us,
Luke
,
"
Phoebe
repeated
,
without
noticing
Luke
's
remarks
.
She
knew
her
husband
's
dogged
nature
well
enough
by
this
time
to
know
that
it
was
worse
than
useless
to
try
to
stop
him
from
doing
or
saying
anything
which
his
own
stubborn
will
led
him
to
do
or
say
.
"
My
lady
will
settle
it
,
"
she
said
,
"
and
she
's
come
down
here
to
see
about
it
to-night
,
"
she
added
.
The
poker
dropped
from
the
landlord
's
hand
,
and
fell
clattering
among
the
cinders
on
the
hearth
.
"
My
Lady
Audley
come
here
to-night
!
"
he
said
.
"
Yes
,
Luke
.
"
My
lady
appeared
upon
the
threshold
of
the
door
as
Phoebe
spoke
.
"
Yes
,
Luke
Marks
,
"
she
said
,
"
I
have
come
to
pay
this
man
,
and
to
send
him
about
his
business
.
"
Lady
Audley
said
these
words
in
a
strange
,
semi-mechanical
manner
;
very
much
as
if
she
had
learned
the
sentence
by
rote
,
and
were
repeating
it
without
knowing
what
she
said
.
Mr.
Marks
gave
a
discontented
growl
,
and
set
his
empty
glass
down
upon
the
table
with
an
impatient
gesture
.
"
You
might
have
given
the
money
to
Phoebe
,
"
he
said
,
"
as
well
as
have
brought
it
yourself
.
We
do
n't
want
no
fine
ladies
up
here
,
pryin
'
and
pokin
'
their
precious
noses
into
everythink
.
"
"
Luke
,
Luke
!
"
remonstrated
Phoebe
,
"
when
my
lady
has
been
so
kind
!
"
"
Oh
,
damn
her
kindness
!
"
cried
Mr.
Marks
;
"
it
ai
n't
her
kindness
as
we
want
,
gal
,
it
's
her
money
.
She
wo
n't
get
no
snivelin
'
gratitood
from
me
.
Whatever
she
does
for
us
she
does
because
she
is
obliged
;
and
if
she
was
n't
obliged
she
would
n't
do
it
—
"
Heaven
knows
how
much
more
Luke
Marks
might
have
said
,
had
not
my
lady
turned
upon
him
suddenly
and
awed
him
into
silence
by
the
unearthly
glitter
of
her
beauty
.
Her
hair
had
been
blown
away
from
her
face
,
and
being
of
a
light
,
feathery
quality
,
had
spread
itself
into
a
tangled
mass
that
surrounded
her
forehead
like
a
yellow
flame
.
There
was
another
flame
in
her
eyes
—
a
greenish
light
,
such
as
might
flash
from
the
changing-hued
orbs
of
an
angry
mermaid
.
"
Stop
,
"
she
cried
.
"
I
did
n't
come
up
here
in
the
dead
of
night
to
listen
to
your
insolence
.
How
much
is
this
debt
?
"
"
Nine
pound
.
"
Lady
Audley
produced
her
purse
—
a
toy
of
ivory
,
silver
,
and
turquoise
—
she
took
from
it
a
note
and
four
sovereigns
.
She
laid
these
upon
the
table
.
"
Let
that
man
give
me
a
receipt
for
the
money
,
"
she
said
,
"
before
I
go
.
"
It
was
some
time
before
the
man
could
be
roused
into
sufficient
consciousness
for
the
performance
of
this
simple
duty
,
and
it
was
only
by
dipping
a
pen
into
the
ink
and
pushing
it
between
his
clumsy
fingers
,
that
he
was
at
last
made
to
comprehend
that
his
autograph
was
wanted
at
the
bottom
of
the
receipt
which
had
been
made
out
by
Phoebe
Marks
.
Lady
Audley
took
the
document
as
soon
as
the
ink
was
dry
,
and
turned
to
leave
the
parlor
.
Phoebe
followed
her
.
"
You
must
n't
go
home
alone
,
my
lady
,
"
she
said
.
"
You
'll
let
me
go
with
you
?
"
"
Yes
,
yes
;
you
shall
go
home
with
me
.
"
The
two
women
were
standing
near
the
door
of
the
inn
as
my
lady
said
this
.
Phoebe
stared
wonderingly
at
her
patroness
.
She
had
expected
that
Lady
Audley
would
be
in
a
hurry
to
return
home
after
settling
this
business
which
she
had
capriciously
taken
upon
herself
;
but
it
was
not
so
;
my
lady
stood
leaning
against
the
inn
door
and
staring
into
vacancy
,
and
again
Mrs.
Marks
began
to
fear
that
trouble
had
driven
her
late
mistress
mad
.
A
little
Dutch
clock
in
the
bar
struck
two
while
Lady
Audley
lingered
in
this
irresolute
,
absent
manner
.
She
started
at
the
sound
and
began
to
tremble
violently
.
"
I
think
I
am
going
to
faint
,
Phoebe
,
"
she
said
;
"
where
can
I
get
some
cold
water
?
"
"
The
pump
is
in
the
wash-house
,
my
lady
;
I
'll
run
and
get
you
a
glass
of
cold
water
.
"
"
No
,
no
,
no
,
"
cried
my
lady
,
clutching
Phoebe
's
arm
as
she
was
about
to
run
away
upon
this
errand
;
"
I
'll
get
it
myself
.
I
must
dip
my
head
in
a
basin
of
water
if
I
want
to
save
myself
from
fainting
.
In
which
room
does
Mr.
Audley
sleep
?
"
There
was
something
so
irrelevant
in
this
question
that
Phoebe
Marks
stared
aghast
at
her
mistress
before
she
answered
it
.
"
It
was
number
three
that
I
got
ready
,
my
lady
—
the
front
room
—
the
room
next
to
ours
,
"
she
replied
,
after
that
pause
of
astonishment
.
"
Give
me
a
candle
,
"
said
my
lady
.
"
I
'll
go
into
your
room
,
and
get
some
water
for
my
head
;
stay
where
you
are
,
and
see
that
that
brute
of
a
husband
of
yours
does
not
follow
me
!
"
She
snatched
the
candle
which
Phoebe
had
lighted
from
the
girl
's
hand
and
ran
up
the
rickety
,
winding
staircase
which
led
to
the
narrow
corridor
upon
the
upper
floor
.
Five
bed-rooms
opened
out
of
this
low-ceilinged
,
close-smelling
corridor
;
the
numbers
of
these
rooms
were
indicated
by
squat
black
figures
painted
upon
the
panels
of
the
doors
.
Lady
Audley
had
driven
up
to
Mount
Stanning
to
inspect
the
house
when
she
bought
the
business
for
her
servant
's
bridegroom
,
and
she
knew
her
way
about
the
dilapidated
old
place
;
she
knew
where
to
find
Phoebe
's
bedroom
,
but
she
stopped
before
the
door
of
that
other
chamber
which
had
been
prepared
for
Mr.
Robert
Audley
.
She
stopped
and
looked
at
the
number
on
the
door
.
The
key
was
in
the
lock
,
and
her
hand
dropped
upon
it
as
if
unconsciously
.
But
presently
she
suddenly
began
to
tremble
again
,
as
she
had
trembled
a
few
minutes
before
at
the
striking
of
the
clock
.
She
stood
for
a
few
moments
trembling
thus
,
with
her
hand
still
upon
the
key
;
then
a
horrible
expression
came
over
her
face
,
and
she
turned
the
key
in
the
lock
.
She
turned
it
twice
,
double
locking
the
door
.
There
was
no
sound
from
within
;
the
occupant
of
the
chamber
made
no
sign
of
having
heard
that
ominous
creaking
of
the
rusty
key
in
the
rusty
lock
.
Lady
Audley
hurried
into
the
next
room
.
She
set
the
candle
on
the
dressing-table
,
flung
off
her
bonnet
and
slung
it
loosely
across
her
arm
;
then
she
went
to
the
wash-stand
and
filled
the
basin
with
water
.
