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44 | REDBURN INTRODUCES MASTER HARRY BOLTON TO THE FAVORABLE
CONSIDERATION OF THE READER | It was the day following my Sunday stroll into the country, and when I had been in England four weeks or more, that I made the acquaintance of a handsome, accomplished, but unfortunate youth, young Harry Bolton. He was one of those small, but perfectly formed beings, with curling hair, and silken muscles, who seem to h... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
45 | HARRY BOLTON KIDNAPS REDBURN, AND CARRIES HIM OFF TO LONDON | It might have been a week after our glimpse of Lord Lovely, that Harry, who had been expecting a letter, which, he told me, might possibly alter his plans, one afternoon came bounding on board the ship, and sprang down the hatchway into the between-decks, where, in perfect solitude, I was engaged picking oakum; at whic... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
46 | A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT IN LONDON | "No time to lose," said Harry, "come along."
He called a cab: in an undertone mentioned the number of a house in some street to the driver; we jumped in, and were off.
As we rattled over the boisterous pavements, past splendid squares, churches, and shops, our cabman turning corners like a skater on the ice, and al... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
47 | HOMEWARD BOUND | Once more in Liverpool; and wending my way through the same old streets to the sign of the Golden Anchor; I could scarcely credit the events of the last thirty-six hours.
So unforeseen had been our departure in the first place; so rapid our journey; so unaccountable the conduct of Harry; and so sudden our return; tha... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
48 | A LIVING CORPSE | It was destined that our departure from the English strand, should be marked by a tragical event, akin to the sudden end of the suicide, which had so strongly impressed me on quitting the American shore.
Of the three newly shipped men, who in a state of intoxication had been brought on board at the dock gates, two we... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
49 | CARLO | There was on board our ship, among the emigrant passengers, a rich-cheeked, chestnut-haired Italian boy, arrayed in a faded, olive-hued velvet jacket, and tattered trowsers rolled up to his knee. He was not above fifteen years of age; but in the twilight pensiveness of his full morning eyes, there seemed to sleep exper... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
50 | HARRY BOLTON AT SEA | As yet I have said nothing about how my friend, Harry, got along as a sailor.
Poor Harry! a feeling of sadness, never to be comforted, comes over me, even now when I think of you. For this voyage that you went, but carried you part of the way to that ocean grave, which has buried you up with your secrets, and whither... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
51 | THE EMIGRANTS | After the first miserable weather we experienced at sea, we had intervals of foul and fair, mostly the former, however, attended with head winds, till at last, after a three days' fog and rain, the sun rose cheerily one morning, and showed us Cape Clear. Thank heaven, we were out of the weather emphatically called "Cha... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
52 | THE EMIGRANTS' KITCHEN | I have made some mention of the "galley," or great stove for the steerage passengers, which was planted over the main hatches.
During the outward-bound passage, there were so few occupants of the steerage, that they had abundant room to do their cooking at this galley. But it was otherwise now; for we had four or fiv... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
53 | THE HORATII AND CURIATII | With a slight alteration, I might begin this chapter after the manner of Livy, in the 24th section of his first book:--"It happened, that in each family were three twin brothers, between whom there was little disparity in point of age or of strength."
Among the steerage passengers of the Highlander, were two women fr... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
54 | SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND PIG-TAIL | It has been mentioned how advantageously my shipmates disposed of their tobacco in Liverpool; but it is to be related how those nefarious commercial speculations of theirs reduced them to sad extremities in the end.
True to their improvident character, and seduced by the high prices paid for the weed in England, they... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
55 | DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON'S CAREER | The closing allusion to Jackson in the chapter preceding, reminds me of a circumstance--which, perhaps, should have been mentioned before--that after we had been at sea about ten days, he pronounced himself too unwell to do duty, and accordingly went below to his bunk. And here, with the exception of a few brief interv... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
56 | UNDER THE LEE OF THE LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND HARRY HOLD CONFIDENTIAL
COMMUNION | A sweet thing is a song; and though the Hebrew captives hung their harps on the willows, that they could not sing the melodies of Palestine before the haughty beards of the Babylonians; yet, to themselves, those melodies of other times and a distant land were as sweet as the June dew on Hermon.
And poor Harry was as ... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
57 | ALMOST A FAMINE | "Mammy! mammy! come and see the sailors eating out of little troughs, just like our pigs at home." Thus exclaimed one of the steerage children, who at dinner-time was peeping down into the forecastle, where the crew were assembled, helping themselves from the "kids," which, indeed, resemble hog-troughs not a little.
... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
58 | THOUGH THE HIGHLANDER PUTS INTO NO HARBOR AS YET; SHE HERE AND
THERE LEAVES MANY OF HER PASSENGERS BEHIND | Although fast-sailing ships, blest with prosperous breezes, have frequently made the run across the Atlantic in eighteen days; yet, it is not uncommon for other vessels to be forty, or fifty, and even sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety days, in making the same passage. Though in the latter cases, some signal calamity o... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
59 | THE LAST END OF JACKSON | "Off Cape Cod!" said the steward, coming forward from the quarter-deck, where the captain had just been taking his noon observation; sweeping the vast horizon with his quadrant, like a dandy circumnavigating the dress-circle of an amphitheater with his glass.
"Off Cape Cod!" and in the shore-bloom that came to us--ev... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
60 | HOME AT LAST | Next day was Sunday; and the mid-day sun shone upon a glassy sea.
After the uproar of the breeze and the gale, this profound, pervading calm seemed suited to the tranquil spirit of a day, which, in godly towns, makes quiet vistas of the most tumultuous thoroughfares.
The ship lay gently rolling in the soft, subdued... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
61 | REDBURN AND HARRY, ARM IN ARM, IN HARBOR | There we sat in that tarry old den, the only inhabitants of the deserted old ship, but the mate and the rats.
At last, Harry went to his chest, and drawing out a few shillings, proposed that we should go ashore, and return with a supper, to eat in the forecastle. Little else that was eatable being for sale in the pal... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
62 | THE LAST THAT WAS EVER HEARD OF HARRY BOLTON | That same afternoon, I took my comrade down to the Battery; and we sat on one of the benches, under the summer shade of the trees.
It was a quiet, beautiful scene; full of promenading ladies and gentlemen; and through the foliage, so fresh and bright, we looked out over the bay, varied with glancing ships; and then, ... | {
"id": "8118"
} |
1 | ALL ON A SUMMER'S DAY. | Il faut devoir lever les yeux pour regarder ce qu'on aime.
A few children had congregated on the steps of the Marienkirche at Dantzig, because the door stood open. The verger, old Peter Koch--on week days a locksmith--had told them that nothing was going to happen; had been indiscreet enough to bid them go away. So t... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
2 | A CAMPAIGNER. | Not what I am, but what I Do, is my Kingdom.
Desiree had made all her own wedding-clothes. “Her poor little marriage-basket,” she called it. She had even made the cake which was now cut with some ceremony by her father.
“I tremble,” she exclaimed aloud, “to think what it may be like in the middle.”
And Mathilde w... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
3 | FATE. | We pass; the path that each man trod Is dim; or will be dim, with weeds.
When Desiree turned towards the stairs, she met the guests descending. They were taking their leave as they came down, hurriedly, like persons conscious of having outstayed their welcome.
Mathilde listened coldly to the conventional excus... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
4 | THE CLOUDED MOON. | Quand on se mefie on se trompe, quand on ne se mefie pas, on est trompe.
Charles Darragon had come to Dantzig a year earlier. He was a lieutenant in an infantry regiment, and he was twenty-five. Many of his contemporaries were colonels in these days of quick promotion, when men lived at such a rate that few of them l... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
5 | THE WEISSEN ROSS'L. | The moth will singe her wings, and singed return, Her love of light quenching her fear of pain.
There are quite a number of people who get through life without realizing their own insignificance. Ninety-nine out of a hundred persons signify nothing, and the hundredth is usually so absorbed in the message which h... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
6 | THE SHOEMAKER OF KONIGSBERG. | Chacun ne comprend que ce qu'il trouve en soi.
Nearly two years had passed since the death of Queen Luisa of Prussia. And she from her grave yet spake to her people--as sixty years later she was destined to speak to another King of Prussia, who said a prayer by her tomb before departing on a journey that was to end i... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
7 | THE WAY OF LOVE. | Celui qui souffle le feu s'expose a etre brule par les etincelles.
It was said that Colonel de Casimir--that guest whose presence and uniform lent an air of distinction to the quiet wedding in the Frauengasse--was a Pole from Cracow. Men also whispered that he was in the confidence of the Emperor. But this must only ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
8 | A VISITATION. | Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so.
