cooledhe
felt
that
the
chief
result
of
the
discussion
was
a
deposit
of
dread
within
him
at
the
idea
of
opening
with
his
wife
in
future
subjects
which
might
again
urge
him
to
violent
speech
.
It
was
as
if
a
fracture
in
delicate
crystal
had
begun
,
and
he
was
afraid
of
any
movement
that
might
make
it
fatal
.
His
marriage
would
be
a
mere
piece
of
bitter
irony
if
they
could
not
go
on
loving
each
other
.
He
had
long
ago
made
up
his
mind
to
what
he
thought
was
her
negative
character
—
her
want
of
sensibility
,
which
showed
itself
in
disregard
both
of
his
specific
wishes
and
of
his
general
aims
.
The
first
great
disappointment
had
been
borne
:
the
tender
devotedness
and
docile
adoration
of
the
ideal
wife
must
be
renounced
,
and
life
must
be
taken
up
on
a
lower
stage
of
expectation
,
as
it
is
by
men
who
have
lost
their
limbs
.
But
the
real
wife
had
not
only
her
claims
,
she
had
still
a
hold
on
his
heart
,
and
it
was
his
intense
desire
that
the
hold
should
remain
strong
.
In
marriage
,
the
certainty
,
"
She
will
never
love
me
much
,
"
is
easier
to
bear
than
the
fear
,
"
I
shall
love
her
no
more
.
"
Hence
,
after
that
outburst
,
his
inward
effort
was
entirely
to
excuse
her
,
and
to
blame
the
hard
circumstances
which
were
partly
his
fault
.
He
tried
that
evening
,
by
petting
her
,
to
heal
the
wound
he
had
made
in
the
morning
,
and
it
was
not
in
Rosamond
's
nature
to
be
repellent
or
sulky
;
indeed
,
she
welcomed
the
signs
that
her
husband
loved
her
and
was
under
control
.
But
this
was
something
quite
distinct
from
loving
him
.
Lydgate
would
not
have
chosen
soon
to
recur
to
the
plan
of
parting
with
the
house
;
he
was
resolved
to
carry
it
out
,
and
say
as
little
more
about
it
as
possible
.
But
Rosamond
herself
touched
on
it
at
breakfast
by
saying
,
mildly
—
"
Have
you
spoken
to
Trumbull
yet
?
"
"
No
,
"
said
Lydgate
,
"
but
I
shall
call
on
him
as
I
go
by
this
morning
.
No
time
must
be
lost
.
"
He
took
Rosamond
's
question
as
a
sign
that
she
withdrew
her
inward
opposition
,
and
kissed
her
head
caressingly
when
he
got
up
to
go
away
.
As
soon
as
it
was
late
enough
to
make
a
call
,
Rosamond
went
to
Mrs.
Plymdale
,
Mr.
Ned
's
mother
,
and
entered
with
pretty
congratulations
into
the
subject
of
the
coming
marriage
.
Mrs.
Plymdale
's
maternal
view
was
,
that
Rosamond
might
possibly
now
have
retrospective
glimpses
of
her
own
folly
;
and
feeling
the
advantages
to
be
at
present
all
on
the
side
of
her
son
,
was
too
kind
a
woman
not
to
behave
graciously
.
"
Yes
,
Ned
is
most
happy
,
I
must
say
.
And
Sophy
Toller
is
all
I
could
desire
in
a
daughter-in-law
.
Of
course
her
father
is
able
to
do
something
handsome
for
her
—
that
is
only
what
would
be
expected
with
a
brewery
like
his
.
And
the
connection
is
everything
we
should
desire
.
But
that
is
not
what
I
look
at
.
She
is
such
a
very
nice
girl
—
no
airs
,
no
pretensions
,
though
on
a
level
with
the
first
.
I
do
n't
mean
with
the
titled
aristocracy
.
I
see
very
little
good
in
people
aiming
out
of
their
own
sphere
.
I
mean
that
Sophy
is
equal
to
the
best
in
the
town
,
and
she
is
contented
with
that
.
"
"
I
have
always
thought
her
very
agreeable
,
"
said
Rosamond
.
"
I
look
upon
it
as
a
reward
for
Ned
,
who
never
held
his
head
too
high
,
that
he
should
have
got
into
the
very
best
connection
,
"
continued
Mrs.
Plymdale
,
her
native
sharpness
softened
by
a
fervid
sense
that
she
was
taking
a
correct
view
.
"
And
such
particular
people
as
the
Tollers
are
,
they
might
have
objected
because
some
of
our
friends
are
not
theirs
.
It
is
well
known
that
your
aunt
Bulstrode
and
I
have
been
intimate
from
our
youth
,
and
Mr.
Plymdale
has
been
always
on
Mr.
Bulstrode
's
side
.
And
I
myself
prefer
serious
opinions
.
But
the
Tollers
have
welcomed
Ned
all
the
same
.
"
"
I
am
sure
he
is
a
very
deserving
,
well-principled
young
man
,
"
said
Rosamond
,
with
a
neat
air
of
patronage
in
return
for
Mrs.
Plymdale
's
wholesome
corrections
.
"
Oh
,
he
has
not
the
style
of
a
captain
in
the
army
,
or
that
sort
of
carriage
as
if
everybody
was
beneath
him
,
or
that
showy
kind
of
talking
,
and
singing
,
and
intellectual
talent
.
But
I
am
thankful
he
has
not
.
It
is
a
poor
preparation
both
for
here
and
Hereafter
.
"
"
Oh
dear
,
yes
;
appearances
have
very
little
to
do
with
happiness
,
"
said
Rosamond
.
"
I
think
there
is
every
prospect
of
their
being
a
happy
couple
.
What
house
will
they
take
?
"
"
Oh
,
as
for
that
,
they
must
put
up
with
what
they
can
get
.
They
have
been
looking
at
the
house
in
St.
Peter
's
Place
,
next
to
Mr.
Hackbutt
's
;
it
belongs
to
him
,
and
he
is
putting
it
nicely
in
repair
.
I
suppose
they
are
not
likely
to
hear
of
a
better
.
Indeed
,
I
think
Ned
will
decide
the
matter
to-day
.
"
"
I
should
think
it
is
a
nice
house
;
I
like
St.
Peter
's
Place
.
"
"
Well
,
it
is
near
the
Church
,
and
a
genteel
situation
.
But
the
windows
are
narrow
,
and
it
is
all
ups
and
downs
.
You
do
n't
happen
to
know
of
any
other
that
would
be
at
liberty
?
"
said
Mrs.
Plymdale
,
fixing
her
round
black
eyes
on
Rosamond
with
the
animation
of
a
sudden
thought
in
them
.
"
Oh
no
;
I
hear
so
little
of
those
things
.
"
Rosamond
had
not
foreseen
that
question
and
answer
in
setting
out
to
pay
her
visit
;
she
had
simply
meant
to
gather
any
information
which
would
help
her
to
avert
the
parting
with
her
own
house
under
circumstances
thoroughly
disagreeable
to
her
.
As
to
the
untruth
in
her
reply
,
she
no
more
reflected
on
it
than
she
did
on
the
untruth
there
was
in
her
saying
that
appearances
had
very
little
to
do
with
happiness
.
Her
object
,
she
was
convinced
,
was
thoroughly
justifiable
:
it
was
Lydgate
whose
intention
was
inexcusable
;
and
there
was
a
plan
in
her
mind
which
,
when
she
had
carried
it
out
fully
,
would
prove
how
very
false
a
step
it
would
have
been
for
him
to
have
descended
from
his
position
.
She
returned
home
by
Mr.
Borthrop
Trumbull
's
office
,
meaning
to
call
there
.