She
plunged
her
golden
hair
into
this
water
,
and
then
stood
for
a
few
moments
in
the
center
of
the
room
looking
about
her
,
with
a
white
,
earnest
face
,
and
an
eager
gaze
that
seemed
to
take
in
every
object
in
the
poorly
furnished
chamber
.
Phoebe
's
bedroom
was
certainly
very
shabbily
furnished
;
she
had
been
compelled
to
select
all
the
most
decent
things
for
those
best
bedrooms
which
were
set
apart
for
any
chance
traveler
who
might
stop
for
a
night
's
lodging
at
the
Castle
Inn
;
but
Phoebe
Marks
had
done
her
best
to
atone
for
the
lack
of
substantial
furniture
in
her
apartment
by
a
superabundance
of
drapery
.
Crisp
curtains
of
cheap
chintz
hung
from
the
tent-bedstead
;
festooned
drapery
of
the
same
material
shrouded
the
narrow
window
shutting
out
the
light
of
day
,
and
affording
a
pleasant
harbor
for
tribes
of
flies
and
predatory
bands
of
spiders
.
Even
the
looking-glass
,
a
miserably
cheap
construction
which
distorted
every
face
whose
owner
had
the
hardihood
to
look
into
it
,
stood
upon
a
draperied
altar
of
starched
muslin
and
pink
glazed
calico
,
and
was
adorned
with
frills
of
lace
and
knitted
work
.
My
lady
smiled
as
she
looked
at
the
festoons
and
furbelows
which
met
her
eyes
upon
every
side
.
She
had
reason
,
perhaps
,
to
smile
,
remembering
the
costly
elegance
of
her
own
apartments
;
but
there
was
something
in
that
sardonic
smile
that
seemed
to
have
a
deeper
meaning
than
any
natural
contempt
for
Phoebe
's
attempts
at
decoration
.
She
went
to
the
dressing-table
and
,
smoothed
her
wet
hair
before
the
looking-glass
,
and
then
put
on
her
bonnet
.
She
was
obliged
to
place
the
flaming
tallow
candle
very
close
to
the
lace
furbelows
about
the
glass
;
so
close
that
the
starched
muslin
seemed
to
draw
the
flame
toward
it
by
some
power
of
attraction
in
its
fragile
tissue
.
Phoebe
waited
anxiously
by
the
inn
door
for
my
lady
's
coming
She
watched
the
minute
hand
of
the
little
Dutch
clock
,
wondering
at
the
slowness
of
its
progress
.
It
was
only
ten
minutes
past
two
when
Lady
Audley
came
down-stairs
,
with
her
bonnet
on
and
her
hair
still
wet
,
but
without
the
candle
.
Phoebe
was
immediately
anxious
about
this
missing
candle
.
"
The
light
,
my
lady
,
"
she
said
,
"
you
have
left
it
up-stairs
!
"
"
The
wind
blew
it
out
as
I
was
leaving
your
room
,
"
Lady
Audley
answered
,
quietly
.
"
I
left
it
there
.
"
"
In
my
room
,
my
lady
?
"
"
Yes
.
"
"
And
it
was
quite
out
?
"
"
Yes
,
I
tell
you
;
why
do
you
worry
me
about
your
candle
?
It
is
past
two
o'clock
.
Come
.
"
She
took
the
girl
's
arm
,
and
half
led
,
half
dragged
her
from
the
house
.
The
convulsive
pressure
of
her
slight
hand
held
her
firmly
as
an
iron
vise
could
have
held
her
.
The
fierce
March
wind
banged
to
the
door
of
the
house
,
and
left
the
two
women
standing
outside
it
.
The
long
,
black
road
lay
bleak
and
desolate
before
them
,
dimly
visible
between
straight
lines
of
leafless
hedges
.
A
walk
of
three
miles
'
length
upon
a
lonely
country
road
,
between
the
hours
of
two
and
four
on
a
cold
winter
's
morning
,
is
scarcely
a
pleasant
task
for
a
delicate
woman
—
a
woman
whose
inclinations
lean
toward
ease
and
luxury
.
But
my
lady
hurried
along
the
hard
,
dry
highway
,
dragging
her
companion
with
her
as
if
she
had
been
impelled
by
some
horrible
demoniac
force
which
knew
no
abatement
.
With
the
black
night
above
them
—
with
the
fierce
wind
howling
around
them
,
sweeping
across
a
broad
expanse
of
hidden
country
,
blowing
as
if
it
had
arisen
simultaneously
from
every
point
of
the
compass
,
and
making
those
wanderers
the
focus
of
its
ferocity
—
the
two
women
walked
through
the
darkness
down
the
hill
upon
which
Mount
Stanning
stood
,
along
a
mile
and
a
half
of
flat
road
,
and
then
up
another
hill
,
on
the
western
side
of
which
Audley
Court
lay
in
that
sheltered
valley
,
which
seemed
to
shut
in
the
old
house
from
all
the
clamor
and
hubbub
of
the
everyday
world
.
My
lady
stopped
upon
the
summit
of
this
hill
to
draw
breath
and
to
clasp
her
hands
upon
her
heart
,
in
the
vain
hope
that
she
might
still
its
cruel
beating
.
They
were
now
within
three-quarters
of
a
mile
of
the
Court
,
and
they
had
been
walking
for
nearly
an
hour
since
they
had
left
the
Castle
Inn
.
Lady
Audley
stopped
to
rest
,
with
her
face
still
turned
toward
the
place
of
her
destination
.
Phoebe
Marks
,
stopping
also
,
and
very
glad
of
a
moment
's
pause
in
that
hurried
journey
,
looked
back
into
the
far
darkness
beneath
which
lay
that
dreary
shelter
that
had
given
her
so
much
uneasiness
.
And
she
did
so
,
she
uttered
a
shrill
cry
of
horror
,
and
clutched
wildly
at
her
companion
's
cloak
.
The
night
sky
was
no
longer
all
dark
.
The
thick
blackness
was
broken
by
one
patch
of
lurid
light
.
"
My
lady
,
my
lady
!
"
cried
Phoebe
,
pointing
to
this
lurid
patch
;
"
do
you
see
?
"
"
Yes
,
child
,
I
see
,
"
answered
Lady
Audley
,
trying
to
shake
the
clinging
hands
from
her
garments
.
"
What
's
the
matter
?
"
"
It
's
a
fire
—
a
fire
,
my
lady
!
"
"
Yes
,
I
am
afraid
it
is
a
fire
.
At
Brentwood
,
most
likely
.
Let
me
go
,
Phoebe
;
it
's
nothing
to
us
.
"
"
Yes
,
yes
,
my
lady
;
it
's
nearer
than
Brentwood
—
much
nearer
;
it
's
at
Mount
Stanning
.
"
Lady
Audley
did
not
answer
.
She
was
trembling
again
,
with
the
cold
perhaps
,
for
the
wind
had
torn
her
heavy
cloak
from
her
shoulders
,
and
had
left
her
slender
figure
exposed
to
the
blast
.
"
It
's
at
Mount
Stanning
,
my
lady
!
"
cried
Phoebe
Marks
.
"
It
's
the
Castle
that
's
on
fire
—
I
know
it
is
,
I
know
it
is
!
I
thought
of
fire
to-night
,
and
I
was
fidgety
and
uneasy
,
for
I
knew
this
would
happen
some
day
.
I
would
n't
mind
if
it
was
only
the
wretched
place
,
but
there
'll
be
life
lost
,
there
'll
be
life
lost
!
"
sobbed
the
girl
,
distractedly
.
"
There
's
Luke
,
too
tipsy
to
help
himself
,
unless
others
help
him
;
there
's
Mr.
Audley
asleep
—
"
Phoebe
Marks
stopped
suddenly
at
the
mention
of
Robert
's
name
,
and
fell
upon
her
knees
,
clasping
her
uplifted
hands
,
and
appealing
wildly
to
Lady
Audley
.
"
Oh
,
my
God
!
"
she
cried
.
"
Say
it
's
not
true
,
my
lady
,
say
it
's
not
true
!
