first blows against the enemy's commerce good fortune continued to attend the english


Tromp was prevented from following blake by strong northerly winds he then turned upon ayscue whose small force he must have overwhelmed but for a sudden change to a southerly gale the dutch admiral now sailed northwards and july twenty fifth


Found the english fleet off the shetlands a violent storm arose from the force of which blake was protected while the dutch vessels were scattered far and wide on the following day out of ninety nine ships tromp could only collect thirty five


And to meet and convoy back the home coming ships


Ayscue had previously sailed up channel with forty men of war and five fireships for a similar purpose the two fleets met on august sixteenth and despite his inferiority of force de ruyter forced ayscue to withdraw into plymouth and was able to bring his convoy home to safety


The ill success of tromp though he was in no way to blame for it caused considerable alarm and discontent in holland his enemies of the states party in that province took advantage of it to suspend the gallant old seaman from his command he was an orangist


And as the orange partisans were everywhere clamorously active the admiral was suspect in his place cornelisz witte de with was appointed a capable sailor but disliked in the fleet as much as tromp was beloved de with effected a junction with de ruyter


And with joint forces they attacked blake on october eighth near the shoal known as the kentish knock the english fleet was considerably more powerful than the dutch and the desertion of de with by some twenty ships decided the issue the dutch had to return home with some loss


But they were deceived in thinking that the struggle in the channel was over for the winter the deserters at the kentish knock were punished


Full of resentment though he was at the bad treatment he had received tromp was too good a patriot to refuse at the end of november the old admiral at the head of one hundred warships put to sea for the purpose of convoying some four hundred fifty merchantmen through the straits


Stormy weather compelled him to send the convoy with an escort into shelter but he himself with sixty ships set out to seek the english fleet which lay in the downs after some manoeuvring the two fleets met on december tenth off dungeness


While many english prizes were captured this state of things was however not to last long towards the end of february sixteen fifty three blake put to sea with nearly eighty ships and on the twenty fifth off portland met tromp at the head of a force nearly equal to his own in number


And he had moreover been at sea without replenishment of stores ever since the fight at dungeness while the english had come straight from port the fight


Had lasted for two whole days when tromp found that his powder had run out and that on the third day more than half his fleet were unable to continue the struggle but inspiring his subordinates de ruyter evertsen and floriszoon with his own indomitable courage


Tromp succeeded by expert seamanship in holding off the enemy and conducting his convoy with small loss into safety


Meanwhile both nations had been getting sick of the war the dutch were suffering terribly from the serious interference with their commerce and carrying trade and from the destruction of the important fisheries industry


While the english on their side were shut out from the baltic where the king of denmark as the ally of the united provinces had closed the sound and from the mediterranean where admiral van galen


Destroyed a british squadron off leghorn march twenty third in both countries there was a peace party


And was averse to war in the dutch republic the states party especially in holland the chief sufferer by the war was anxious for a cessation of hostilities and it found its leader in the youthful john de witt


Had been appointed council pensionary cromwell took pains to let the estates of holland know his favourable feelings towards them by sending over in february a private emissary


Thus early did the new council pensionary initiate a form of diplomacy in which he was to prove himself an adept this first effort was not a success the parliament published the letter with the title humble supplication of the states of holland


He induced the states general by a bare majority four provinces to three to send a conciliatory letter the date of which april thirtieth sixteen fifty three coincided with cromwell's forcible dissolution of the rump parliament and the assumption by him


With the support of the army of dictatorial powers


And their insistence now on the full satisfaction of all the english demands made a continuation of hostilities inevitable tromp after successfully bringing in two large convoys of merchantmen encountered june twelfth


Near the gabbard the english fleet under monk and deane each fleet numbered about one hundred sail but the dutch ships were inferior in size solidity and weight of metal for two days the fight was obstinately and fiercely contested


Tromp was obliged to retreat having lost twenty ships he complained bitterly as did his vice admirals de ruyter and de with to the board of admiralty of the inferiority of the vessels of his fleet as compared with those of the adversary