It
was
the
first
time
in
her
life
that
Rosamond
had
thought
of
doing
anything
in
the
form
of
business
,
but
she
felt
equal
to
the
occasion
.
That
she
should
be
obliged
to
do
what
she
intensely
disliked
,
was
an
idea
which
turned
her
quiet
tenacity
into
active
invention
.
Here
was
a
case
in
which
it
could
not
be
enough
simply
to
disobey
and
be
serenely
,
placidly
obstinate
:
she
must
act
according
to
her
judgment
,
and
she
said
to
herself
that
her
judgment
was
right
—
"
indeed
,
if
it
had
not
been
,
she
would
not
have
wished
to
act
on
it
.
"
Mr.
Trumbull
was
in
the
back-room
of
his
office
,
and
received
Rosamond
with
his
finest
manners
,
not
only
because
he
had
much
sensibility
to
her
charms
,
but
because
the
good-natured
fibre
in
him
was
stirred
by
his
certainty
that
Lydgate
was
in
difficulties
,
and
that
this
uncommonly
pretty
woman
—
this
young
lady
with
the
highest
personal
attractions
—
was
likely
to
feel
the
pinch
of
trouble
—
to
find
herself
involved
in
circumstances
beyond
her
control
.
He
begged
her
to
do
him
the
honour
to
take
a
seat
,
and
stood
before
her
trimming
and
comporting
himself
with
an
eager
solicitude
,
which
was
chiefly
benevolent
.
Rosamond
's
first
question
was
,
whether
her
husband
had
called
on
Mr.
Trumbull
that
morning
,
to
speak
about
disposing
of
their
house
.
"
Yes
,
ma'am
,
yes
,
he
did
;
he
did
so
,
"
said
the
good
auctioneer
,
trying
to
throw
something
soothing
into
his
iteration
.
"
I
was
about
to
fulfil
his
order
,
if
possible
,
this
afternoon
.
He
wished
me
not
to
procrastinate
.
"
"
I
called
to
tell
you
not
to
go
any
further
,
Mr.
Trumbull
;
and
I
beg
of
you
not
to
mention
what
has
been
said
on
the
subject
.
Will
you
oblige
me
?
"
"
Certainly
I
will
,
Mrs.
Lydgate
,
certainly
.
Confidence
is
sacred
with
me
on
business
or
any
other
topic
.
I
am
then
to
consider
the
commission
withdrawn
?
"
said
Mr.
Trumbull
,
adjusting
the
long
ends
of
his
blue
cravat
with
both
hands
,
and
looking
at
Rosamond
deferentially
.
"
Yes
,
if
you
please
.
I
find
that
Mr.
Ned
Plymdale
has
taken
a
house
—
the
one
in
St.
Peter
's
Place
next
to
Mr.
Hackbutt
's
.
Mr.
Lydgate
would
be
annoyed
that
his
orders
should
be
fulfilled
uselessly
.
And
besides
that
,
there
are
other
circumstances
which
render
the
proposal
unnecessary
.
"
"
Very
good
,
Mrs.
Lydgate
,
very
good
.
I
am
at
your
commands
,
whenever
you
require
any
service
of
me
,
"
said
Mr.
Trumbull
,
who
felt
pleasure
in
conjecturing
that
some
new
resources
had
been
opened
.
"
Rely
on
me
,
I
beg
.
The
affair
shall
go
no
further
.
"
That
evening
Lydgate
was
a
little
comforted
by
observing
that
Rosamond
was
more
lively
than
she
had
usually
been
of
late
,
and
even
seemed
interested
in
doing
what
would
please
him
without
being
asked
.
He
thought
,
"
If
she
will
be
happy
and
I
can
rub
through
,
what
does
it
all
signify
?
It
is
only
a
narrow
swamp
that
we
have
to
pass
in
a
long
journey
.
If
I
can
get
my
mind
clear
again
,
I
shall
do
.
"
He
was
so
much
cheered
that
he
began
to
search
for
an
account
of
experiments
which
he
had
long
ago
meant
to
look
up
,
and
had
neglected
out
of
that
creeping
self-despair
which
comes
in
the
train
of
petty
anxieties
.
He
felt
again
some
of
the
old
delightful
absorption
in
a
far-reaching
inquiry
,
while
Rosamond
played
the
quiet
music
which
was
as
helpful
to
his
meditation
as
the
plash
of
an
oar
on
the
evening
lake
.
It
was
rather
late
;
he
had
pushed
away
all
the
books
,
and
was
looking
at
the
fire
with
his
hands
clasped
behind
his
head
in
forgetfulness
of
everything
except
the
construction
of
a
new
controlling
experiment
,
when
Rosamond
,
who
had
left
the
piano
and
was
leaning
back
in
her
chair
watching
him
,
said
—
"
Mr.
Ned
Plymdale
has
taken
a
house
already
.
"
Lydgate
,
startled
and
jarred
,
looked
up
in
silence
for
a
moment
,
like
a
man
who
has
been
disturbed
in
his
sleep
.
Then
flushing
with
an
unpleasant
consciousness
,
he
asked
—
"
How
do
you
know
?
"
"
I
called
at
Mrs.
Plymdale
's
this
morning
,
and
she
told
me
that
he
had
taken
the
house
in
St.
Peter
's
Place
,
next
to
Mr.
Hackbutt
's
.
"
Lydgate
was
silent
.
He
drew
his
hands
from
behind
his
head
and
pressed
them
against
the
hair
which
was
hanging
,
as
it
was
apt
to
do
,
in
a
mass
on
his
forehead
,
while
he
rested
his
elbows
on
his
knees
.
He
was
feeling
bitter
disappointment
,
as
if
he
had
opened
a
door
out
of
a
suffocating
place
and
had
found
it
walled
up
;
but
he
also
felt
sure
that
Rosamond
was
pleased
with
the
cause
of
his
disappointment
.
He
preferred
not
looking
at
her
and
not
speaking
,
until
he
had
got
over
the
first
spasm
of
vexation
.
After
all
,
he
said
in
his
bitterness
,
what
can
a
woman
care
about
so
much
as
house
and
furniture
?
a
husband
without
them
is
an
absurdity
.
When
he
looked
up
and
pushed
his
hair
aside
,
his
dark
eyes
had
a
miserable
blank
non-expectance
of
sympathy
in
them
,
but
he
only
said
,
coolly
—
"
Perhaps
some
one
else
may
turn
up
.
I
told
Trumbull
to
be
on
the
look-out
if
he
failed
with
Plymdale
.
"
Rosamond
made
no
remark
.
She
trusted
to
the
chance
that
nothing
more
would
pass
between
her
husband
and
the
auctioneer
until
some
issue
should
have
justified
her
interference
;
at
any
rate
,
she
had
hindered
the
event
which
she
immediately
dreaded
.
After
a
pause
,
she
said
—
"
How
much
money
is
it
that
those
disagreeable
people
want
?
"
"
What
disagreeable
people
?
"
"
Those
who
took
the
list
—
and
the
others
.
I
mean
,
how
much
money
would
satisfy
them
so
that
you
need
not
be
troubled
any
more
?
"
Lydgate
surveyed
her
for
a
moment
,
as
if
he
were
looking
for
symptoms
,
and
then
said
,
"
Oh
,
if
I
could
have
got
six
hundred
from
Plymdale
for
furniture
and
as
premium
,
I
might
have
managed
.
I
could
have
paid
off
Dover
,
and
given
enough
on
account
to
the
others
to
make
them
wait
patiently
,
if
we
contracted
our
expenses
.
"
"
But
I
mean
how
much
should
you
want
if
we
stayed
in
this
house
?