It
's
too
horrible
,
it
's
too
horrible
,
it
's
too
horrible
!
"
"
What
's
too
horrible
?
"
"
The
thought
that
's
in
my
mind
;
the
terrible
thought
that
's
in
my
mind
.
"
"
What
do
you
mean
,
girl
?
"
cried
my
lady
,
fiercely
.
"
Oh
,
God
forgive
me
if
I
'm
wrong
!
"
the
kneeling
woman
gasped
in
detached
sentences
,
"
and
God
grant
I
may
be
.
Why
did
you
go
up
to
the
Castle
,
my
lady
?
Why
were
you
so
set
on
going
against
all
I
could
say
—
you
who
are
so
bitter
against
Mr.
Audley
and
against
Luke
,
and
who
knew
they
were
both
under
that
roof
?
Oh
,
tell
me
that
I
do
you
a
cruel
wrong
,
my
lady
;
tell
me
so
—
tell
me
!
for
as
there
is
a
Heaven
above
me
I
think
that
you
went
to
that
place
to-night
on
purpose
to
set
fire
to
it
.
Tell
me
that
I
'm
wrong
,
my
lady
;
tell
me
that
I
'm
doing
you
a
wicked
wrong
.
"
"
I
will
tell
you
nothing
,
except
that
you
are
a
mad
woman
,
"
answered
Lady
Audley
;
in
a
cold
,
hard
voice
.
"
Get
up
;
fool
,
idiot
,
coward
!
Is
your
husband
such
a
precious
bargain
that
you
should
be
groveling
there
,
lamenting
and
groaning
for
him
?
What
is
Robert
Audley
to
you
,
that
you
behave
like
a
maniac
,
because
you
think
he
is
in
danger
?
How
do
you
know
the
fire
is
at
Mount
Stanning
?
You
see
a
red
patch
in
the
sky
,
and
you
cry
out
directly
that
your
own
paltry
hovel
is
in
flames
,
as
if
there
were
no
place
in
the
world
that
could
burn
except
that
.
The
fire
may
be
at
Brentwood
,
or
further
away
—
at
Romford
,
or
still
further
away
,
on
the
eastern
side
of
London
,
perhaps
.
Get
up
,
mad
woman
,
and
go
back
and
look
after
your
goods
and
chattels
,
and
your
husband
and
your
lodger
.
Get
up
and
go
:
I
do
n't
want
you
.
"
"
Oh
!
my
lady
,
my
lady
,
forgive
me
,
"
sobbed
Phoebe
;
"
there
's
nothing
you
can
say
to
me
that
's
hard
enough
for
having
done
you
such
a
wrong
,
even
in
my
thoughts
.
I
do
n't
mind
your
cruel
words
—
I
do
n't
mind
anything
if
I
'm
wrong
.
"
"
Go
back
and
see
for
yourself
,
"
answered
Lady
Audley
,
sternly
.
"
I
tell
you
again
,
I
do
n't
want
you
.
"
She
walked
away
in
the
darkness
,
leaving
Phoebe
Marks
still
kneeling
upon
the
hard
road
,
where
she
had
cast
herself
in
that
agony
of
supplication
.
Sir
Michael
's
wife
walked
toward
the
house
in
which
her
husband
slept
with
the
red
blaze
lighting
up
the
skies
behind
her
,
and
with
nothing
but
the
blackness
of
the
night
before
.
CHAPTER
XXXIII
.
THE
BEARER
OF
THE
TIDINGS
.
It
was
very
late
the
next
morning
when
Lady
Audley
emerged
from
her
dressing-room
,
exquisitely
dressed
in
a
morning
costume
of
delicate
muslin
,
delicate
laces
,
and
embroideries
;
but
with
a
very
pale
face
,
and
with
half-circles
of
purple
shadow
under
her
eyes
.
She
accounted
for
this
pale
face
and
these
hollow
eyes
by
declaring
that
she
had
sat
up
reading
until
a
very
late
hour
on
the
previous
night
.
Sir
Michael
and
his
young
wife
breakfasted
in
the
library
at
a
comfortable
round
table
,
wheeled
close
to
the
blazing
fire
;
and
Alicia
was
compelled
to
share
this
meal
with
her
step-mother
,
however
she
might
avoid
that
lady
in
the
long
interval
between
breakfast
and
dinner
.
The
March
morning
was
bleak
and
dull
,
and
a
drizzling
rain
fell
incessantly
,
obscuring
the
landscape
and
blotting
out
the
distance
.
There
were
very
few
letters
by
the
morning
post
;
the
daily
newspapers
did
not
arrive
until
noon
;
and
such
aids
to
conversation
being
missing
,
there
was
very
little
talk
at
the
breakfast
table
.
Alicia
looked
out
at
the
drizzling
rain
drifting
against
the
broad
window-panes
.
"
No
riding
to-day
,
"
she
said
;
"
and
no
chance
of
any
callers
to
enliven
us
,
unless
that
ridiculous
Bob
comes
crawling
through
the
wet
from
Mount
Stanning
.
"
Have
you
ever
heard
anybody
,
whom
you
knew
to
be
dead
,
alluded
to
in
a
light
,
easy
going
manner
by
another
person
who
did
not
know
of
his
death
—
alluded
to
as
doing
that
or
this
,
as
performing
some
trivial
everyday
operation
—
when
you
know
that
he
has
vanished
away
from
the
face
of
this
earth
,
and
separated
himself
forever
from
all
living
creatures
and
their
commonplace
pursuits
in
the
awful
solemnity
of
death
?
Such
a
chance
allusion
,
insignificant
though
it
may
be
,
is
apt
to
send
a
strange
thrill
of
pain
through
the
mind
.
The
ignorant
remark
jars
discordantly
upon
the
hyper-sensitive
brain
;
the
King
of
Terrors
is
desecrated
by
that
unwitting
disrespect
.
Heaven
knows
what
hidden
reason
my
lady
may
have
had
for
experiencing
some
such
revulsion
of
feeling
on
the
sudden
mention
of
Mr.
Audley
's
name
,
but
her
pale
face
blanched
to
a
sickly
white
as
Alicia
Audley
spoke
of
her
cousin
.
"
Yes
,
he
will
come
down
here
in
the
wet
,
perhaps
,
"
the
young
lady
continued
,
"
with
his
hat
sleek
and
shining
as
if
it
had
been
brushed
with
a
pat
of
fresh
butter
,
and
with
white
vapors
steaming
out
of
his
clothes
,
and
making
him
look
like
an
awkward
genie
just
let
out
of
his
bottle
.
He
will
come
down
here
and
print
impressions
of
his
muddy
boots
all
over
the
carpet
,
and
he
'll
sit
on
your
Gobelin
tapestry
,
my
lady
,
in
his
wet
overcoat
;
and
he
'll
abuse
you
if
you
remonstrate
,
and
will
ask
why
people
have
chairs
that
are
not
to
be
sat
upon
,
and
why
you
do
n't
live
in
Figtree
Court
,
and
—
"
Sir
Michael
Audley
watched
his
daughter
with
a
thoughtful
countenance
as
she
talked
of
her
cousin
.
She
very
often
talked
of
him
,
ridiculing
him
and
inveighing
against
him
in
no
very
measured
terms
.
But
perhaps
the
baronet
thought
of
a
certain
Signora
Beatrice
who
very
cruelly
entreated
a
gentleman
called
Benedick
,
but
who
was
,
it
may
be
,
heartily
in
love
with
him
at
the
same
time
.
"
What
do
you
think
Major
Melville
told
me
when
he
called
here
yesterday
,
Alicia
?
"
Sir
Michael
asked
,
presently
.
"
I
have
n't
the
remotest
idea
,
"
replied
Alicia
,
rather
disdainfully
.
