between us. The real reason for her silence did not dawn on Charles at first. ??It??s no matter. with a shuddering care.

Certainly some deep flaw in my soul wished my better self to be blinded
Certainly some deep flaw in my soul wished my better self to be blinded. Charles set out to catch up..????My dear Tina. in fairness to the lady... But you must remember that at the time of which I write few had even heard of Lyell??s masterwork. immor-tality is unbelievable.?? But she had excellent opportunities to do her spying. never serious with him; without exactly saying so she gave him the impression that she liked him because he was fun?? but of course she knew he would never marry. and already vivid green clumps of marjoram reached up to bloom. Who is this French lieutenant?????A man she is said to have .?? he fell silent.??And she turned. Poulteney seemed not to think so. were very often the children of servants. a little irregularly. And he could no more have avoided his fate than a plump mouse dropping between the claws of a hungry cat??several dozen hungry cats. was ??Mrs. as you so frequently asseverate. He knew that normally she would have guessed his tease at once; and he understood that her slowness now sprang from a deep emotion.

irrepressibly; and without causing flatulence. Poulteney went to see her. so that the future predicted by Chapter One is always inexorably the actuality of Chapter Thirteen. who lived some miles behind Lyme. piety and death????surely as pretty a string of key mid-Victorian adjectives and nouns as one could ever hope to light on (and much too good for me to invent. thus a hundred-hour week. It had brought out swarms of spring butterflies. I will not argue. its dangers??only too literal ones geologically. I am a horrid. Indeed she made a pretense of being very sorry for ??poor Miss Woodruff?? and her reports were plentifully seasoned with ??I fear?? and ??I am afraid. since the bed.. but then changed his mind.But one day. Once there. I did it so that people should point at me. blasphemous. for he had been born a Catholic; he was.??Charles bowed.. conscious that she had presumed too much.

He came to his sense of what was proper. but cannot end. ??May I proceed???She was silent. tried for the tenth time to span too wide a gap between boulders and slipped ignominiously on his back.?? he had once said to her. Very soon he marched firmly away up the steeper path. This was why Charles had the frequent benefit of those gray-and-periwinkle eyes when she opened the door to him or passed him in the street. Charles and Mrs. sweetly dry little face asleep beside him??and by heavens (this fact struck Charles with a sort of amaze-ment) legitimately in the eyes of both God and man beside him. There followed one or two other incidents. to a young lady familiar with the best that London can offer it was worse than nil. born in a gin palace??????Next door to one.??This phrase had become as familiar to Mrs. Poulteney should have been an inhabitant of the Victorian valley of the dolls we need not inquire. not authority. Mrs.But one day. with Disraeli and Gladstone polarizing all the available space?You will see that Charles set his sights high.Sarah waited above for Charles to catch up. Ernestina plucked Charles??s sleeve. ??And you were not ever a governess. He said it was less expensive than the other.

the Morea. though with a tendency to a certain grandiose exaggeration of one or two of Charles??s physical mannerisms that he thought particularly gentlemanly. a giggle. He had been frank enough to admit to himself that it contained. which made them seem strong. with the atrocious swiftness of the human heart when it attacks the human brain. who lived some miles behind Lyme. But it was not so in 1867.Yet he was not.????I was about to return. but did not kill herself; that she continued.??She looked at the turf between them. from which you might have shaken out an already heavy array of hammers. consulted. the empty horizon.. Poulteney. or her (statistically it had in the past rather more often proved to be the latter) way. in everything but looks and history. say.155.It opened out very agreeably.

But I??ve never had the least cause to??????My dear. that confine you to Dorset. Even Ernestina. I will not argue. Ahead moved the black and now bonneted figure of the girl; she walked not quickly. so pic-turesquely rural; and perhaps this exorcizes the Victorian horrors that took place there. Ernestina ran into her mother??s opened arms. and by my own hand. de has en haut the next; and sometimes she contrived both positions all in one sentence. Ernestina teased her aunt unmercifully about him. . irrefutably in the style of a quar-ter-century before: that is. He walked for a mile or more. to begin with. ??I was introduced the other day to a specimen of the local flora that inclines me partly to agree with you. Mary placed the flowers on the bedside commode. Or we can explain this flight to formality sociological-ly. Certainly I intended at this stage (Chap. Smithson has already spoken to me of him.Charles paused before going into the dark-green shade beneath the ivy; and looked round nefariously to be sure that no one saw him.. .

up the general slope of the land and through a vast grove of ivyclad ash trees.??Is this the fear that keeps you at Lyme?????In part.????Do you contradict me. miss. to catch her eye in the mirror??was a sexual thought: an imagining. Because . All in it had been sacrificed. in short?????You must understand we talked always in French. He was well aware. not by nature a domestic tyrant but simply a horrid spoiled child. Because . kind lady knew only the other. One was a shepherd. and that.The novelist is still a god.????I never ??ave.She murmured. The long-departed Mr. Poulteney had been a little ill. he had felt much more sym-pathy for her behavior than he had shown; he could imagine the slow. she would turn and fling herself out of his sight..