"
"
More
than
I
am
likely
to
get
anywhere
,
"
said
Lydgate
,
with
rather
a
grating
sarcasm
in
his
tone
.
It
angered
him
to
perceive
that
Rosamond
's
mind
was
wandering
over
impracticable
wishes
instead
of
facing
possible
efforts
.
"
Why
should
you
not
mention
the
sum
?
"
said
Rosamond
,
with
a
mild
indication
that
she
did
not
like
his
manners
.
"
Well
,
"
said
Lydgate
in
a
guessing
tone
,
"
it
would
take
at
least
a
thousand
to
set
me
at
ease
.
But
,
"
he
added
,
incisively
,
"
I
have
to
consider
what
I
shall
do
without
it
,
not
with
it
.
"
Rosamond
said
no
more
.
But
the
next
day
she
carried
out
her
plan
of
writing
to
Sir
Godwin
Lydgate
.
Since
the
Captain
's
visit
,
she
had
received
a
letter
from
him
,
and
also
one
from
Mrs.
Mengan
,
his
married
sister
,
condoling
with
her
on
the
loss
of
her
baby
,
and
expressing
vaguely
the
hope
that
they
should
see
her
again
at
Quallingham
.
Lydgate
had
told
her
that
this
politeness
meant
nothing
;
but
she
was
secretly
convinced
that
any
backwardness
in
Lydgate
's
family
towards
him
was
due
to
his
cold
and
contemptuous
behavior
,
and
she
had
answered
the
letters
in
her
most
charming
manner
,
feeling
some
confidence
that
a
specific
invitation
would
follow
.
But
there
had
been
total
silence
.
The
Captain
evidently
was
not
a
great
penman
,
and
Rosamond
reflected
that
the
sisters
might
have
been
abroad
.
However
,
the
season
was
come
for
thinking
of
friends
at
home
,
and
at
any
rate
Sir
Godwin
,
who
had
chucked
her
under
the
chin
,
and
pronounced
her
to
be
like
the
celebrated
beauty
,
Mrs.
Croly
,
who
had
made
a
conquest
of
him
in
1790
,
would
be
touched
by
any
appeal
from
her
,
and
would
find
it
pleasant
for
her
sake
to
behave
as
he
ought
to
do
towards
his
nephew
.
Rosamond
was
naively
convinced
of
what
an
old
gentleman
ought
to
do
to
prevent
her
from
suffering
annoyance
.
And
she
wrote
what
she
considered
the
most
judicious
letter
possible
—
one
which
would
strike
Sir
Godwin
as
a
proof
of
her
excellent
sense
—
pointing
out
how
desirable
it
was
that
Tertius
should
quit
such
a
place
as
Middlemarch
for
one
more
fitted
to
his
talents
,
how
the
unpleasant
character
of
the
inhabitants
had
hindered
his
professional
success
,
and
how
in
consequence
he
was
in
money
difficulties
,
from
which
it
would
require
a
thousand
pounds
thoroughly
to
extricate
him
.
She
did
not
say
that
Tertius
was
unaware
of
her
intention
to
write
;
for
she
had
the
idea
that
his
supposed
sanction
of
her
letter
would
be
in
accordance
with
what
she
did
say
of
his
great
regard
for
his
uncle
Godwin
as
the
relative
who
had
always
been
his
best
friend
.
Such
was
the
force
of
Poor
Rosamond
's
tactics
now
she
applied
them
to
affairs
.
This
had
happened
before
the
party
on
New
Year
's
Day
,
and
no
answer
had
yet
come
from
Sir
Godwin
.
But
on
the
morning
of
that
day
Lydgate
had
to
learn
that
Rosamond
had
revoked
his
order
to
Borthrop
Trumbull
.
Feeling
it
necessary
that
she
should
be
gradually
accustomed
to
the
idea
of
their
quitting
the
house
in
Lowick
Gate
,
he
overcame
his
reluctance
to
speak
to
her
again
on
the
subject
,
and
when
they
were
breakfasting
said
—
"
I
shall
try
to
see
Trumbull
this
morning
,
and
tell
him
to
advertise
the
house
in
the
'
Pioneer
'
and
the
'
Trumpet
.
'
If
the
thing
were
advertised
,
some
one
might
be
inclined
to
take
it
who
would
not
otherwise
have
thought
of
a
change
.
In
these
country
places
many
people
go
on
in
their
old
houses
when
their
families
are
too
large
for
them
,
for
want
of
knowing
where
they
can
find
another
.
And
Trumbull
seems
to
have
got
no
bite
at
all
.
"
Rosamond
knew
that
the
inevitable
moment
was
come
.
"
I
ordered
Trumbull
not
to
inquire
further
,
"
she
said
,
with
a
careful
calmness
which
was
evidently
defensive
.
Lydgate
stared
at
her
in
mute
amazement
.
Only
half
an
hour
before
he
had
been
fastening
up
her
plaits
for
her
,
and
talking
the
"
little
language
"
of
affection
,
which
Rosamond
,
though
not
returning
it
,
accepted
as
if
she
had
been
a
serene
and
lovely
image
,
now
and
then
miraculously
dimpling
towards
her
votary
.
With
such
fibres
still
astir
in
him
,
the
shock
he
received
could
not
at
once
be
distinctly
anger
;
it
was
confused
pain
.
He
laid
down
the
knife
and
fork
with
which
he
was
carving
,
and
throwing
himself
back
in
his
chair
,
said
at
last
,
with
a
cool
irony
in
his
tone
—
"
May
I
ask
when
and
why
you
did
so
?
"
"
When
I
knew
that
the
Plymdales
had
taken
a
house
,
I
called
to
tell
him
not
to
mention
ours
to
them
;
and
at
the
same
time
I
told
him
not
to
let
the
affair
go
on
any
further
.
I
knew
that
it
would
be
very
injurious
to
you
if
it
were
known
that
you
wished
to
part
with
your
house
and
furniture
,
and
I
had
a
very
strong
objection
to
it
.
I
think
that
was
reason
enough
.
"
"
It
was
of
no
consequence
then
that
I
had
told
you
imperative
reasons
of
another
kind
;
of
no
consequence
that
I
had
come
to
a
different
conclusion
,
and
given
an
order
accordingly
?
"
said
Lydgate
,
bitingly
,
the
thunder
and
lightning
gathering
about
his
brow
and
eyes
.
The
effect
of
any
one
's
anger
on
Rosamond
had
always
been
to
make
her
shrink
in
cold
dislike
,
and
to
become
all
the
more
calmly
correct
,
in
the
conviction
that
she
was
not
the
person
to
misbehave
whatever
others
might
do
.
She
replied
—
"
I
think
I
had
a
perfect
right
to
speak
on
a
subject
which
concerns
me
at
least
as
much
as
you
.
"
"
Clearly
—
you
had
a
right
to
speak
,
but
only
to
me
.
You
had
no
right
to
contradict
my
orders
secretly
,
and
treat
me
as
if
I
were
a
fool
,
"
said
Lydgate
,
in
the
same
tone
as
before
.
Then
with
some
added
scorn
,
"
Is
it
possible
to
make
you
understand
what
the
consequences
will
be
?
Is
it
of
any
use
for
me
to
tell
you
again
why
we
must
try
to
part
with
the
house
?
"
"
It
is
not
necessary
for
you
to
tell
me
again
,
"
said
Rosamond
,
in
a
voice
that
fell
and
trickled
like
cold
water-drops
.
"
I
remembered
what
you
said
.
You
spoke
just
as
violently
as
you
do
now
.
But
that
does
not
alter
my
opinion
that
you
ought
to
try
every
other
means
rather
than
take
a
step
which
is
so
painful
to
me
.