Whenever Papa Barlasch caught sight of his unwilling host's face, he turned his own aside with a despairing upward nod. Once or twice, during the early days of his occupation of the room behind the kitchen in the Frauengasse, he smote himself sharply on ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
9 | THE GOLDEN GUESS. | The golden guess Is morning star to the full round of truth.
Barlasch was never more sober in his life than when he emerged a minute later from his room, while Lisa was still feverishly bolting the door. He had not wasted much time at his toilet. In his flannel shirt, his arms bare to the elbow, knotted and musc... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
10 | IN DEEP WATER. | Le coeur humain est un abime qui trompe tous les calculs.
It is to be presumed that Colonel de Casimir met friends at the reception given by Governor Rapp in the great rooms of the Rathhaus. For there were many Poles present, and not a few officers of other nationalities.
The army indeed that set forth to conquer R... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
11 | THE WAVE MOVES ON. | La meme fermete qui sert a resister a l'amour sert aussi a le rendre violent et durable.
It is only in war that the unexpected admittedly happens. In love and other domestic calamities there is always a relative who knew it all the time.
The news that Napoleon was in Vilna, hastily evacuated by the Russians in full... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
12 | FROM BORODINO. | However we brave it out, we men are a little breed.
War is the gambling of kings. Napoleon, the arch-gambler, from that Southern sea where men, lacking cards or dice and the money to buy either, will yet play a game of chance with the ten fingers that God gave them for another purpose--Napoleon had dealt a hand with ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
13 | IN THE DAY OF REJOICING. | Truth, though it crush me.
The door of the room stood open, and the sound of a step in the passage made Desiree glance up, as she hastily put together the papers found on the battlefield of Borodino.
Louis d'Arragon was coming into the room, and for an instant, before his expression changed, she saw all the fatigue... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
14 | MOSCOW. | Nothing is so disappointing as failure--except success.
While the Dantzigers with grave faces discussed the news of Borodino beneath the trees in the Frauengasse, Charles Darragon, white with dust, rose in his stirrups to catch the first sight of the domes and cupolas of Moscow.
It was a sunny morning, and the gold... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
15 | THE GOAL. | God writes straight on crooked lines.
Charles, having given his letter to the sentry with the order to take it to its immediate destination, turned towards the stairs again. In those days an order was given in a different tone to that which servitude demands in later times.
He returned to his room on the first floo... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
16 | THE FIRST OF THE EBB. | Tho' he trip and fall He shall not blind his soul with clay.
The days were short, and November was drawing to its end when Barlasch returned to Dantzig. Already the frost, holding its own against a sun that seemed to linger in the North that year, exercised its sway almost to midday, and drew a mist from the lev... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
17 | A FORLORN HOPE. | The fire i' the flint Shows not, till it be struck.
“It is time to do something,” said Papa Barlasch on the December morning when the news reached Dantzig that Napoleon was no longer with the army--that he had made over the parody of command of the phantom army to Murat, King of Naples--that he had passed like a... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
18 | MISSING. | I should fear those that dance before me now Would one day stamp upon me; it has been done: Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
During the first weeks of December the biting wind abated for a time, and immediately the snow came. It fell for days, until at length the grey sky seemed exhausted; for th... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
19 | KOWNO. | Distinct with footprints yet Of many a mighty marcher gone that way.
There are many who overlook the fact that in Northern lands, more especially in such plains as Lithuania, Courland, and Poland, travel in winter is easier than at any other time of year. The rivers, which run sluggishly in their ditch-like beds... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
20 | DESIREE'S CHOICE. | Our wills and fates do so contrary run, That our devices still are overthrown. Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.
Rapp found himself in a stronghold which was strong in theory only. For the frozen river formed the easiest possible approach, instead of an insuperable barrier to the enemy. He had a... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
21 | ON THE WARSAW ROAD. | Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where it most promises; and oft it hits Where hope is coldest and despair most sits.
Love, it is said, is blind. But hatred is as bad. In Antoine Sebastian hatred of Napoleon had not only blinded eyes far-seeing enough in earlier days, but it had killed many natural... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
22 | THROUGH THE SHOALS. | I see my way, as birds their trackless way.
De Casimir had never seen Louis d'Arragon, and yet some dim resemblance to his cousin must have introduced the new-comer to a conscience not quite easy.
“You seek me, Monsieur,” he asked, not having recognized Desiree, who stood behind her companion, in her furs.
“I see... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
23 | AGAINST THE STREAM. | Wo viel Licht ist, ist starker Schatten.