"
Perhaps
he
told
you
that
we
should
have
another
war
before
long
,
by
Ged
,
sir
;
or
perhaps
he
told
you
that
we
should
have
a
new
ministry
,
by
Ged
,
sir
,
for
that
those
fellows
are
getting
themselves
into
a
mess
,
sir
;
or
that
those
other
fellows
were
reforming
this
,
and
cutting
down
that
,
and
altering
the
other
in
the
army
,
until
,
by
Ged
,
sir
,
we
shall
have
no
army
at
all
,
by-and-by
—
nothing
but
a
pack
of
boys
,
sir
,
crammed
up
to
the
eyes
with
a
lot
of
senseless
schoolmasters
'
rubbish
,
and
dressed
in
shell-jackets
and
calico
helmets
.
Yes
,
sir
,
they
're
fighting
in
Oudh
in
calico
helmets
at
this
very
day
,
sir
.
"
"
You
're
an
impertinent
minx
,
miss
,
"
answered
the
baronet
.
"
Major
Melville
told
me
nothing
of
the
kind
;
but
he
told
me
that
a
very
devoted
admirer
of
you
,
a
certain
Sir
Harry
Towers
,
has
forsaken
his
place
in
Hertfordshire
,
and
his
hunting
stable
,
and
has
gone
on
the
continent
for
a
twelvemonths
'
tour
.
"
Miss
Audley
flushed
up
suddenly
at
the
mention
of
her
old
adorer
,
but
recovered
herself
very
quickly
.
"
He
has
gone
on
the
continent
,
has
he
?
"
she
said
indifferently
.
"
He
told
me
that
he
meant
to
do
so
—
if
—
if
he
did
n't
have
everything
his
own
way
.
Poor
fellow
!
he
's
a
dear
,
good-hearted
,
stupid
creature
,
and
twenty
times
better
than
that
peripatetic
,
patent
refrigerator
,
Mr.
Robert
Audley
.
"
"
I
wish
,
Alicia
,
you
were
not
so
fond
of
ridiculing
Bob
,
"
Sir
Michael
said
,
gravely
.
"
Bob
is
a
good
fellow
,
and
I
'm
as
fond
of
him
as
if
he
'd
been
my
own
son
;
and
—
and
—
I
've
been
very
uncomfortable
about
him
lately
.
He
has
changed
very
much
within
the
last
few
days
,
and
he
has
taken
all
sorts
of
absurd
ideas
into
his
head
,
and
my
lady
has
alarmed
me
about
him
.
She
thinks
—
"
Lady
Audley
interrupted
her
husband
with
a
grave
shake
of
her
head
.
"
It
is
better
not
to
say
too
much
about
it
as
yet
awhile
,
"
she
said
;
"
Alicia
knows
what
I
think
.
"
"
Yes
,
"
replied
Miss
Audley
,
"
my
lady
thinks
that
Bob
is
going
mad
,
but
I
know
better
than
that
.
He
's
not
at
all
the
sort
of
person
to
go
mad
.
How
should
such
a
sluggish
ditch-pond
of
an
intellect
as
his
ever
work
itself
into
a
tempest
?
He
may
move
about
for
the
rest
of
his
life
,
perhaps
,
in
a
tranquil
state
of
semi-idiotcy
,
imperfectly
comprehending
who
he
is
,
and
where
he
's
going
,
and
what
he
's
doing
—
but
he
'll
never
go
mad
.
"
Sir
Michael
did
not
reply
to
this
.
He
had
been
very
much
disturbed
by
his
conversation
with
my
lady
on
the
previous
evening
,
and
had
silently
debated
the
painful
question
,
in
his
mind
ever
since
.
His
wife
—
the
woman
he
best
loved
and
most
believed
in
—
had
told
him
,
with
all
appearance
of
regret
and
agitation
,
her
conviction
of
his
nephew
's
insanity
.
He
tried
in
vain
to
arrive
at
the
conclusion
he
wished
most
ardently
to
attain
;
he
tried
in
vain
to
think
that
my
lady
was
misled
by
her
own
fancies
,
and
had
no
foundation
for
what
she
said
.
But
then
,
again
,
it
suddenly
flashed
upon
him
,
that
to
think
this
was
to
arrive
at
a
worse
conclusion
;
it
was
to
transfer
the
horrible
suspicion
from
his
nephew
to
his
wife
.
She
appeared
to
be
possessed
with
an
actual
conviction
of
Robert
's
insanity
.
To
imagine
her
wrong
was
to
imagine
some
weakness
in
her
own
mind
.
The
longer
he
thought
of
the
subject
the
more
it
harassed
and
perplexed
him
.
It
was
most
certain
that
the
young
man
had
always
been
eccentric
.
He
was
sensible
,
he
was
tolerably
clever
,
he
was
honorable
and
gentlemanlike
in
feeling
,
though
perhaps
a
little
careless
in
the
performance
of
certain
minor
social
duties
;
but
there
were
some
slight
differences
,
not
easily
to
be
defined
,
that
separated
him
from
other
men
of
his
age
and
position
.
Then
,
again
,
it
was
equally
true
that
he
had
very
much
changed
within
the
period
that
had
succeeded
the
disappearance
of
George
Talboys
.
He
had
grown
moody
and
thoughtful
,
melancholy
and
absent-minded
.
He
had
held
himself
aloof
from
society
,
had
sat
for
hours
without
speaking
;
had
talked
at
other
points
by
fits
and
starts
;
and
had
excited
himself
unusually
in
the
discussion
of
subjects
which
apparently
lay
far
out
of
the
region
of
his
own
life
and
interests
.
Then
there
was
even
another
region
which
seemed
to
strengthen
my
lady
's
case
against
this
unhappy
young
man
.
He
had
been
brought
up
in
the
frequent
society
of
his
cousin
,
Alicia
—
his
pretty
,
genial
cousin
—
to
whom
interest
,
and
one
would
have
thought
affection
,
naturally
pointed
as
his
most
fitting
bride
.
More
than
this
,
the
girl
had
shown
him
,
in
the
innocent
guilelessness
of
a
transparent
nature
,
that
on
her
side
at
least
,
affection
was
not
wanting
;
and
yet
,
in
spite
of
all
this
,
he
had
held
himself
aloof
,
and
had
allowed
others
to
propose
for
her
hand
,
and
to
be
rejected
by
her
,
and
had
still
made
no
sign
.
Now
love
is
so
very
subtle
an
essence
,
such
an
indefinable
metaphysical
marvel
,
that
its
due
force
,
though
very
cruelly
felt
by
the
sufferer
himself
,
is
never
clearly
understood
by
those
who
look
on
at
its
torments
and
wonder
why
he
takes
the
common
fever
so
badly
.
Sir
Michael
argued
that
because
Alicia
was
a
pretty
girl
and
an
amiable
girl
it
was
therefore
extraordinary
and
unnatural
in
Robert
Audley
not
to
have
duly
fallen
in
love
with
her
.
This
baronet
,
who
close
upon
his
sixtieth
birthday
,
had
for
the
first
time
encountered
that
one
woman
who
out
of
all
the
women
in
the
world
had
power
to
quicken
the
pulses
of
his
heart
,
wondered
why
Robert
failed
to
take
the
fever
from
the
first
breath
of
contagion
that
blew
toward
him
.
He
forgot
that
there
are
men
who
go
their
ways
unscathed
amidst
legions
of
lovely
and
generous
women
,
to
succumb
at
last
before
some
harsh-featured
virago
,
who
knows
the
secret
of
that
only
philter
which
can
intoxicate
and
bewitch
him
.
He
had
forgot
that
there
are
certain
Jacks
who
go
through
life
without
meeting
the
Jill
appointed
for
them
by
Nemesis
,
and
die
old
bachelors
,
perhaps
,
with
poor
Jill
pining
an
old
maid
upon
the
other
side
of
the
party-wall
.
He
forgot
that
love
,
which
is
a
madness
,
and
a
scourge
,
and
a
fever
,
and
a
delusion
,
and
a
snare
,
is
also
a
mystery
,
and
very
imperfectly
understood
by
everyone
except
the
individual
sufferer
who
writhes
under
its
tortures
.