The english now instituted a blockade of the dutch coast which had the effect of reducing to desperate straits a land whose welfare and prosperity depended wholly on commerce amsterdam was ruined in these circumstances direct negotiation was perforce attempted


Four envoys were sent representing the three maritime provinces at first it seemed impossible that any common ground of agreement could be found cromwell was obsessed with the idea of a politico religious union between the two republics which would have meant the extinction of dutch independence


Una respublica which nothing but sheer conquest and dire necessity would ever induce the dutch people to accept accordingly the war went on though the envoys did not leave london hoping still that some better terms might be offered


But in order to gain breathing space for the efforts of the negotiators one thing was essential the breaking of the blockade the admiralties made a supreme effort to refit and reinforce their fleet but it lay in two portions eighty five sail under tromp in the maas


Monk with about one hundred ships lay between them to prevent their junction on august fourth tromp sailed out and after a rearguard action off katwijk out manoeuvred the english commander and joined de with he now turned and with superior numbers attacked monk off scheveningen


The old hero fell mortally wounded at the very beginning of what proved to be an unequal fight


The states though much perplexed to find a successor to martin tromp were so far from being discouraged that great energy was shown in reorganising the fleet


Meanwhile negotiations had been slowly dragging on the accession of cromwell to supreme power in december sixteen fifty three with the title of lord protector


For the new ruler of england had always professed himself an opponent of the war which had shattered his fantastic dream of a union between the two republics many conferences took place but the protector's attitude and intentions were ambiguous and difficult to divine


At last cromwell formulated his proposals in twenty seven articles the demands were those of the victor and were severe all the old disputes were to be settled in favour of england an annual sum was to be paid for the right of fishing


Compensation to be made for the massacre of amboina and the officials responsible for it punished the number of warships in english waters was to be limited the flag had to be struck when english ships were met and the right of search to be permitted these demands


Article twelve stipulated that the prince of orange should not at any time hold any of the offices or dignities which had been held by his ancestors or be appointed to any military command


Was perfectly aware that it would be useless to present such proposals to the states general not only would they indignantly reject them but he had not the slightest hope of getting any single province even holland to allow a foreign power to interfere with their internal affairs


And to bid them to treat with harsh ingratitude the infant heir of a family to which the dutch people owed so deep a debt there was nothing for it but to prepare for a vigorous resumption of the war strong efforts were therefore made at de witt's instigation


To increase the fleet and secure the active co operation of denmark and france both friendly to the states but cromwell really wanted peace and showed himself ready to yield on certain minor points but he continued to insist on the exclusion of the prince of orange


Not till the dutch envoys had demanded their passports did the protector give way so far as to say he would be content to have the exclusion guaranteed by a secret article what followed forms one of the strangest chapters in the history of diplomacy


He was able to reach the private ear of cromwell and to enter into clandestine negotiations with him the council pensionary knew well the hopelessness of any attempt to get the assent of the states general to the proposed exclusion even in a secret article


Of the state of public feeling on this point with the result that the protector gave the envoy to understand that he would be satisfied if the estates of holland alone would affirm a declaration that the prince should never be appointed stadholder or captain general whether this concession was offered by cromwell proprio motu


In any case the council pensionary being convinced of the necessity of peace resolved to secure it by playing a very deep and dangerous game not only must the whole affair be kept absolutely from the cognisance of the states general


But also de witt was fully aware that the assent of the estates of holland to the proposed exclusion article could only be obtained with the greatest difficulty he was to prove himself a very past master in the art of diplomatic chicanery and intrigue


The council pensionary first set to work to have the treaty from which the exclusion article had been cut out ratified rapidly by the states general


The estates adjourned for a recess on april twenty first sixteen fifty four on the following day he presented the treaty to the states general


And such was his persuasive skill that he accomplished the unprecedented feat of getting this dilatory body to accept the conditions of peace almost without discussion


The treaty ratified and signed was sent back to london only one article aroused opposition