In the mean time the last of the Great Army had reached the Niemen, that narrow winding river in its ditch-like bed sunk below the level of the tableland, to which six months earlier the greatest captain this world has ever seen rode alone, and, coming back to his officers, sa... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
24 | MATHILDE CHOOSES. | But strong is fate, O Love, Who makes, who mars, who ends.
Desiree was telling Mathilde the brief news of her futile journey, when a knock at the front door made them turn from the stairs where they were standing. It was Sebastian's knock. His hours had been less regular of late. He came and went without explana... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
25 | A DESPATCH. | In counsel it is good to see dangers; and in execution not to see them unless they be very great.
Mathilde had told Desiree that Colonel de Casimir made no mention of Charles in his letter to her. Barlasch was able to supply but little further information on the matter.
“It was given to me by the Captain Louis d'Ar... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
26 | ON THE BRIDGE. | They that are above Have ends in everything.
A lame man was standing on the bridge that crosses the Neuer Pregel from the Kant Strasse--which is the centre of the city of Konigsberg--to the island known as the Kneiphof. This bridge is called the Kramer Brucke, and may be described as the heart of the town. From ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
27 | A FLASH OF MEMORY. | Nothing can cover his high fame but Heaven, No pyramids set off his memories, But the eternal substance of his greatness To which I leave him.
“Why I will not let you go out into the streets?” said Barlasch one February morning, stamping the snow from his boots. “Why I will not let you go out into the ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
28 | VILNA. | It is our trust That there is yet another world to mend All error and mischance.
Louis d'Arragon knew the road well enough from Konigsberg to the Niemen. It runs across a plain, flat as a table, through which many small streams seek their rivers in winding beds. This country was not thinly inhabited, though... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
29 | THE BARGAIN. | Like plants in mines which never saw the sun, But dream of him and guess where he may be, And do their best to climb and get to him.
“Oh yes,” Barlasch was saying, “it is easier to die--it is that that you are thinking--it is easier to die.”
Desiree did not answer. She was sitting in the little kitchen at... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
30 | THE FULFILMENT. | And I have laboured somewhat in my time And not been paid profusely.
When Desiree came down the next morning, she found Barlasch talking to himself and laughing as he prepared his breakfast.
He met her with a gay salutation, and seemed unable to control his hilarity.
“It is,” he explained, “because to-night ... | {
"id": "8158"
} |
1 | THE PROPHECY | _Trevlyn lands and Trevlyn gold, Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold, Undisturbed, till, spite of rust, Truth is found in Trevlyn dust. _ "This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, tim... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
2 | PAUL | "Come, child, the dew is falling, and it is time we went in."
"No, no, Mamma is not rested yet, so I may run down to the spring if I like." And Lillian, as willful as winsome, vanished among the tall ferns where deer couched and rabbits hid.
Hester leisurely followed, looking as unchanged as if a day instead of twe... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
3 | SECRET SERVICE | In a week Paul was a favorite with the household; even prudent Hester felt the charm of his presence, and owned that Lillian was happier for a young companion in her walks. Hitherto the child had led a solitary life, with no playmates of her own age, such being the will of my lady; therefore she welcomed Paul as a new ... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
4 | VANISHED | He's a handsome lad, and one any woman might be proud to call her son," said Hester to Bedford, the stately butler, as they lingered at the hall door one autumn morning to watch their young lady's departure on her daily ride.
"You are right, Mrs. Hester, he's a fine lad, and yet he seems above his place, though he do... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
5 | A HERO | Four years had passed, and Lillian was fast blooming into a lovely woman: proud and willful as ever, but very charming, and already a belle in the little world where she still reigned a queen. Owing to her mother's ill health, she was allowed more freedom than is usually permitted to an English girl of her age; and, du... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
6 | FAIR HELEN | To no one but her mother and Hester did Lillian confide the discovery she had made. None of the former servants but old Bedford remained with them, and till Paul chose to renew the old friendship it was best to remain silent. Great was the surprise and delight of our lady and Hester at the good fortune of their protege... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
7 | THE SECRET KEY | "Is Lady Trevlyn at home, Bedford?" asked Paul, as he presented himself at an early hour next day, wearing the keen, stern expression which made him look ten years older than he was.
"No, sir, my lady and Miss Lillian went down to the Hall last night."
"No ill news, I hope?" And the young man's eye kindled as if he... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
8 | WHICH? | "A Gentleman, my lady."