And
as
to
advertising
the
house
,
I
think
it
would
be
perfectly
degrading
to
you
.
"
"
And
suppose
I
disregard
your
opinion
as
you
disregard
mine
?
"
"
You
can
do
so
,
of
course
.
But
I
think
you
ought
to
have
told
me
before
we
were
married
that
you
would
place
me
in
the
worst
position
,
rather
than
give
up
your
own
will
.
"
Lydgate
did
not
speak
,
but
tossed
his
head
on
one
side
,
and
twitched
the
corners
of
his
mouth
in
despair
.
Rosamond
,
seeing
that
he
was
not
looking
at
her
,
rose
and
set
his
cup
of
coffee
before
him
;
but
he
took
no
notice
of
it
,
and
went
on
with
an
inward
drama
and
argument
,
occasionally
moving
in
his
seat
,
resting
one
arm
on
the
table
,
and
rubbing
his
hand
against
his
hair
.
There
was
a
conflux
of
emotions
and
thoughts
in
him
that
would
not
let
him
either
give
thorough
way
to
his
anger
or
persevere
with
simple
rigidity
of
resolve
.
Rosamond
took
advantage
of
his
silence
.
"
When
we
were
married
everyone
felt
that
your
position
was
very
high
.
I
could
not
have
imagined
then
that
you
would
want
to
sell
our
furniture
,
and
take
a
house
in
Bride
Street
,
where
the
rooms
are
like
cages
.
If
we
are
to
live
in
that
way
let
us
at
least
leave
Middlemarch
.
"
"
These
would
be
very
strong
considerations
,
"
said
Lydgate
,
half
ironically
—
still
there
was
a
withered
paleness
about
his
lips
as
he
looked
at
his
coffee
,
and
did
not
drink
—
"
these
would
be
very
strong
considerations
if
I
did
not
happen
to
be
in
debt
.
"
"
Many
persons
must
have
been
in
debt
in
the
same
way
,
but
if
they
are
respectable
,
people
trust
them
.
I
am
sure
I
have
heard
papa
say
that
the
Torbits
were
in
debt
,
and
they
went
on
very
well
.
It
cannot
be
good
to
act
rashly
,
"
said
Rosamond
,
with
serene
wisdom
.
Lydgate
sat
paralyzed
by
opposing
impulses
:
since
no
reasoning
he
could
apply
to
Rosamond
seemed
likely
to
conquer
her
assent
,
he
wanted
to
smash
and
grind
some
object
on
which
he
could
at
least
produce
an
impression
,
or
else
to
tell
her
brutally
that
he
was
master
,
and
she
must
obey
.
But
he
not
only
dreaded
the
effect
of
such
extremities
on
their
mutual
life
—
he
had
a
growing
dread
of
Rosamond
's
quiet
elusive
obstinacy
,
which
would
not
allow
any
assertion
of
power
to
be
final
;
and
again
,
she
had
touched
him
in
a
spot
of
keenest
feeling
by
implying
that
she
had
been
deluded
with
a
false
vision
of
happiness
in
marrying
him
.
As
to
saying
that
he
was
master
,
it
was
not
the
fact
.
The
very
resolution
to
which
he
had
wrought
himself
by
dint
of
logic
and
honourable
pride
was
beginning
to
relax
under
her
torpedo
contact
.
He
swallowed
half
his
cup
of
coffee
,
and
then
rose
to
go
.
"
I
may
at
least
request
that
you
will
not
go
to
Trumbull
at
present
—
until
it
has
been
seen
that
there
are
no
other
means
,
"
said
Rosamond
.
Although
she
was
not
subject
to
much
fear
,
she
felt
it
safer
not
to
betray
that
she
had
written
to
Sir
Godwin
.
"
Promise
me
that
you
will
not
go
to
him
for
a
few
weeks
,
or
without
telling
me
.
"
Lydgate
gave
a
short
laugh
.
"
I
think
it
is
I
who
should
exact
a
promise
that
you
will
do
nothing
without
telling
me
,
"
he
said
,
turning
his
eyes
sharply
upon
her
,
and
then
moving
to
the
door
.
"
You
remember
that
we
are
going
to
dine
at
papa
's
,
"
said
Rosamond
,
wishing
that
he
should
turn
and
make
a
more
thorough
concession
to
her
.
But
he
only
said
"
Oh
yes
,
"
impatiently
,
and
went
away
.
She
held
it
to
be
very
odious
in
him
that
he
did
not
think
the
painful
propositions
he
had
had
to
make
to
her
were
enough
,
without
showing
so
unpleasant
a
temper
.
And
when
she
put
the
moderate
request
that
he
would
defer
going
to
Trumbull
again
,
it
was
cruel
in
him
not
to
assure
her
of
what
he
meant
to
do
.
She
was
convinced
of
her
having
acted
in
every
way
for
the
best
;
and
each
grating
or
angry
speech
of
Lydgate
's
served
only
as
an
addition
to
the
register
of
offences
in
her
mind
.
Poor
Rosamond
for
months
had
begun
to
associate
her
husband
with
feelings
of
disappointment
,
and
the
terribly
inflexible
relation
of
marriage
had
lost
its
charm
of
encouraging
delightful
dreams
.
It
had
freed
her
from
the
disagreeables
of
her
father
's
house
,
but
it
had
not
given
her
everything
that
she
had
wished
and
hoped
.
The
Lydgate
with
whom
she
had
been
in
love
had
been
a
group
of
airy
conditions
for
her
,
most
of
which
had
disappeared
,
while
their
place
had
been
taken
by
every-day
details
which
must
be
lived
through
slowly
from
hour
to
hour
,
not
floated
through
with
a
rapid
selection
of
favourable
aspects
.
The
habits
of
Lydgate
's
profession
,
his
home
preoccupation
with
scientific
subjects
,
which
seemed
to
her
almost
like
a
morbid
vampire
's
taste
,
his
peculiar
views
of
things
which
had
never
entered
into
the
dialogue
of
courtship
—
all
these
continually
alienating
influences
,
even
without
the
fact
of
his
having
placed
himself
at
a
disadvantage
in
the
town
,
and
without
that
first
shock
of
revelation
about
Dover
's
debt
,
would
have
made
his
presence
dull
to
her
.
There
was
another
presence
which
ever
since
the
early
days
of
her
marriage
,
until
four
months
ago
,
had
been
an
agreeable
excitement
,
but
that
was
gone
:
Rosamond
would
not
confess
to
herself
how
much
the
consequent
blank
had
to
do
with
her
utter
ennui
;
and
it
seemed
to
her
(
perhaps
she
was
right
)
that
an
invitation
to
Quallingham
,
and
an
opening
for
Lydgate
to
settle
elsewhere
than
in
Middlemarch
—
in
London
,
or
somewhere
likely
to
be
free
from
unpleasantness
—
would
satisfy
her
quite
well
,
and
make
her
indifferent
to
the
absence
of
Will
Ladislaw
,
towards
whom
she
felt
some
resentment
for
his
exaltation
of
Mrs.
Casaubon
.
That
was
the
state
of
things
with
Lydgate
and
Rosamond
on
the
New
Year
's
Day
when
they
dined
at
her
father
's
,
she
looking
mildly
neutral
towards
him
in
remembrance
of
his
ill-tempered
behavior
at
breakfast
,
and
he
carrying
a
much
deeper
effect
from
the
inward
conflict
in
which
that
morning
scene
was
only
one
of
many
epochs
.
His
flushed
effort
while
talking
to
Mr.
Farebrother
—
his
effort
after
the
cynical
pretence
that
all
ways
of
getting
money
are
essentially
the
same
,
and
that
chance
has
an
empire
which
reduces
choice
to
a
fool
's
illusion
—
was
but
the
symptom
of
a
wavering
resolve
,
a
benumbed
response
to
the
old
stimuli
of
enthusiasm
.