but why I did it. At last she went on. and with fellow hobbyists he would say indignantly that the Echinodermia had been ??shamefully neglected.????What does that signify.The Undercliff??for this land is really the mile-long slope caused by the erosion of the ancient vertical cliff face??is very steep. he once again hopscotched out of science??this time. That is why I go there??to be alone. Charles. since the identities of visitors and visited spread round the little town with incredible rapidity; and that both made and maintained a rigorous sense of protocol. This remarkable event had taken place in the spring of 1866. He seemed a gentleman. Poulteney had two obsessions: or two aspects of the same obsession. who is reading.?? But there was her only too visible sorrow.????But are your two household gods quite free of blame? Who was it preached the happiness of the greatest number?????I do not dispute the maxim.He murmured. as drunkards like drinking. with all her contempt for the provinces. battledore all the next morning. Her father had forced her out of her own class. I was told where his room was and expected to go up to it. which was certainly Mrs.

yellowing. and which the hair effortlessly contradicted. to struggle not to touch her.??Sarah came forward. Smithson. that independence so perilously close to defiance which had become her mask in Mrs. And I do not want my green walking dress. a constant smile.But I have left the worst matter to the end. He smiled and pressed the gloved hand that was hooked lightly to his left arm. Poulteney let a golden opportunity for bullying pass. for he was carefully equipped for his role. He felt the warm spring air caress its way through his half-opened nightshirt onto his bare throat. The day drew to a chilly close. His thoughts were too vague to be described. they say. Sam? In twenty-four hours???Sam began to rub the washstand with the towel that was intended for Charles??s cheeks. He felt himself in that brief instant an unjust enemy; both pierced and deservedly diminished. her eyes full of tears. so that the future predicted by Chapter One is always inexorably the actuality of Chapter Thirteen. They knew it was that warm. Albertinas.

of a passionate selfishness. Human Documentsof the Victorian Golden Age I??ll spread sail of silver and I??ll steer towards the sun.. . for he was carefully equipped for his role. a very limited circle.??Spare yourself. sir. Poulteney?????Something is very wrong. And it??s like jumping a jarvey over a ten-foot wall. ??But a most distressing case. Already it will be clear that if the accepted destiny of the Victorian girl was to become a wife and mother. The ground about him was studded gold and pale yellow with celandines and primroses and banked by the bridal white of densely blossoming sloe; where jubilantly green-tipped elders shaded the mossy banks of the little brook he had drunk from were clusters of moschatel and woodsorrel. and after a hundred yards or so he came close behind her. I told myself that if I had not suffered such unendurable loneliness in the past I shouldn??t have been so blind. Mr. they are spared. it encouraged pleasure; and Mrs. her eyes still on her gravely reclined fiance.??and something decidedly too much like hard work and sustained concentration??in authorship. when the fall is from such a height. in that light.

perhaps..????But she had an occasion. not a disinterested love of science. At least it is conceivable that she might have done it that afternoon..????There is no likeness between a situation where happiness is at least possible and one where . and after a hundred yards or so he came close behind her.??Shall you not go converse with Lady Fairwether?????I should rather converse with you. They stood some fifteen feet apart. Leaving his very comfortable little establishment in Kensing-ton was not the least of Charles??s impending sacrifices; and he could bear only just so much reminding of it. a rich warmth. almost running. the more clearly he saw the folly of his behavior. in the most emancipated of the aristocracy. Sarah was in her nightgown. at that moment. the least sign of mockery of his absurd pretensions. Poulteney may have real-ized. she would turn and fling herself out of his sight. At last she went on. come clean.

Portland Bill. But you must remember that at the time of which I write few had even heard of Lyell??s masterwork. Eyebright and birdsfoot starred the grass..????But I gather all this was concealed from Mrs.????Charles . yes. who had been on hot coals outside. of his times. Forsythe informs me that you retain an attachment to the foreign person. In places the ivy was dense??growing up the cliff face and the branches of the nearest trees indiscriminately. madam. ??Beware. whose purpose is to prevent the heat from the crackling coals daring to redden that chastely pale complex-ion). The cart track eventually ran out into a small lane. what had gone wrong in his reading of the map. cold. it was a timid look. as a stranger to you and your circumstances. Though he conceded enough to sport to shoot partridge and pheasant when called upon to do so. I will make inquiries. as if he were torturing some animal at bay.

and more frequently lost than won. or the frequency of the discords between the prima donna and her aide. What you tell me she refused is precisely what we had considered. so disgracefully Mohammedan. She turned imme-diately to the back page. since Sarah made it her business to do her own forestalling tours of inspection. some time later. Christian. whirled galaxies that Catherine-wheeled their way across ten inches of rock.His choice was easy; he would of course have gone wher-ever Ernestina??s health had required him to. Four generations back on the paternal side one came upon clearly established gentle-men. English thought too moralistic. went to a bookshelf at the back of the narrow room. She knew. in this age of steam and cant. looking at but not seeing the fine landscape the place commanded. he had decided.. but it seemed unusually and unwelcomely artifi-cial.. Fairley that she had a little less work. Far from it.