Jones
,
who
is
wildly
enamored
of
Miss
Brown
,
and
who
lies
awake
at
night
until
he
loathes
his
comfortable
pillow
and
tumbles
his
sheets
into
two
twisted
rags
of
linen
in
his
agonies
,
as
if
he
were
a
prisoner
and
wanted
to
wind
them
into
impromptu
ropes
;
this
same
Jones
who
thinks
Russell
Square
a
magic
place
because
his
divinity
inhabits
it
,
who
thinks
the
trees
in
that
inclosure
and
the
sky
above
it
greener
and
bluer
than
other
trees
or
sky
,
and
who
feels
a
pang
,
yes
,
an
actual
pang
,
of
mingled
hope
,
and
joy
,
and
expectation
,
and
terror
,
when
he
emerges
from
Guilford
street
,
descending
from
the
hights
of
Islington
,
into
those
sacred
precincts
;
this
very
Jones
is
hard
and
callous
toward
the
torments
of
Smith
,
who
adores
Miss
Robinson
,
and
cannot
imagine
what
the
infatuated
fellow
can
see
in
the
girl
.
So
it
was
with
Sir
Michael
Audley
.
He
looked
at
his
nephew
as
a
sample
of
a
very
large
class
of
young
men
,
and
his
daughter
as
a
sample
of
an
equally
extensive
class
of
feminine
goods
,
and
could
not
see
why
the
two
samples
should
not
make
a
very
respectable
match
.
He
ignored
all
those
infinitesimal
differences
in
nature
which
make
the
wholesome
food
of
one
man
the
deadly
poison
of
another
.
How
difficult
it
is
to
believe
sometimes
that
a
man
does
n't
like
such
and
such
a
favorite
dish
.
If
at
a
dinner-party
,
a
meek
looking
guest
refuses
early
salmon
and
cucumbers
,
or
green
peas
in
February
,
we
set
him
down
as
a
poor
relation
whose
instincts
warn
him
off
those
expensive
plates
.
If
an
alderman
were
to
declare
that
he
did
n't
like
green
fat
,
he
would
be
looked
upon
as
a
social
martyr
,
a
Marcus
Curtius
of
the
dinner-table
,
who
immolated
himself
for
the
benefit
of
his
kind
.
His
fellow-aldermen
would
believe
in
anything
rather
than
an
heretical
distaste
for
the
city
ambrosia
of
the
soup
tureen
.
But
there
are
people
who
dislike
salmon
,
and
white-bait
,
and
spring
ducklings
,
and
all
manner
of
old-established
delicacies
,
and
there
are
other
people
who
affect
eccentric
and
despicable
dishes
,
generally
stigmatized
as
nasty
.
Alas
,
my
pretty
Alicia
,
your
cousin
did
not
love
you
!
He
admired
your
rosy
English
face
,
and
had
a
tender
affection
for
you
which
might
perhaps
have
expanded
by-and-by
into
something
warm
enough
for
matrimony
,
that
every-day
jog-trot
species
of
union
which
demands
no
very
passionate
devotion
,
but
for
a
sudden
check
which
it
had
received
in
Dorsetshire
.
Yes
,
Robert
Audley
's
growing
affection
for
his
cousin
,
a
plant
of
very
slow
growth
,
I
am
fain
to
confess
,
had
been
suddenly
dwarfed
and
stunted
upon
that
bitter
February
day
on
which
he
had
stood
beneath
the
pine-trees
talking
to
Clara
Talboys
.
Since
that
day
the
young
man
had
experienced
an
unpleasant
sensation
in
thinking
of
poor
Alicia
.
He
looked
at
her
as
being
in
some
vague
manner
an
incumbrance
upon
the
freedom
of
his
thoughts
;
he
had
a
haunting
fear
that
he
was
in
some
tacit
way
pledged
to
her
;
that
she
had
a
species
of
claim
upon
him
,
which
forbade
to
him
the
right
of
thinking
of
another
woman
.
I
believe
it
was
the
image
of
Miss
Audley
presented
to
him
in
this
light
that
goaded
the
young
barrister
into
those
outbursts
of
splenetic
rage
against
the
female
sex
which
he
was
liable
to
at
certain
times
.
He
was
strictly
honorable
,
so
honorable
that
he
would
rather
have
immolated
himself
upon
the
altar
of
truth
and
Alicia
than
have
done
her
the
remotest
wrong
,
though
by
so
doing
he
might
have
secured
his
own
comfort
and
happiness
.
"
If
the
poor
little
girl
loves
me
,
"
he
thought
,
"
and
if
she
thinks
that
I
love
her
,
and
has
been
led
to
think
so
by
any
word
or
act
of
mine
,
I
'm
in
duty
bound
to
let
her
think
so
to
the
end
of
time
,
and
to
fulfill
any
tacit
promise
which
I
may
have
unconsciously
made
.
I
thought
once
—
I
meant
once
to
—
to
make
her
an
offer
by-and-by
when
this
horrible
mystery
about
George
Talboys
should
have
been
cleared
up
and
everything
peacefully
settled
—
but
now
—
"
His
thoughts
would
ordinarily
wander
away
at
this
point
of
his
reflections
,
carrying
him
where
he
never
had
intended
to
go
;
carrying
him
back
under
the
pine-trees
in
Dorsetshire
,
and
setting
him
once
more
face
to
face
with
the
sister
of
his
missing
friend
,
and
it
was
generally
a
very
laborious
journey
by
which
he
traveled
back
to
the
point
from
which
he
strayed
.
It
was
so
difficult
for
him
to
tear
himself
away
from
the
stunted
turf
and
the
pine-trees
.
"
Poor
little
girl
!
"
he
would
think
on
coming
back
to
Alicia
.
"
How
good
it
is
of
her
to
love
me
,
and
how
grateful
ought
I
to
be
for
her
tenderness
.
How
many
fellows
would
think
such
a
generous
,
loving
heart
the
highest
boon
that
earth
could
give
them
.
There
's
Sir
Harry
Towers
stricken
with
despair
at
his
rejection
.
He
would
give
me
half
his
estate
,
all
his
estate
,
twice
his
estate
,
if
he
had
it
,
to
be
in
the
shoes
which
I
am
anxious
to
shake
off
my
ungrateful
feet
.
Why
do
n't
I
love
her
?
Why
is
it
that
although
I
know
her
to
be
pretty
,
and
pure
,
and
good
,
and
truthful
,
I
do
n't
love
her
?
Her
image
never
haunts
me
,
except
reproachfully
.
I
never
see
her
in
my
dreams
.
I
never
wake
up
suddenly
in
the
dead
of
the
night
with
her
eyes
shining
upon
me
and
her
warm
breath
upon
my
cheek
,
or
with
the
fingers
of
her
soft
hand
clinging
to
mine
.
No
,
I
'm
not
in
love
with
her
,
I
ca
n't
fall
in
love
with
her
.
"
He
raged
and
rebelled
against
his
ingratitude
.
He
tried
to
argue
himself
into
a
passionate
attachment
for
his
cousin
,
but
he
failed
ignominiously
,
and
the
more
he
tried
to
think
of
Alicia
the
more
he
thought
of
Clara
Talboys
.
I
am
speaking
now
of
his
feelings
in
the
period
that
elapsed
between
his
return
from
Dorsetshire
and
his
visit
to
Grange
Heath
.
Sir
Michael
sat
by
the
library
fire
after
breakfast
upon
this
wretched
rainy
morning
,
writing
letters
and
reading
the
newspapers
.
Alicia
shut
herself
in
her
own
apartment
to
read
the
third
volume
of
a
novel
.
Lady
Audley
locked
the
door
of
the
octagon
ante-chamber
,
and
roamed
up
and
down
the
suite
of
rooms
from
the
bedroom
to
the
boudoir
all
through
that
weary
morning
.
She
had
locked
the
door
to
guard
against
the
chance
of
any
one
coming
in
suddenly
and
observing
her
before
she
was
aware
—
before
she
had
had
sufficient
warning
to
enable
her
to
face
their
scrutiny
.
Her
pale
face
seemed
to
grow
paler
as
the
morning
advanced
.