Taking a card from the silver salver on which the servant offered it, Lady Trevlyn read, "Paul Talbot," and below the name these penciled words, "I beseech you to see me." Lillian stood beside her and saw the line. Their eyes met, and in the girl's face was such a sudden glow of hope, and love... | {
"id": "8188"
} |
1 | THE SHOP | It was an evening early in May. The sun was low, and the street was mottled with the shadows of its paving-stones--smooth enough, but far from evenly set. The sky was clear, except for a few clouds in the west, hardly visible in the dazzle of the huge light, which lay among them like a liquid that had broken its vessel... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
2 | CUSTOMERS. | The next day was Saturday, a busy one at the shop. From the neighboring villages and farms came customers not a few; and ladies, from the country-seats around, began to arrive as the hours went on. The whole strength of the establishment was early called out. Busiest in serving was the senior partner, Mr. Turnbull. He ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
3 | THE ARBOR AT THORNWICK. | The next day was Sunday at last, a day dear to all who do anything like their duty in the week, whether they go to church or not. For Mary, she went to the Baptist chapel; it was her custom, rendered holy by the companionship of her father. But this day it was with more than ordinary restlessness and lack of interest t... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
4 | GODFREY WARDOUR. | The property of which Thornwick once formed a part was then large and important; but it had, by not very slow degrees, generation following generation of unthrift, dwindled and shrunk and shriveled, until at last it threatened to disappear from the family altogether, like a spark upon burnt paper. Then came one into po... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
5 | GODFREY AND LETTY. | Godfrey, being an Englishman, and with land of his own, could not fail to be fond of horses. For his own use he kept two--an indulgence disproportioned to his establishment; for, although precise in his tastes as to equine toilet, he did not feel justified in the keeping of a groom for their use only. Hence it came tha... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
6 | TOM HELMER. | When Tom Helmer's father died, his mother, who had never been able to manage him, sent him to school to get rid of him, lamented his absence till he returned, then writhed and fretted under his presence until again he went. Never thereafter did those two, mother and son, meet, whether from a separation of months or of ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
7 | DURNMELLING. | In the autumn, Mr. Mortimer of Durnmelling resolved to give a harvest-home to his tenants, and under the protection of the occasion to invite also a good many of his neighbors and of the townsfolk of Testbridge, whom he could not well ask to dinner: there happened to be a political expediency for something of the sort:... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
8 | THE OAK. | In the morning, as she narrated the events of the evening, she told her aunt of the acquaintance she had made, and that he had seen her home. This information did not please the old lady, as, indeed, without knowing any reason, Letty had expected. Mrs. Wardour knew all about Tom's mother, or thought she did, and knew l... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
9 | CONFUSION. | Then first, and from that moment, Letty's troubles began. Up to this point neither she herself nor another could array troublous accusation or uneasy thought against her; and now she began to feel like a very target, which exists but to receive the piercing of arrows. At first sight, and if we do not look a long way ah... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
10 | THE HEATH AND THE HUT. | Letty seldom went into the shop, except to buy, for she knew Mr. Turnbull would not like it, and Mary did not encourage it; but now her misery made her bold. Mary saw the trouble in her eyes, and without a moment's hesitation drew her inside the counter, and thence into the house, where she led the way to her own room,... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
11 | WILLIAM MARSTON. | The clouds were gathering over Mary, too--deep and dark, but of altogether another kind from those that enveloped Letty: no troubles are for one moment to be compared with those that come of the wrongness, even if it be not wickedness, that is our own. Some clouds rise from stagnant bogs and fens; others from the wide,... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
12 | MARY'S DREAM. | That night, and every night until the dust was laid to the dust, Mary slept well; and through the days she had great composure; but, when the funeral was over, came a collapse and a change. The moment it became necessary to look on the world as unchanged, and resume former relations with it, then, first, a fuller sense... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
13 | THE HUMAN SACRIFICE. | The same wind that rushed about the funeral of William Marston in the old churchyard of Testbridge, howled in the roofless hall and ruined tower of Durnmelling, and dashed against the plate-glass windows of the dining-room, where the three ladies sat at lunch. Immediately it was over, Lady Malice rose, saying: "Hesper... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