The so called temperament clause but cromwell had insisted upon it by this article


Or commander of military or naval forces


Addressed to the estates of holland not at the moment in session


The cleverness and skill now shown by the council pensionary were truly extraordinary a summons was sent out to the estates to meet on april twenty eighth without any reason being assigned the members on assembly were sworn to secrecy


And then the official letter from london was read to them


To the act of exclusion came upon the estates like a thunder bolt the sudden demand caused something like consternation and the members asked to be allowed to consider the matter with their principals before taking so momentous a decision three days were granted


But as it was essential to prevent publicity it was settled that only the burgomasters should be consulted again under oath of secrecy at the meeting on may first


That the act should be placed in his hands within two days after the ratification of the treaty was peremptory and threatening unless he received the act he would consider the treaty as not binding upon him using all his powers of advocacy


De witt succeeded after an angry debate in securing a majority for the act five towns however obstinately refused their assent and claimed that it could not be passed without it but de witt had made up his mind to risk illegality


And overruled their protest the act was declared to have been passed and was on may fifth sent to van beverningh and nieuwpoort with instructions not to deliver it until circumstances compelled them to do so


But for some five weeks the existence of the act was unknown to the states general and during that period


Early in june a bribe induced one of de witt's clerks to betray the secret to count william frederick the news soon spread and loud was the outcry of the orange partisans and of the two princesses who at once addressed a remonstrance to the states general


All the other provinces strongly protested against the action of the estates of holland and of the council pensionary de witt attempted to defend himself and the estates by vague statements avoiding the main issue but insisting that nothing illegal had been done his efforts were in vain


All the secret instructions they had received from holland and the act of exclusion meanwhile the estates of holland themselves frightened at the clamour which had been aroused began to show signs of defection


They went so far as to pass a vote of thanks to the envoys for not having delivered the act to cromwell de witt's position appeared hopeless


His efforts to prevent the resolution of the states general from taking immediate effect proving unavailing he put forward the suggestion that on account of its importance the despatch should be sent to the envoys in cipher


This was agreed to and on june seventh the document was duly forwarded to london by the council pensionary


Informing them that the estates of holland assented to the request made by the states general and that they were to send back the secret correspondence and also the act if it were still undelivered the result answered to his expectations


While the clerk was laboriously deciphering the despatch the envoys read between the lines of de witt's letter and without a moment's delay went to whitehall and placed the act in cromwell's hands the states general had thus no alternative between acceptance of the fait accompli


And the risk of a renewal of the war no further action was taken and the protector professed himself satisfied with a guarantee of such doubtful validity it is impossible to withhold admiration from de witt's marvellous diplomatic dexterity


And from the skill and courage with which he achieved his end in the face of obstacles and difficulties that seemed insurmountable but for the course of double dealing and chicanery by which he triumphed the only defence that can be offered is that the council pensionary


Really believed that peace was an absolute necessity for his country and that peace could only be maintained at the cost of the act of exclusion


There is however every reason to believe that de witt was prompted to take the risks he did by purely patriotic motives and not through spite against the house of orange


Not merely by the orange partisans but by popular opinion generally in the united provinces


Clean the fish dip in flour then in beaten egg then in crumbs and fry in plenty of fat drain and garnish with lemon and parsley


Season with salt and pepper dip in egg and corn meal and fry in deep fat


Strain the liquid thicken with butter and flour season to taste pour over the fish and serve boiled perch with oyster sauce prepare and clean the fish and simmer until done in salted and acidulated water


Drain and serve with oyster sauce perch a l'allemande put two large cleaned perch into a saucepan with two chopped carrots a sprig of parsley a celery root a sliced onion and a pinch of salt


Cover with white wine and simmer for twenty minutes drain and keep warm take out the onion parsley and celery root add half a cupful of chopped mushrooms and cook for five minutes


Cook with a tablespoonful each of butter and flour thickened together take from the fire add a tablespoonful of butter and the juice of two lemons pour over the fish and serve