A
tiny
medicine-chest
was
open
upon
the
dressing-table
,
and
little
stoppered
bottles
of
red
lavender
,
sal-volatile
,
chloroform
,
chlorodyne
,
and
ether
were
scattered
about
.
Once
my
lady
paused
before
this
medicine-chest
,
and
took
out
the
remaining
bottles
,
half-absently
,
perhaps
,
until
she
came
to
one
which
was
filled
with
a
thick
,
dark
liquid
,
and
labeled
"
opium
—
poison
.
"
She
trifled
a
long
time
with
this
last
bottle
;
holding
it
up
to
the
light
,
and
even
removing
the
stopper
and
smelling
the
sickly
liquid
.
But
she
put
it
from
her
suddenly
with
a
shudder
.
"
If
I
could
!
"
she
muttered
,
"
if
I
could
only
do
it
!
And
yet
why
should
I
now
?
"
She
clinched
her
small
hands
as
she
uttered
the
last
words
,
and
walked
to
the
window
of
the
dressing-room
,
which
looked
straight
toward
that
ivied
archway
under
which
any
one
must
come
who
came
from
Mount
Stanning
to
the
Court
.
There
were
smaller
gates
in
the
gardens
which
led
into
the
meadows
behind
the
Court
,
but
there
was
no
other
way
of
coming
from
Mount
Stanning
or
Brentwood
than
by
the
principal
entrance
.
The
solitary
hand
of
the
clock
over
the
archway
was
midway
between
one
and
two
when
my
lady
looked
at
it
.
"
How
slow
the
time
is
,
"
she
said
,
wearily
;
"
how
slow
,
how
slow
!
Shall
I
grow
old
like
this
,
I
wonder
,
with
every
minute
of
my
life
seeming
like
an
hour
?
"
She
stood
for
a
few
minutes
watching
the
archway
,
but
no
one
passed
under
it
while
she
looked
,
and
she
turned
impatiently
away
from
the
window
to
resume
her
weary
wandering
about
the
rooms
.
Whatever
fire
that
had
been
which
had
reflected
itself
vividly
in
the
black
sky
,
no
tidings
of
it
had
as
yet
come
to
Audley
Court
.
The
day
was
miserably
wet
and
windy
,
altogether
the
very
last
day
upon
which
even
the
most
confirmed
idler
and
gossip
would
care
to
venture
out
.
It
was
not
a
market-day
,
and
there
were
therefore
very
few
passengers
upon
the
road
between
Brentwood
and
Chelmsford
,
so
that
as
yet
no
news
of
the
fire
,
which
had
occurred
in
the
dead
of
the
wintry
night
,
had
reached
the
village
of
Audley
,
or
traveled
from
the
village
to
the
Court
.
The
girl
with
the
rose-colored
ribbons
came
to
the
door
of
the
anteroom
to
summon
her
mistress
to
luncheon
,
but
Lady
Audley
only
opened
the
door
a
little
way
,
and
intimated
her
intention
of
taking
no
luncheon
.
"
My
head
aches
terribly
,
Martin
,
"
she
said
;
"
I
shall
go
and
lie
down
till
dinner-time
.
You
may
come
at
five
to
dress
me
.
"
Lady
Audley
said
this
with
the
predetermination
of
dressing
at
four
,
and
thus
dispensing
with
the
services
of
her
attendant
.
Among
all
privileged
spies
,
a
lady's-maid
has
the
highest
privileges
;
it
is
she
who
bathes
Lady
Theresa
's
eyes
with
eau-de-cologne
after
her
ladyship
's
quarrel
with
the
colonel
;
it
is
she
who
administers
sal-volatile
to
Miss
Fanny
when
Count
Beaudesert
,
of
the
Blues
,
has
jilted
her
.
She
has
a
hundred
methods
for
the
finding
out
of
her
mistress
'
secrets
.
She
knows
by
the
manner
in
which
her
victim
jerks
her
head
from
under
the
hair-brush
,
or
chafes
at
the
gentlest
administration
of
the
comb
,
what
hidden
tortures
are
racking
her
breast
—
what
secret
perplexities
are
bewildering
her
brain
.
That
well-bred
attendant
knows
how
to
interpret
the
most
obscure
diagnosis
of
all
mental
diseases
that
can
afflict
her
mistress
;
she
knows
when
the
ivory
complexion
is
bought
and
paid
for
—
when
the
pearly
teeth
are
foreign
substances
fashioned
by
the
dentist
—
when
the
glossy
plaits
are
the
relics
of
the
dead
,
rather
than
the
property
of
the
living
;
and
she
knows
other
and
more
sacred
secrets
than
these
;
she
knows
when
the
sweet
smile
is
more
false
than
Madame
Levison
's
enamel
,
and
far
less
enduring
—
when
the
words
that
issue
from
between
gates
of
borrowed
pearl
are
more
disguised
and
painted
than
the
lips
which
help
to
shape
them
—
when
the
lovely
fairy
of
the
ball-room
re-enters
the
dressing-room
after
the
night
's
long
revelry
,
and
throws
aside
her
voluminous
burnous
and
her
faded
bouquet
,
and
drops
her
mask
,
and
like
another
Cinderella
loses
the
glass-slipper
,
by
whose
glitter
she
has
been
distinguished
,
and
falls
back
into
her
rags
and
dirt
,
the
lady
's
maid
is
by
to
see
the
transformation
.
The
valet
who
took
wages
from
the
prophet
of
Korazin
must
have
seen
his
master
sometimes
unveiled
,
and
must
have
laughed
in
his
sleeve
at
the
folly
of
the
monster
's
worshipers
.
Lady
Audley
had
made
no
confidante
of
her
new
maid
,
and
on
this
day
of
all
others
she
wished
to
be
alone
.
She
did
lie
down
;
she
cast
herself
wearily
upon
the
luxurious
sofa
in
the
dressing-room
,
and
buried
her
face
in
the
down
pillows
and
tried
to
sleep
.
Sleep
!
—
she
had
almost
forgotten
what
it
was
,
that
tender
restorer
of
tired
nature
,
it
seemed
so
long
now
since
she
had
slept
.
It
was
only
about
eight-and-forty
hours
perhaps
,
but
it
appeared
an
intolerable
time
.
Her
fatigue
of
the
night
before
,
and
her
unnatural
excitement
,
had
worn
her
out
at
last
.
She
did
fall
asleep
;
she
fell
into
a
heavy
slumber
that
was
almost
like
stupor
.
She
had
taken
a
few
drops
out
of
the
opium
bottle
in
a
glass
of
water
before
lying
down
.
The
clock
over
the
mantelpiece
chimed
the
quarter
before
four
as
she
woke
suddenly
and
started
up
,
with
the
cold
perspiration
breaking
out
in
icy
drops
upon
her
forehead
.
She
had
dreamt
that
every
member
of
the
household
was
clamoring
at
the
door
,
eager
to
tell
her
of
a
dreadful
fire
that
had
happened
in
the
night
.
There
was
no
sound
but
the
flapping
of
the
ivy-leaves
against
the
glass
,
the
occasional
falling
of
a
cinder
,
and
the
steady
ticking
of
the
clock
.
"
Perhaps
I
shall
be
always
dreaming
these
sort
of
dreams
,
"
my
lady
thought
,
"
until
the
terror
of
them
kills
me
!
"
The
rain
had
ceased
,
and
the
cold
spring
sunshine
was
glittering
upon
the
windows
.
Lady
Audley
dressed
herself
rapidly
but
carefully
.
I
do
not
say
that
even
in
her
supremest
hour
of
misery
she
still
retained
her
pride
in
her
beauty
.
It
was
not
so
;
she
looked
upon
that
beauty
as
a
weapon
,
and
she
felt
that
she
had
now
double
need
to
be
well
armed
.
She
dressed
herself
in
her
most
gorgeous
silk
,
a
voluminous
robe
of
silvery
,
shimmering
blue
,
that
made
her
look
as
if
she
had
been
arrayed
in
moonbeams
.