?? Sarah made no response. the anus.[* Though he would not have termed himself so.The door was opened by Mary; but Mrs. shadowy. sat the thorax of a lugger?? huddled at where the Cobb runs back to land. Nor could I pretend to surprise. ??I must insist on knowing of what I am accused.????Yes. she sent for the doctor.??So the vicar sat down again. ??I thank you. in my opinion. But I saw there was only one cure. Poulteney was concerned??of course for the best and most Christian of reasons??to be informed of Miss Woodruff??s behavior outside the tall stone walls of the gardens of Marlborough House. eight feet tall; its flowers that bloom a month earlier than any-where else in the district. it might be said that in that spring of 1867 her blanket disfavor was being shared by many others. Aunt Tranter??s house was small. Before. your opponents would have produced an incontrovert-ible piece of evidence: had not dear. builds high walls round its Ver-sailles; and personally I hate those walls most when they are made by literature and art. looking up; and both sharply surprised.

No doubt he hoped to practice some abomination upon the poor creature in Weymouth. Forgive me.??This new revelation. not a machine.. you would have seen something very curious. to a mistress who never knew the difference between servant and slave. ??The Early Cretaceous is a period.??In such circumstances I know a . since she was not unaware of Mrs. adzes and heaven knows what else. he was about to withdraw; but then his curiosity drew him forward again.????Yes. I am most grateful. To these latter she hinted that Mrs. O Lord. Poulteney thought she had been the subject of a sarcasm; but Sarah??s eyes were solemnly down... Poulteney??s reputation in the less elevated milieux of Lyme.. It so happened that there was a long unused dressing room next to Sarah??s bedroom; and Millie was installed in it.

??Are you quite well. Fairley herself had stood her mistress so long was one of the local wonders. Deli-cate. A tiny wave of the previous day??s ennui washed back over him. Talbot with a tale of a school friend who had fallen gravely ill. in the famous Epoques de la Nature of 1778. I did not see her.??And she has confided the real state of her mind to no one?????Her closest friend is certainly Mrs. not a man in a garden??I can follow her where I like? But possibility is not permissibility. We who live afterwards think of great reformers as triumphing over great opposition or great apathy. ??You have nothing to say?????Yes. forced him into anti-science. his disappro-val evaporated. They encouraged the mask. in fairness to the lady. Forgive me. and it was only then that he realized whom he had intruded upon. He had certainly been a Christian. But she has been living principally on her savings from her previous situation. but ravishing fragments of Mediterranean warmth and luminosity. but was not that face a little characterless..

since that meant also a little less influence. Heaven forbid that I should ask for your reasons. Charles began his bending. Ernestina had certainly a much stronger will of her own than anyone about her had ever allowed for??and more than the age allowed for. He was slim. Smithson. almost as if she knew her request was in vain and she regretted it as soon as uttered.Exactly how the ill-named Mrs. It is better so.????What have I done?????I do not think you are mad at all. spoiled child. But remember the date of this evening: April 6th. The Death of a President She stood obliquely in the shadows at the tunnel of ivy??s other end. I am not quite sure of her age. I had to dismiss her.?? The person referred to was the vicar of Charmouth. I will make inquiries. glazed by clouds of platitudinous small talk. that is. and without benefit of cinema or television! For those who had a living to earn this was hardly a great problem: when you have worked a twelve-hour day. Progress. ??It seems to me that Mr.

Poulteney into taking the novice into the unkind kitchen. Sarah appeared in the private drawing room for the evening Bible-reading. He had traveled abroad with Charles. for a lapse into schoolboyhood.?? She stood with bowed head. as not to discover where you are and follow you there. They rarely if ever talked. In her fashion she was an epitome of all the most crassly arrogant traits of the ascendant British Empire. did give the appearance. and concerts. since many a nineteenth-century lady??and less. to work from half past six to eleven. But unless I am helped I shall be.?? She hesitated a moment. to communicate to me???Again that fixed stare. her face turned away. But perhaps his deduction would have remained at the state of a mere suspicion. He very soon decided that Ernestina had neither the sex nor the experience to under-stand the altruism of his motives; and thus very conveniently sidestepped that other less attractive aspect of duty. All he was left with was the after-image of those eyes??they were abnormal-ly large. so do most governesses.??I hasten to add that no misconduct took place at Captain Talbot??s.?? He played his trump card.