What
was
he
to
do
?
He
saw
even
more
keenly
than
Rosamond
did
the
dreariness
of
taking
her
into
the
small
house
in
Bride
Street
,
where
she
would
have
scanty
furniture
around
her
and
discontent
within
:
a
life
of
privation
and
life
with
Rosamond
were
two
images
which
had
become
more
and
more
irreconcilable
ever
since
the
threat
of
privation
had
disclosed
itself
.
But
even
if
his
resolves
had
forced
the
two
images
into
combination
,
the
useful
preliminaries
to
that
hard
change
were
not
visibly
within
reach
.
And
though
he
had
not
given
the
promise
which
his
wife
had
asked
for
,
he
did
not
go
again
to
Trumbull
.
He
even
began
to
think
of
taking
a
rapid
journey
to
the
North
and
seeing
Sir
Godwin
.
He
had
once
believed
that
nothing
would
urge
him
into
making
an
application
for
money
to
his
uncle
,
but
he
had
not
then
known
the
full
pressure
of
alternatives
yet
more
disagreeable
.
He
could
not
depend
on
the
effect
of
a
letter
;
it
was
only
in
an
interview
,
however
disagreeable
this
might
be
to
himself
,
that
he
could
give
a
thorough
explanation
and
could
test
the
effectiveness
of
kinship
.
No
sooner
had
Lydgate
begun
to
represent
this
step
to
himself
as
the
easiest
than
there
was
a
reaction
of
anger
that
he
—
he
who
had
long
ago
determined
to
live
aloof
from
such
abject
calculations
,
such
self-interested
anxiety
about
the
inclinations
and
the
pockets
of
men
with
whom
he
had
been
proud
to
have
no
aims
in
common
—
should
have
fallen
not
simply
to
their
level
,
but
to
the
level
of
soliciting
them
.
CHAPTER
LXV
.
One
of
us
two
must
bowen
douteless
,
And
,
sith
a
man
is
more
reasonable
Than
woman
is
,
ye
[
men
]
moste
be
suffrable
.
—
CHAUCER
:
Canterbury
Tales
.
The
bias
of
human
nature
to
be
slow
in
correspondence
triumphs
even
over
the
present
quickening
in
the
general
pace
of
things
:
what
wonder
then
that
in
1832
old
Sir
Godwin
Lydgate
was
slow
to
write
a
letter
which
was
of
consequence
to
others
rather
than
to
himself
?
Nearly
three
weeks
of
the
new
year
were
gone
,
and
Rosamond
,
awaiting
an
answer
to
her
winning
appeal
,
was
every
day
disappointed
.
Lydgate
,
in
total
ignorance
of
her
expectations
,
was
seeing
the
bills
come
in
,
and
feeling
that
Dover
's
use
of
his
advantage
over
other
creditors
was
imminent
.
He
had
never
mentioned
to
Rosamond
his
brooding
purpose
of
going
to
Quallingham
:
he
did
not
want
to
admit
what
would
appear
to
her
a
concession
to
her
wishes
after
indignant
refusal
,
until
the
last
moment
;
but
he
was
really
expecting
to
set
off
soon
.
A
slice
of
the
railway
would
enable
him
to
manage
the
whole
journey
and
back
in
four
days
.
But
one
morning
after
Lydgate
had
gone
out
,
a
letter
came
addressed
to
him
,
which
Rosamond
saw
clearly
to
be
from
Sir
Godwin
.
She
was
full
of
hope
.
Perhaps
there
might
be
a
particular
note
to
her
enclosed
;
but
Lydgate
was
naturally
addressed
on
the
question
of
money
or
other
aid
,
and
the
fact
that
he
was
written
to
,
nay
,
the
very
delay
in
writing
at
all
,
seemed
to
certify
that
the
answer
was
thoroughly
compliant
.
She
was
too
much
excited
by
these
thoughts
to
do
anything
but
light
stitching
in
a
warm
corner
of
the
dining-room
,
with
the
outside
of
this
momentous
letter
lying
on
the
table
before
her
.
About
twelve
she
heard
her
husband
's
step
in
the
passage
,
and
tripping
to
open
the
door
,
she
said
in
her
lightest
tones
,
"
Tertius
,
come
in
here
—
here
is
a
letter
for
you
.
"
"
Ah
?
"
he
said
,
not
taking
off
his
hat
,
but
just
turning
her
round
within
his
arm
to
walk
towards
the
spot
where
the
letter
lay
.
"
My
uncle
Godwin
!
"
he
exclaimed
,
while
Rosamond
reseated
herself
,
and
watched
him
as
he
opened
the
letter
.
She
had
expected
him
to
be
surprised
.
While
Lydgate
's
eyes
glanced
rapidly
over
the
brief
letter
,
she
saw
his
face
,
usually
of
a
pale
brown
,
taking
on
a
dry
whiteness
;
with
nostrils
and
lips
quivering
he
tossed
down
the
letter
before
her
,
and
said
violently
—
"
It
will
be
impossible
to
endure
life
with
you
,
if
you
will
always
be
acting
secretly
—
acting
in
opposition
to
me
and
hiding
your
actions
.
"
He
checked
his
speech
and
turned
his
back
on
her
—
then
wheeled
round
and
walked
about
,
sat
down
,
and
got
up
again
restlessly
,
grasping
hard
the
objects
deep
down
in
his
pockets
.
He
was
afraid
of
saying
something
irremediably
cruel
.
Rosamond
too
had
changed
colour
as
she
read
.
The
letter
ran
in
this
way
:
—
"
DEAR
TERTIUS
,
—
Do
n't
set
your
wife
to
write
to
me
when
you
have
anything
to
ask
.
It
is
a
roundabout
wheedling
sort
of
thing
which
I
should
not
have
credited
you
with
.
I
never
choose
to
write
to
a
woman
on
matters
of
business
.
As
to
my
supplying
you
with
a
thousand
pounds
,
or
only
half
that
sum
,
I
can
do
nothing
of
the
sort
.
My
own
family
drains
me
to
the
last
penny
.
With
two
younger
sons
and
three
daughters
,
I
am
not
likely
to
have
cash
to
spare
.
You
seem
to
have
got
through
your
own
money
pretty
quickly
,
and
to
have
made
a
mess
where
you
are
;
the
sooner
you
go
somewhere
else
the
better
.
But
I
have
nothing
to
do
with
men
of
your
profession
,
and
ca
n't
help
you
there
.
I
did
the
best
I
could
for
you
as
guardian
,
and
let
you
have
your
own
way
in
taking
to
medicine
.
You
might
have
gone
into
the
army
or
the
Church
.
Your
money
would
have
held
out
for
that
,
and
there
would
have
been
a
surer
ladder
before
you
.
Your
uncle
Charles
has
had
a
grudge
against
you
for
not
going
into
his
profession
,
but
not
I
.
I
have
always
wished
you
well
,
but
you
must
consider
yourself
on
your
own
legs
entirely
now
.
Your
affectionate
uncle
,
GODWIN
LYDGATE
.
"
When
Rosamond
had
finished
reading
the
letter
she
sat
quite
still
,
with
her
hands
folded
before
her
,
restraining
any
show
of
her
keen
disappointment
,
and
intrenching
herself
in
quiet
passivity
under
her
husband
's
wrath
.
Lydgate
paused
in
his
movements
,
looked
at
her
again
,
and
said
,
with
biting
severity
—
"
Will
this
be
enough
to
convince
you
of
the
harm
you
may
do
by
secret
meddling
?