She
shook
out
her
hair
into
feathery
showers
of
glittering
gold
,
and
,
with
a
cloak
of
white
cashmere
about
her
shoulders
,
went
down-stairs
into
the
vestibule
.
She
opened
the
door
of
the
library
and
looked
in
.
Sir
Michael
Audley
was
asleep
in
his
easy-chair
.
As
my
lady
softly
closed
this
door
Alicia
descended
the
stairs
from
her
own
room
.
The
turret
door
was
open
,
and
the
sun
was
shining
upon
the
wet
grass-plat
in
the
quadrangle
.
The
firm
gravel-walks
were
already
very
nearly
dry
,
for
the
rain
had
ceased
for
upward
of
two
hours
.
"
Will
you
take
a
walk
with
me
in
the
quadrangle
?
"
Lady
Audley
asked
as
her
step-daughter
approached
.
The
armed
neutrality
between
the
two
women
admitted
of
any
chance
civility
such
as
this
.
"
Yes
,
if
you
please
,
my
lady
,
"
Alicia
answered
,
rather
listlessly
.
"
I
have
been
yawning
over
a
stupid
novel
all
the
morning
,
and
shall
be
very
glad
of
a
little
fresh
air
.
"
Heaven
help
the
novelist
whose
fiction
Miss
Audley
had
been
perusing
,
if
he
had
no
better
critics
than
that
young
lady
.
She
had
read
page
after
page
without
knowing
what
she
had
been
reading
,
and
had
flung
aside
the
volume
half
a
dozen
times
to
go
to
the
window
and
watch
for
that
visitor
whom
she
had
so
confidently
expected
.
Lady
Audley
led
the
way
through
the
low
doorway
and
on
to
the
smooth
gravel
drive
,
by
which
carriages
approached
the
house
.
She
was
still
very
pale
,
but
the
brightness
of
her
dress
and
of
her
feathery
golden
ringlets
,
distracted
an
observer
's
eyes
from
her
pallid
face
.
All
mental
distress
is
,
with
some
show
of
reason
,
associated
in
our
minds
with
loose
,
disordered
garments
and
dishabilled
hair
,
and
an
appearance
in
every
way
the
reverse
of
my
lady
's
.
Why
had
she
come
out
into
the
chill
sunshine
of
that
March
afternoon
to
wander
up
and
down
that
monotonous
pathway
with
the
step-daughter
she
hated
?
She
came
because
she
was
under
the
dominion
of
a
horrible
restlessness
,
which
,
would
not
suffer
her
to
remain
within
the
house
waiting
for
certain
tidings
which
she
knew
must
too
surely
come
.
At
first
she
had
wished
to
ward
them
off
—
at
first
she
had
wished
that
strange
convulsions
of
nature
might
arise
to
hinder
their
coming
—
that
abnormal
winter
lightnings
might
wither
and
destroy
the
messenger
who
carried
them
—
that
the
ground
might
tremble
and
yawn
beneath
his
hastening
feet
,
and
that
impassable
gulfs
might
separate
the
spot
from
which
the
tidings
were
to
come
and
the
place
to
which
they
were
to
be
carried
.
She
wished
that
the
earth
might
stand
still
,
and
the
paralyzed
elements
cease
from
their
natural
functions
,
that
the
progress
of
time
might
stop
,
that
the
Day
of
Judgment
might
come
,
and
that
she
might
thus
be
brought
before
an
unearthly
tribunal
,
and
so
escape
the
intervening
shame
and
misery
of
any
earthly
judgment
.
In
the
wild
chaos
of
her
brain
,
every
one
of
these
thoughts
had
held
its
place
,
and
in
her
short
slumber
on
the
sofa
in
her
dressing-room
she
had
dreamed
all
these
things
and
a
hundred
other
things
,
all
bearing
upon
the
same
subject
.
She
had
dreamed
that
a
brook
,
a
tiny
streamlet
when
she
first
saw
it
,
flowed
across
the
road
between
Mount
Stanning
and
Audley
,
and
gradually
swelled
into
a
river
,
and
from
a
river
became
an
ocean
,
till
the
village
on
the
hill
receded
far
away
out
of
sight
and
only
a
great
waste
of
waters
rolled
where
it
once
had
been
.
She
dreamt
that
she
saw
the
messenger
,
now
one
person
,
now
another
,
but
never
any
probable
person
,
hindered
by
a
hundred
hinderances
,
now
startling
and
terrible
,
now
ridiculous
and
trivial
,
but
never
either
natural
or
probable
;
and
going
down
into
the
quiet
house
with
the
memory
of
these
dreams
strong
upon
her
,
she
had
been
bewildered
by
the
stillness
which
had
betokened
that
the
tidings
had
not
yet
come
.
And
now
her
mind
underwent
a
complete
change
.
She
no
longer
wished
to
delay
the
dreaded
intelligence
.
She
wished
the
agony
,
whatever
it
was
to
be
,
over
and
done
with
,
the
pain
suffered
,
and
the
release
attained
.
It
seemed
to
her
as
if
the
intolerable
day
would
never
come
to
an
end
,
as
if
her
mad
wishes
had
been
granted
,
and
the
progress
of
time
had
actually
stopped
.
"
What
a
long
day
it
has
been
!
"
exclaimed
Alicia
,
as
if
taking
up
the
burden
of
my
lady
's
thoughts
;
"
nothing
but
drizzle
and
mist
and
wind
!
And
now
that
it
's
too
late
for
anybody
to
go
out
,
it
must
needs
be
fine
,
"
the
young
lady
added
,
with
an
evident
sense
of
injury
.
Lady
Audley
did
not
answer
.
She
was
looking
at
the
stupid
one-handed
clock
,
and
waiting
for
the
news
which
must
come
sooner
or
later
,
which
could
not
surely
fail
to
come
very
speedily
.
"
They
have
been
afraid
to
come
and
tell
him
,
"
she
thought
;
"
they
have
been
afraid
to
break
the
news
to
Sir
Michael
.
Who
will
come
to
tell
it
,
at
last
,
I
wonder
?
The
rector
of
Mount
Stanning
,
perhaps
,
or
the
doctor
;
some
important
person
at
least
.
"
If
she
could
have
gone
out
into
the
leafless
avenues
,
or
onto
the
high
road
beyond
them
;
if
she
could
have
gone
so
far
as
that
hill
upon
which
she
had
so
lately
parted
with
Phoebe
,
she
would
have
gladly
done
so
.
She
would
rather
have
suffered
anything
than
that
slow
suspense
,
that
corroding
anxiety
,
that
metaphysical
dryrot
in
which
heart
and
mind
seemed
to
decay
under
an
insufferable
torture
.
She
tried
to
talk
,
and
by
a
painful
effort
contrived
now
and
then
to
utter
some
commonplace
remark
.
Under
any
ordinary
circumstances
her
companion
would
have
noticed
her
embarrassment
,
but
Miss
Audley
,
happening
to
be
very
much
absorbed
by
her
own
vexations
,
was
quite
as
well
inclined
to
be
silent
as
my
lady
herself
.
The
monotonous
walk
up
and
down
the
graveled
pathway
suited
Alicia
's
humor
.
I
think
that
she
even
took
a
malicious
pleasure
in
the
idea
that
she
was
very
likely
catching
cold
,
and
that
her
Cousin
Robert
was
answerable
for
her
danger
.
If
she
could
have
brought
upon
herself
inflammation
of
the
lungs
,
or
ruptured
blood-vessels
,
by
that
exposure
to
the
chill
March
atmosphere
,
I
think
she
would
have
felt
a
gloomy
satisfaction
in
her
sufferings
.
"
Perhaps
Robert
might
care
for
me
,
if
I
had
inflammation
of
the
lungs
,
"
she
thought
.
"
He
could
n't
insult
me
by
calling
me
a
bouncer
then
.
Bouncers
do
n't
have
inflammation
of
the
lungs
.