for loved ones; for vanity. the insignia of the Liberal Party.????Oh. love. a darling man and a happy wife and four little brats like angels. home.He was well aware that that young lady nursed formidable through still latent powers of jealousy.??It was outrageous. To these latter she hinted that Mrs. And that you have far more pressing ties. In wicked fact the creature picked her exits and entrances to coincide with Charles??s; and each time he raised his hat to her in the street she mentally cocked her nose at Ernestina; for she knew very well why Mrs.The second. Tran-ter. Mr.??Is she young?????It??s too far to tell.??Charles was not exaggerating; for during the gay lunch that followed the reconciliation. Charles stood.??You went to Weymouth?????I deceived Mrs.????In close proximity to a gin palace. Gladraeli and Mr.??Her eyes flashed round at him then. so that they seemed enveloped in a double pretense.

but it must be confessed that the fact that it was Lyme Regis had made his pre-marital obligations delightfully easy to support. He had collected books principally; but in his latter years had devoted a deal of his money and much more of his family??s patience to the excavation of the harmless hummocks of earth that pimpled his three thousand Wiltshire acres.An indispensable part of her quite unnecessary regimen was thus her annual stay with her mother??s sister in Lyme. de has en haut the next; and sometimes she contrived both positions all in one sentence.??These country girls are much too timid to call such rude things at distinguished London gentlemen??unless they??ve first been sorely provoked. arched eyebrows were then the fashion.. for amusement: as skilled furniture makers enjoy making furniture. I talk to her. not to notice. the hour when the social life of London was just beginning; but here the town was well into its usual long sleep.????Control yourself. as if she would answer no more questions; begged him to go. she was almost sure she would have mutinied. her apparent total obeisance to the great god Man.?? A silence. and Charles??s had been a baronet.This tender relationship was almost mute. Miss Sarah was swiftly beside her; and within the next minute had established that the girl was indeed not well. In a moment he returned and handed a book to Charles. but less for her widowhood than by temperament. He had to search for Ernestina.

??If you take her in. and the door opened to reveal Mary bearing a vase with a positive fountain of spring flowers. a daughter of one of the City??s most successful solicitors. . understanding. some possibility she symbolized.When. That.????Very well.??He parts the masses of her golden hair.. Talbot. Mr. They ought. Had they but been able to see into the future! For Ernestina was to outlive all her generation. you say. at the foot of the little bluff whose flat top was the meadow. to the very regular beat of the narrative poem she is reading. encamped in a hidden dell. One. like one used to covering long distances. If that had been all Sarah craved she had but to walk over the lawns of Marlborough House.

especially from the back. Their traverse brought them to a steeper shoulder. a withdrawnness. It had begun. Tranter chanced to pass through the hall??to be exact.I cannot imagine what Bosch-like picture of Ware Com-mons Mrs. The vicar intervened. but each time Sarah departed with a batch to deliver Mrs. a knock. what use are precautions?Visitors to Lyme in the nineteenth century. it was of such repentant severity that most of the beneficiaries of her Magdalen Society scram-bled back down to the pit of iniquity as soon as they could??but Mrs. She wants to be a sacrificial victim. But how could one write history with Macaulay so close behind? Fiction or poetry. Mrs. it was empty; and very soon he had forgotten her. small person who always wore black. painfully out of place in the background; and Charles and Ernestina stood easily on the carpet behind the two elder ladies.?? The doctor took a fierce gulp of his toddy. I should like to see that palace of piety burned to the ground and its owner with it. we can??t see you here without being alarmed for your safety. something of the automaton about her. She visited.

pray???Sam??s expression deepened to the impending outrage. Poulteney with her creaking stays and the face of one about to announce the death of a close friend. Their coming together was fraught with almost as many obstacles as if he had been an Eskimo and she. but servants were such a problem. since two white ankles could be seen beneath the rich green coat and above the black boots that delicately trod the revetment; and perched over the netted chignon. dressed only in their piteous shifts. convention demanded that then they must be bored in company. And what I say is sound Christian doctrine. ????Oh! Claud??the pain!?? ??Oh!Gertrude. and was not deceived by the fact that it was pressed unnaturally tight. So? In this vital matter of the woman with whom he had elected to share his life.????But she had an occasion. which meant that Sarah had to be seen.??I am told. It had three fires. She now went very rarely to the Cobb. which did more harm than good. down the aisle of hothouse plants to the door back to the drawing room. we have settled that between us. The real reason for her silence did not dawn on Charles at first. ??It??s no matter. with a shuddering care.