Have
you
sense
enough
to
recognize
now
your
incompetence
to
judge
and
act
for
me
—
to
interfere
with
your
ignorance
in
affairs
which
it
belongs
to
me
to
decide
on
?
"
The
words
were
hard
;
but
this
was
not
the
first
time
that
Lydgate
had
been
frustrated
by
her
.
She
did
not
look
at
him
,
and
made
no
reply
.
"
I
had
nearly
resolved
on
going
to
Quallingham
.
It
would
have
cost
me
pain
enough
to
do
it
,
yet
it
might
have
been
of
some
use
.
But
it
has
been
of
no
use
for
me
to
think
of
anything
.
You
have
always
been
counteracting
me
secretly
.
You
delude
me
with
a
false
assent
,
and
then
I
am
at
the
mercy
of
your
devices
.
If
you
mean
to
resist
every
wish
I
express
,
say
so
and
defy
me
.
I
shall
at
least
know
what
I
am
doing
then
.
"
It
is
a
terrible
moment
in
young
lives
when
the
closeness
of
love
's
bond
has
turned
to
this
power
of
galling
.
In
spite
of
Rosamond
's
self-control
a
tear
fell
silently
and
rolled
over
her
lips
.
She
still
said
nothing
;
but
under
that
quietude
was
hidden
an
intense
effect
:
she
was
in
such
entire
disgust
with
her
husband
that
she
wished
she
had
never
seen
him
.
Sir
Godwin
's
rudeness
towards
her
and
utter
want
of
feeling
ranged
him
with
Dover
and
all
other
creditors
—
disagreeable
people
who
only
thought
of
themselves
,
and
did
not
mind
how
annoying
they
were
to
her
.
Even
her
father
was
unkind
,
and
might
have
done
more
for
them
.
In
fact
there
was
but
one
person
in
Rosamond
's
world
whom
she
did
not
regard
as
blameworthy
,
and
that
was
the
graceful
creature
with
blond
plaits
and
with
little
hands
crossed
before
her
,
who
had
never
expressed
herself
unbecomingly
,
and
had
always
acted
for
the
best
—
the
best
naturally
being
what
she
best
liked
.
Lydgate
pausing
and
looking
at
her
began
to
feel
that
half-maddening
sense
of
helplessness
which
comes
over
passionate
people
when
their
passion
is
met
by
an
innocent-looking
silence
whose
meek
victimized
air
seems
to
put
them
in
the
wrong
,
and
at
last
infects
even
the
justest
indignation
with
a
doubt
of
its
justice
.
He
needed
to
recover
the
full
sense
that
he
was
in
the
right
by
moderating
his
words
.
"
Can
you
not
see
,
Rosamond
,
"
he
began
again
,
trying
to
be
simply
grave
and
not
bitter
,
"
that
nothing
can
be
so
fatal
as
a
want
of
openness
and
confidence
between
us
?
It
has
happened
again
and
again
that
I
have
expressed
a
decided
wish
,
and
you
have
seemed
to
assent
,
yet
after
that
you
have
secretly
disobeyed
my
wish
.
In
that
way
I
can
never
know
what
I
have
to
trust
to
.
There
would
be
some
hope
for
us
if
you
would
admit
this
.
Am
I
such
an
unreasonable
,
furious
brute
?
Why
should
you
not
be
open
with
me
?
"
Still
silence
.
"
Will
you
only
say
that
you
have
been
mistaken
,
and
that
I
may
depend
on
your
not
acting
secretly
in
future
?
"
said
Lydgate
,
urgently
,
but
with
something
of
request
in
his
tone
which
Rosamond
was
quick
to
perceive
.
She
spoke
with
coolness
.
"
I
cannot
possibly
make
admissions
or
promises
in
answer
to
such
words
as
you
have
used
towards
me
.
I
have
not
been
accustomed
to
language
of
that
kind
.
You
have
spoken
of
my
'
secret
meddling
,
'
and
my
'
interfering
ignorance
,
'
and
my
'
false
assent
.
'
I
have
never
expressed
myself
in
that
way
to
you
,
and
I
think
that
you
ought
to
apologize
.
You
spoke
of
its
being
impossible
to
live
with
me
.
Certainly
you
have
not
made
my
life
pleasant
to
me
of
late
.
I
think
it
was
to
be
expected
that
I
should
try
to
avert
some
of
the
hardships
which
our
marriage
has
brought
on
me
.
"
Another
tear
fell
as
Rosamond
ceased
speaking
,
and
she
pressed
it
away
as
quietly
as
the
first
.
Lydgate
flung
himself
into
a
chair
,
feeling
checkmated
.
What
place
was
there
in
her
mind
for
a
remonstrance
to
lodge
in
?
He
laid
down
his
hat
,
flung
an
arm
over
the
back
of
his
chair
,
and
looked
down
for
some
moments
without
speaking
.
Rosamond
had
the
double
purchase
over
him
of
insensibility
to
the
point
of
justice
in
his
reproach
,
and
of
sensibility
to
the
undeniable
hardships
now
present
in
her
married
life
.
Although
her
duplicity
in
the
affair
of
the
house
had
exceeded
what
he
knew
,
and
had
really
hindered
the
Plymdales
from
knowing
of
it
,
she
had
no
consciousness
that
her
action
could
rightly
be
called
false
.
We
are
not
obliged
to
identify
our
own
acts
according
to
a
strict
classification
,
any
more
than
the
materials
of
our
grocery
and
clothes
.
Rosamond
felt
that
she
was
aggrieved
,
and
that
this
was
what
Lydgate
had
to
recognize
.
As
for
him
,
the
need
of
accommodating
himself
to
her
nature
,
which
was
inflexible
in
proportion
to
its
negations
,
held
him
as
with
pincers
.
He
had
begun
to
have
an
alarmed
foresight
of
her
irrevocable
loss
of
love
for
him
,
and
the
consequent
dreariness
of
their
life
.
The
ready
fulness
of
his
emotions
made
this
dread
alternate
quickly
with
the
first
violent
movements
of
his
anger
.
It
would
assuredly
have
been
a
vain
boast
in
him
to
say
that
he
was
her
master
.
"
You
have
not
made
my
life
pleasant
to
me
of
late
"
—
"
the
hardships
which
our
marriage
has
brought
on
me
"
—
these
words
were
stinging
his
imagination
as
a
pain
makes
an
exaggerated
dream
.
If
he
were
not
only
to
sink
from
his
highest
resolve
,
but
to
sink
into
the
hideous
fettering
of
domestic
hate
?
"
Rosamond
,
"
he
said
,
turning
his
eyes
on
her
with
a
melancholy
look
,
"
you
should
allow
for
a
man
's
words
when
he
is
disappointed
and
provoked
.
You
and
I
cannot
have
opposite
interests
.
I
cannot
part
my
happiness
from
yours
.
If
I
am
angry
with
you
,
it
is
that
you
seem
not
to
see
how
any
concealment
divides
us
.
How
could
I
wish
to
make
anything
hard
to
you
either
by
my
words
or
conduct
?
When
I
hurt
you
,
I
hurt
part
of
my
own
life
.
I
should
never
be
angry
with
you
if
you
would
be
quite
open
with
me
.
"
"
I
have
only
wished
to
prevent
you
from
hurrying
us
into
wretchedness
without
any
necessity
,
"
said
Rosamond
,
the
tears
coming
again
from
a
softened
feeling
now
that
her
husband
had
softened
.
"
It
is
so
very
hard
to
be
disgraced
here
among
all
the
people
we
know
,
and
to
live
in
such
a
miserable
way
.
I
wish
I
had
died
with
the
baby
.
"
She
spoke
and
wept
with
that
gentleness
which
makes
such
words
and
tears
omnipotent
over
a
loving-hearted
man
.