"
I
believe
she
drew
a
picture
of
herself
in
the
last
stage
of
consumption
,
propped
up
by
pillows
in
a
great
easy-chair
,
looking
out
of
a
window
in
the
afternoon
sunshine
,
with
medicine
bottles
,
a
bunch
of
grapes
and
a
Bible
upon
a
table
by
her
side
,
and
with
Robert
,
all
contrition
and
tenderness
,
summoned
to
receive
her
farewell
blessing
.
She
preached
a
whole
chapter
to
him
in
that
parting
benediction
,
talking
a
great
deal
longer
than
was
in
keeping
with
her
prostrate
state
,
and
very
much
enjoying
her
dismal
castle
in
the
air
.
Employed
in
this
sentimental
manner
,
Miss
Audley
took
very
little
notice
of
her
step-mother
,
and
the
one
hand
of
the
blundering
clock
had
slipped
to
six
by
the
time
Robert
had
been
blessed
and
dismissed
.
"
Good
gracious
me
!
"
she
cried
,
suddenly
—
"
six
o'clock
,
and
I
'm
not
dressed
.
"
The
half-hour
bell
rung
in
a
cupola
upon
the
roof
while
Alicia
was
speaking
.
"
I
must
go
in
,
my
lady
,
"
she
said
.
"
Wo
n't
you
come
?
"
"
Presently
,
"
answered
Lady
Audley
.
"
I
'm
dressed
,
you
see
.
"
Alicia
ran
off
,
but
Sir
Michael
's
wife
still
lingered
in
the
quadrangle
,
still
waited
for
those
tidings
which
were
so
long
coming
.
It
was
nearly
dark
.
The
blue
mists
of
evening
had
slowly
risen
from
the
ground
.
The
flat
meadows
were
filled
with
a
gray
vapor
,
and
a
stranger
might
have
fancied
Audley
Court
a
castle
on
the
margin
of
a
sea
.
Under
the
archway
the
shadows
of
fastcoming
night
lurked
darkly
,
like
traitors
waiting
for
an
opportunity
to
glide
stealthily
into
the
quadrangle
.
Through
the
archway
a
patch
of
cold
blue
sky
glimmered
faintly
,
streaked
by
one
line
of
lurid
crimson
,
and
lighted
by
the
dim
glitter
of
one
wintry-looking
star
.
Not
a
creature
was
stirring
in
the
quadrangle
but
the
restless
woman
who
paced
up
and
down
the
straight
pathways
,
listening
for
a
footstep
whose
coming
was
to
strike
terror
to
her
soul
.
She
heard
it
at
last
!
—
a
footstep
in
the
avenue
upon
the
other
side
of
the
archway
.
But
was
it
the
footstep
?
Her
sense
of
hearing
,
made
unnaturally
acute
by
excitement
,
told
her
that
it
was
a
man
's
footstep
—
told
even
more
,
that
it
was
the
tread
of
a
gentleman
,
no
slouching
,
lumbering
pedestrian
in
hobnailed
boots
,
but
a
gentleman
who
walked
firmly
and
well
.
Every
sound
fell
like
a
lump
of
ice
upon
my
lady
's
heart
.
She
could
not
wait
,
she
could
not
contain
herself
,
she
lost
all
self-control
,
all
power
of
endurance
,
all
capability
of
self-restraint
,
and
she
rushed
toward
the
archway
.
She
paused
beneath
its
shadow
,
for
the
stranger
was
close
upon
her
.
She
saw
him
,
oh
,
God
!
she
saw
him
in
that
dim
evening
light
.
Her
brain
reeled
,
her
heart
stopped
beating
.
She
uttered
no
cry
of
surprise
,
no
exclamation
of
terror
,
but
staggered
backward
and
clung
for
support
to
the
ivied
buttress
of
the
archway
.
With
her
slender
figure
crouched
into
the
angle
formed
by
the
buttress
and
the
wall
which
it
supported
,
she
stood
staring
at
the
new-comer
.
As
he
approached
her
more
closely
her
knees
sunk
under
her
,
and
she
dropped
to
the
ground
,
not
fainting
,
or
in
any
manner
unconscious
,
but
sinking
into
a
crouching
attitude
,
and
still
crushed
into
the
angle
of
the
wall
,
as
if
she
would
have
made
a
tomb
for
herself
in
the
shadow
of
that
sheltering
brickwork
.
"
My
lady
!
"
The
speaker
was
Robert
Audley
.
He
whose
bedroom
door
she
had
double-locked
seventeen
hours
before
at
the
Castle
Inn
.
"
What
is
the
matter
with
you
?
"
he
said
,
in
a
strange
,
constrained
manner
.
"
Get
up
,
and
let
me
take
you
indoors
.
"
He
assisted
her
to
rise
,
and
she
obeyed
him
very
submissively
.
He
took
her
arm
in
his
strong
hand
and
led
her
across
the
quadrangle
and
into
the
lamp-lit
hall
.
She
shivered
more
violently
than
he
had
ever
seen
any
woman
shiver
before
,
but
she
made
no
attempt
at
resistance
to
his
will
.
CHAPTER
XXXIV
.
MY
LADY
TELLS
THE
TRUTH
.
"
Is
there
any
room
in
which
I
can
talk
to
you
alone
?
"
Robert
Audley
asked
,
as
he
looked
dubiously
round
the
hall
.
My
lady
only
bowed
her
head
in
answer
.
She
pushed
open
the
door
of
the
library
,
which
had
been
left
ajar
.
Sir
Michael
had
gone
to
his
dressing-room
to
prepare
for
dinner
after
a
day
of
lazy
enjoyment
,
perfectly
legitimate
for
an
invalid
.
The
apartment
was
quite
empty
,
only
lighted
by
the
blaze
of
the
fire
,
as
it
had
been
upon
the
previous
evening
.
Lady
Audley
entered
the
room
,
followed
by
Robert
,
who
closed
the
door
behind
him
.
The
wretched
,
shivering
woman
went
to
the
fireplace
and
knelt
down
before
the
blaze
,
as
if
any
natural
warmth
,
could
have
power
to
check
that
unnatural
chill
.
The
young
man
followed
her
,
and
stood
beside
her
upon
the
hearth
,
with
his
arm
resting
upon
the
chimney-piece
.
"
Lady
Audley
,
"
he
said
,
in
a
voice
whose
icy
sternness
held
out
no
hope
of
any
tenderness
or
compassion
,
"
I
spoke
to
you
last-night
very
plainly
,
but
you
refused
to
listen
to
me
.
To-night
I
must
speak
to
you
still
more
plainly
,
and
you
must
no
longer
refuse
to
listen
to
me
.
"
My
lady
,
crouching
before
the
fire
with
her
face
hidden
in
her
hands
,
uttered
a
low
,
sobbing
sound
which
was
almost
a
moan
,
but
made
no
other
answer
.
"
There
was
a
fire
last
night
at
Mount
Stanning
,
Lady
Audley
,
"
the
pitiless
voice
proceeded
;
"
the
Castle
Inn
,
the
house
in
which
I
slept
,
was
burned
to
the
ground
.
Do
you
know
how
I
escaped
perishing
in
that
destruction
?
"
"
No.
"
"
I
escaped
by
a
most
providential
circumstance
which
seems
a
very
simple
one
.
I
did
not
sleep
in
the
room
which
had
been
prepared
for
me
.
The
place
seemed
wretchedly
damp
and
chilly
,
the
chimney
smoked
abominably
when
an
attempt
was
made
at
lighting
a
fire
,
and
I
persuaded
the
servant
to
make
me
up
a
bed
on
the
sofa
in
the
small
ground-floor
sitting-room
which
I
had
occupied
during
the
evening
.
"
He
paused
for
a
moment
,
watching
the
crouching
figure
.
The
only
change
in
my
lady
's
attitude
was
that
her
head
had
fallen
a
little
lower
.
"
Shall
I
tell
you
by
whose
agency
the
destruction
of
the
Castle
Inn
was
brought
about
,
my
lady
?
"
There
was
no
answer
.
"
Shall
I
tell
you
?
"
Still
the
same
obstinate
silence
.