14 | UNGENEROUS BENEVOLENCE. | As the time went on, and Letty saw nothing more of Tom, she began to revive a little, and feel as if she were growing safe again. The tide of temptation was ebbing away; there would be no more deceit; never again would she place herself in circumstances whence might arise any necessity for concealment. She began, much ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
15 | THE MOONLIGHT. | It was a still, frosty night, with a full moon. When she reached her chamber, Letty walked mechanically to the window, and there stood, with the candle in her hand, looking carelessly out, nor taking any pleasure in the great night. The window looked on an open, grassy yard, where were a few large ricks of wheat, shini... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
16 | THE MORNING. | At Thornwick, Tom had been descried in the yard, by the spying organs of one of the servants--a woman not very young, and not altogether innocent of nightly interviews. Through the small window of her closet she had seen, and having seen she watched--not without hope she might be herself the object of the male presence... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
17 | THE RESULT. | Letty would never perhaps have come to herself in the cold of this world, under the shifting tent of the winter night, but for an outcast mongrel dog, which, wandering masterless and hungry, but not selfish, along the road, came upon her where she lay seemingly lifeless, and, recognizing with pity his neighbor in misfo... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
18 | MARY AND GODFREY. | Everything went very tolerably, so far as concerned the world of talk, in the matter of Letty's misfortunes. Rumors, it is true--and more than one of them strange enough--did for a time go floating about the country; but none of them came to the ears of Tom or of Mary, and Letty was safe from hearing anything; and the ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
19 | MARY IN THE SHOP. | More than a year had now passed from the opening of my narrative. It was full summer again at Testbridge, and things, to the careless eye, were unchanged, and, to the careless mind, would never change, although, in fact, nothing was the same, and nothing could continue as it now was. For were not the earth and the sun ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
20 | THE WEDDING-DRESS. | For all her troubles, however, Mary had her pleasures, even in the shop. It was a delight to receive the friendly greetings of such as had known and honored her father. She had the pleasure, as real as it was simple, of pure service, reaping the fruit of the earth in the joy of the work that was given her to do; there ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
21 | MR. REDMAIN. | A life of comparatively innocent gayety could not be attractive to Mr. Redmain, but at first he accompanied his wife everywhere. No one knew better than he that not an atom of love had mingled with her motives in marrying him; but for a time he seemed bent on showing her that she needed not have been so averse to him. ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
22 | MRS. REDMAIN. | In the autumn the Redmains went to Durnmelling: why they did so, I should find it hard to say. If, when a child, Hesper loved either of her parents, the experiences of later years had so heaped that filial affection with the fallen leaves of dead hopes and vanished dreams, that there was now nothing in her heart recogn... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
23 | THE MENIAL. | Things had been going nowise really better with Mary, though there was now more lull and less storm around her. The position was becoming less and less endurable to her, and she had as yet no glimmer of a way out of it. Breath of genial air never blew in the shop, except when this and that customer entered it. But how ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
24 | MRS. REDMAIN'S DRAWING-ROOM. | A few years ago, a London drawing-room was seldom beautiful; but size is always something, and, if Mrs. Redmain's had not harmony, it had gilding--a regular upholsterer's drawing-room it was, on which about as much taste had been expended as on the fattening of a prize-pig. Happily there is as little need as temptation... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
25 | MARY'S RECEPTION. | In the afternoon of the same day, now dreary enough, with the dreariness naturally belonging to the dreariest month of the year, Mary arrived in the city preferred to all cities by those who live in it, but the most uninviting, I should imagine, to a stranger, of all cities on the face of the earth. Cold seemed to have... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
26 | HER POSITION. | Mary seemed to have but just got to sleep again, when she was startled awake by the violent ringing of a bell, almost at her ear.
"Oh, you needn't trouble yet a long while, miss!" said the girl, who was already dressing. "I've got ever so many fires to light, ere there'll be a thought of you!"