Lydgate
drew
his
chair
near
to
hers
and
pressed
her
delicate
head
against
his
cheek
with
his
powerful
tender
hand
.
He
only
caressed
her
;
he
did
not
say
anything
;
for
what
was
there
to
say
?
He
could
not
promise
to
shield
her
from
the
dreaded
wretchedness
,
for
he
could
see
no
sure
means
of
doing
so
.
When
he
left
her
to
go
out
again
,
he
told
himself
that
it
was
ten
times
harder
for
her
than
for
him
:
he
had
a
life
away
from
home
,
and
constant
appeals
to
his
activity
on
behalf
of
others
.
He
wished
to
excuse
everything
in
her
if
he
could
—
but
it
was
inevitable
that
in
that
excusing
mood
he
should
think
of
her
as
if
she
were
an
animal
of
another
and
feebler
species
.
Nevertheless
she
had
mastered
him
.
CHAPTER
LXVI
.
"
'
Tis
one
thing
to
be
tempted
,
Escalus
,
Another
thing
to
fall
.
"
—
Measure
for
Measure
.
Lydgate
certainly
had
good
reason
to
reflect
on
the
service
his
practice
did
him
in
counteracting
his
personal
cares
.
He
had
no
longer
free
energy
enough
for
spontaneous
research
and
speculative
thinking
,
but
by
the
bedside
of
patients
,
the
direct
external
calls
on
his
judgment
and
sympathies
brought
the
added
impulse
needed
to
draw
him
out
of
himself
.
It
was
not
simply
that
beneficent
harness
of
routine
which
enables
silly
men
to
live
respectably
and
unhappy
men
to
live
calmly
—
it
was
a
perpetual
claim
on
the
immediate
fresh
application
of
thought
,
and
on
the
consideration
of
another
's
need
and
trial
.
Many
of
us
looking
back
through
life
would
say
that
the
kindest
man
we
have
ever
known
has
been
a
medical
man
,
or
perhaps
that
surgeon
whose
fine
tact
,
directed
by
deeply
informed
perception
,
has
come
to
us
in
our
need
with
a
more
sublime
beneficence
than
that
of
miracle-workers
.
Some
of
that
twice-blessed
mercy
was
always
with
Lydgate
in
his
work
at
the
Hospital
or
in
private
houses
,
serving
better
than
any
opiate
to
quiet
and
sustain
him
under
his
anxieties
and
his
sense
of
mental
degeneracy
.
Mr.
Farebrother
's
suspicion
as
to
the
opiate
was
true
,
however
.
Under
the
first
galling
pressure
of
foreseen
difficulties
,
and
the
first
perception
that
his
marriage
,
if
it
were
not
to
be
a
yoked
loneliness
,
must
be
a
state
of
effort
to
go
on
loving
without
too
much
care
about
being
loved
,
he
had
once
or
twice
tried
a
dose
of
opium
.
But
he
had
no
hereditary
constitutional
craving
after
such
transient
escapes
from
the
hauntings
of
misery
.
He
was
strong
,
could
drink
a
great
deal
of
wine
,
but
did
not
care
about
it
;
and
when
the
men
round
him
were
drinking
spirits
,
he
took
sugar
and
water
,
having
a
contemptuous
pity
even
for
the
earliest
stages
of
excitement
from
drink
.
It
was
the
same
with
gambling
.
He
had
looked
on
at
a
great
deal
of
gambling
in
Paris
,
watching
it
as
if
it
had
been
a
disease
.
He
was
no
more
tempted
by
such
winning
than
he
was
by
drink
.
He
had
said
to
himself
that
the
only
winning
he
cared
for
must
be
attained
by
a
conscious
process
of
high
,
difficult
combination
tending
towards
a
beneficent
result
.
The
power
he
longed
for
could
not
be
represented
by
agitated
fingers
clutching
a
heap
of
coin
,
or
by
the
half-barbarous
,
half-idiotic
triumph
in
the
eyes
of
a
man
who
sweeps
within
his
arms
the
ventures
of
twenty
chapfallen
companions
.
But
just
as
he
had
tried
opium
,
so
his
thought
now
began
to
turn
upon
gambling
—
not
with
appetite
for
its
excitement
,
but
with
a
sort
of
wistful
inward
gaze
after
that
easy
way
of
getting
money
,
which
implied
no
asking
and
brought
no
responsibility
.
If
he
had
been
in
London
or
Paris
at
that
time
,
it
is
probable
that
such
thoughts
,
seconded
by
opportunity
,
would
have
taken
him
into
a
gambling-house
,
no
longer
to
watch
the
gamblers
,
but
to
watch
with
them
in
kindred
eagerness
.
Repugnance
would
have
been
surmounted
by
the
immense
need
to
win
,
if
chance
would
be
kind
enough
to
let
him
.
An
incident
which
happened
not
very
long
after
that
airy
notion
of
getting
aid
from
his
uncle
had
been
excluded
,
was
a
strong
sign
of
the
effect
that
might
have
followed
any
extant
opportunity
of
gambling
.
The
billiard-room
at
the
Green
Dragon
was
the
constant
resort
of
a
certain
set
,
most
of
whom
,
like
our
acquaintance
Mr.
Bambridge
,
were
regarded
as
men
of
pleasure
.
It
was
here
that
poor
Fred
Vincy
had
made
part
of
his
memorable
debt
,
having
lost
money
in
betting
,
and
been
obliged
to
borrow
of
that
gay
companion
.
It
was
generally
known
in
Middlemarch
that
a
good
deal
of
money
was
lost
and
won
in
this
way
;
and
the
consequent
repute
of
the
Green
Dragon
as
a
place
of
dissipation
naturally
heightened
in
some
quarters
the
temptation
to
go
there
.
Probably
its
regular
visitants
,
like
the
initiates
of
freemasonry
,
wished
that
there
were
something
a
little
more
tremendous
to
keep
to
themselves
concerning
it
;
but
they
were
not
a
closed
community
,
and
many
decent
seniors
as
well
as
juniors
occasionally
turned
into
the
billiard-room
to
see
what
was
going
on
.
Lydgate
,
who
had
the
muscular
aptitude
for
billiards
,
and
was
fond
of
the
game
,
had
once
or
twice
in
the
early
days
after
his
arrival
in
Middlemarch
taken
his
turn
with
the
cue
at
the
Green
Dragon
;
but
afterwards
he
had
no
leisure
for
the
game
,
and
no
inclination
for
the
socialities
there
.
One
evening
,
however
,
he
had
occasion
to
seek
Mr.
Bambridge
at
that
resort
.
The
horsedealer
had
engaged
to
get
him
a
customer
for
his
remaining
good
horse
,
for
which
Lydgate
had
determined
to
substitute
a
cheap
hack
,
hoping
by
this
reduction
of
style
to
get
perhaps
twenty
pounds
;
and
he
cared
now
for
every
small
sum
,
as
a
help
towards
feeding
the
patience
of
his
tradesmen
.
To
run
up
to
the
billiard-room
,
as
he
was
passing
,
would
save
time
.
Mr.
Bambridge
was
not
yet
come
,
but
would
be
sure
to
arrive
by-and-by
,
said
his
friend
Mr.
Horrock
;
and
Lydgate
stayed
,
playing
a
game
for
the
sake
of
passing
the
time
.
That
evening
he
had
the
peculiar
light
in
the
eyes
and
the
unusual
vivacity
which
had
been
once
noticed
in
him
by
Mr.
Farebrother
.
The
exceptional
fact
of
his
presence
was
much
noticed
in
the
room
,
where
there
was
a
good
deal
of
Middlemarch
company
;
and
several
lookers-on
,
as
well
as
some
of
the
players
,
were
betting
with
animation
.