Mary lay down again, ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
27 | MR. AND MRS. HELMER | The next morning, Mary set out to find Letty, from whom, as I have said, she had heard but twice since her marriage. Mary had written again about a month ago, but had had no reply. The sad fact was, that, ever since she left Testbridge, Letty, for a long time, without knowing it, had been going down hill. There have be... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
28 | MARY AND LETTY. | When her landlady announced a visitor, Letty, not having yet one friend in London, could not think who it should be. When Mary entered, she sprang to her feet and stood staring: what with being so much in the house, and seeing so few people, the poor girl had, I think, grown a little stupid. But, when the fact of Mary'... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
29 | THE EVENING STAR. | Notwithstanding her headache, however, Mrs. Redmain was going in the evening to a small fancy-ball, meant for a sort of rehearsal to a great one when the season should arrive. The part and costume she had chosen were the suggestion of her own name: she would represent the Evening Star, clothed in the early twilight; an... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
30 | A SCOLDING. | The Evening Star found herself a success--that is, much followed by the men and much complimented by the women. Her triumph, however, did not culminate until the next appearance of "The Firefly," containing a song "To the Evening Star," which _everybody_ knew to stand for Mrs. Redmain. The chaos of the uninitiated, ind... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
31 | SEPIA. | As naturally as if she had been born to that very duty and no other, Mary slid into the office of lady's-maid to Mrs. Redmain, feeling in it, although for reasons very different, no more degradation than her mistress saw in it. If Hesper was occasionally a little rude to her, Mary was not one to _accept_ a rudeness--th... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
32 | HONOR. | Having now gained a partial insight into Letty's new position, Mary pondered what she could do to make life more of life to her. Not many knew better than she that the only true way to help a human heart is to lift it up; but she knew also that every kind of loving aid tends more or less to that uplifting; and that, if... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
33 | THE INVITATION. | When Letty received Mrs. Redmain's card, inviting her with her husband to an evening party, it raised in her a bewildered flutter--of pleasure, of fear, of pride, of shyness, of dismay: how dared she show her face in such a grand assembly? She would not know a bit how to behave herself! But it was impossible, for she h... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
34 | A STRAY SOUND. | Mary went to see Letty as often as she could, and that was not seldom; but she had scarcely a chance of seeing Tom; either he was not up, or had gone--to the office, Letty supposed: she had no more idea of where the office was, or of the other localities haunted by Tom, than he himself had of what spirit he was of.
O... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
35 | THE MUSICIAN. | One evening, soon after the baby's arrival, as Mary sat with him in her lap, the sweet tones they had heard twice before came creeping into her ears so gently that she seemed to be aware of their presence only after they had been for some time coming and going: she laid the baby down, and, stealing from the room, liste... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
36 | A CHANGE. | As soon as Letty had strength enough to attend to her baby without help, Mary, to the surprise of her mistress, and the destruction of her theory concerning her stay in London, presented herself at Durnmelling, found that she was more welcome than looked for, and the same hour resumed her duties about Hesper.
It was ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
37 | LYDGATE STEET. | Letty's whole life was now gathered about her boy, and she thought little, comparatively, about Tom. And Tom thought so little about her that he did not perceive the difference. When he came home, he was always in a hurry to be gone again. He had always something important to do, but it never showed itself to Letty in ... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
38 | GODFREY AND LETTY. | It was a sad, gloomy, kindless November night, when Godfrey arrived in London. The wind was cold, the pavements were cold, the houses seemed to be not only cold but feeling it. The very dust that blow in his face was cold. Now cold is a powerful ally of the commonplace, and imagination therefore was not very busy in th... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
39 | RELIEF. | It was dark, utterly dark, when she woke. For a minute she could not remember where she was. The candle had burned out: it must be late. The baby was on her lap--still, very still. One faint gleam of satisfaction crossed her "during dark" at the thought that he slept so peacefully, hidden from the gloom which, somehow,... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
40 | GODFREY AND SEPIA. | When the Redmains went to Cornwall, Sepia was left at Durnmelling, in the expectation of joining them in London within a fortnight at latest. The illness of Mr. Redmain, however, caused her stay to be prolonged, and she was worn out with _ennui_. The self she was so careful over was not by any means good company: not s... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
41 | THE HELPER. | At length one morning, when she believed Mrs. Redmain would not rise before noon, Mary felt she must go and see Letty. She did not find her in the quarters where she had left her, but a story higher, in a mean room, sitting with her hands in her lap. She did not lift her eyes when Mary entered: where hope is dead, curi... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
42 | THE LEPER. | The faint, sweet, luminous jar of bow and string, as betwixt them they tore the silky air into a dying sound, came hovering--neither could have said whether it was in the soul only, or there and in the outer world too.
"What _is_ that?" said Tom.
"Mary!" Letty called into the other room, "there is our friend with t... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
43 | MARY AND MR. REDMAIN. | A few rudiments of righteousness lurked, in their original undevelopment, but still in a measure active, in the being of Mr. Redmain: there had been in the soul of his mother, I suspect, a strain of generosity, and she had left a mark of it upon him, and it was the best thing about him. But in action these rudiments to... | {
"id": "8201"
} |
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