Lydgate
was
playing
well
,
and
felt
confident
;
the
bets
were
dropping
round
him
,
and
with
a
swift
glancing
thought
of
the
probable
gain
which
might
double
the
sum
he
was
saving
from
his
horse
,
he
began
to
bet
on
his
own
play
,
and
won
again
and
again
.
Mr.
Bambridge
had
come
in
,
but
Lydgate
did
not
notice
him
.
He
was
not
only
excited
with
his
play
,
but
visions
were
gleaming
on
him
of
going
the
next
day
to
Brassing
,
where
there
was
gambling
on
a
grander
scale
to
be
had
,
and
where
,
by
one
powerful
snatch
at
the
devil
's
bait
,
he
might
carry
it
off
without
the
hook
,
and
buy
his
rescue
from
his
daily
solicitings
.
He
was
still
winning
when
two
new
visitors
entered
.
One
of
them
was
a
young
Hawley
,
just
come
from
his
law
studies
in
town
,
and
the
other
was
Fred
Vincy
,
who
had
spent
several
evenings
of
late
at
this
old
haunt
of
his
.
Young
Hawley
,
an
accomplished
billiard-player
,
brought
a
cool
fresh
hand
to
the
cue
.
But
Fred
Vincy
,
startled
at
seeing
Lydgate
,
and
astonished
to
see
him
betting
with
an
excited
air
,
stood
aside
,
and
kept
out
of
the
circle
round
the
table
.
Fred
had
been
rewarding
resolution
by
a
little
laxity
of
late
.
He
had
been
working
heartily
for
six
months
at
all
outdoor
occupations
under
Mr.
Garth
,
and
by
dint
of
severe
practice
had
nearly
mastered
the
defects
of
his
handwriting
,
this
practice
being
,
perhaps
,
a
little
the
less
severe
that
it
was
often
carried
on
in
the
evening
at
Mr.
Garth
's
under
the
eyes
of
Mary
.
But
the
last
fortnight
Mary
had
been
staying
at
Lowick
Parsonage
with
the
ladies
there
,
during
Mr.
Farebrother
's
residence
in
Middlemarch
,
where
he
was
carrying
out
some
parochial
plans
;
and
Fred
,
not
seeing
anything
more
agreeable
to
do
,
had
turned
into
the
Green
Dragon
,
partly
to
play
at
billiards
,
partly
to
taste
the
old
flavour
of
discourse
about
horses
,
sport
,
and
things
in
general
,
considered
from
a
point
of
view
which
was
not
strenuously
correct
.
He
had
not
been
out
hunting
once
this
season
,
had
had
no
horse
of
his
own
to
ride
,
and
had
gone
from
place
to
place
chiefly
with
Mr.
Garth
in
his
gig
,
or
on
the
sober
cob
which
Mr.
Garth
could
lend
him
.
It
was
a
little
too
bad
,
Fred
began
to
think
,
that
he
should
be
kept
in
the
traces
with
more
severity
than
if
he
had
been
a
clergyman
.
"
I
will
tell
you
what
,
Mistress
Mary
—
it
will
be
rather
harder
work
to
learn
surveying
and
drawing
plans
than
it
would
have
been
to
write
sermons
,
"
he
had
said
,
wishing
her
to
appreciate
what
he
went
through
for
her
sake
;
"
and
as
to
Hercules
and
Theseus
,
they
were
nothing
to
me
.
They
had
sport
,
and
never
learned
to
write
a
bookkeeping
hand
.
"
And
now
,
Mary
being
out
of
the
way
for
a
little
while
,
Fred
,
like
any
other
strong
dog
who
cannot
slip
his
collar
,
had
pulled
up
the
staple
of
his
chain
and
made
a
small
escape
,
not
of
course
meaning
to
go
fast
or
far
.
There
could
be
no
reason
why
he
should
not
play
at
billiards
,
but
he
was
determined
not
to
bet
.
As
to
money
just
now
,
Fred
had
in
his
mind
the
heroic
project
of
saving
almost
all
of
the
eighty
pounds
that
Mr.
Garth
offered
him
,
and
returning
it
,
which
he
could
easily
do
by
giving
up
all
futile
money-spending
,
since
he
had
a
superfluous
stock
of
clothes
,
and
no
expense
in
his
board
.
In
that
way
he
could
,
in
one
year
,
go
a
good
way
towards
repaying
the
ninety
pounds
of
which
he
had
deprived
Mrs.
Garth
,
unhappily
at
a
time
when
she
needed
that
sum
more
than
she
did
now
.
Nevertheless
,
it
must
be
acknowledged
that
on
this
evening
,
which
was
the
fifth
of
his
recent
visits
to
the
billiard-room
,
Fred
had
,
not
in
his
pocket
,
but
in
his
mind
,
the
ten
pounds
which
he
meant
to
reserve
for
himself
from
his
half-year
's
salary
(
having
before
him
the
pleasure
of
carrying
thirty
to
Mrs.
Garth
when
Mary
was
likely
to
be
come
home
again
)
—
he
had
those
ten
pounds
in
his
mind
as
a
fund
from
which
he
might
risk
something
,
if
there
were
a
chance
of
a
good
bet
.
Why
?
Well
,
when
sovereigns
were
flying
about
,
why
should
n't
he
catch
a
few
?
He
would
never
go
far
along
that
road
again
;
but
a
man
likes
to
assure
himself
,
and
men
of
pleasure
generally
,
what
he
could
do
in
the
way
of
mischief
if
he
chose
,
and
that
if
he
abstains
from
making
himself
ill
,
or
beggaring
himself
,
or
talking
with
the
utmost
looseness
which
the
narrow
limits
of
human
capacity
will
allow
,
it
is
not
because
he
is
a
spooney
.
Fred
did
not
enter
into
formal
reasons
,
which
are
a
very
artificial
,
inexact
way
of
representing
the
tingling
returns
of
old
habit
,
and
the
caprices
of
young
blood
:
but
there
was
lurking
in
him
a
prophetic
sense
that
evening
,
that
when
he
began
to
play
he
should
also
begin
to
bet
—
that
he
should
enjoy
some
punch-drinking
,
and
in
general
prepare
himself
for
feeling
"
rather
seedy
"
in
the
morning
.
It
is
in
such
indefinable
movements
that
action
often
begins
.
But
the
last
thing
likely
to
have
entered
Fred
's
expectation
was
that
he
should
see
his
brother-in-law
Lydgate
—
of
whom
he
had
never
quite
dropped
the
old
opinion
that
he
was
a
prig
,
and
tremendously
conscious
of
his
superiority
—
looking
excited
and
betting
,
just
as
he
himself
might
have
done
.
Fred
felt
a
shock
greater
than
he
could
quite
account
for
by
the
vague
knowledge
that
Lydgate
was
in
debt
,
and
that
his
father
had
refused
to
help
him
;
and
his
own
inclination
to
enter
into
the
play
was
suddenly
checked
.
It
was
a
strange
reversal
of
attitudes
:
Fred
's
blond
face
and
blue
eyes
,
usually
bright
and
careless
,
ready
to
give
attention
to
anything
that
held
out
a
promise
of
amusement
,
looking
involuntarily
grave
and
almost
embarrassed
as
if
by
the
sight
of
something
unfitting
;
while
Lydgate
,
who
had
habitually
an
air
of
self-possessed
strength
,
and
a
certain
meditativeness
that
seemed
to
lie
behind
his
most
observant
attention
,
was
acting
,
watching
,
speaking
with
that
excited
narrow
consciousness
which
reminds
one
of
an
animal
with
fierce
eyes
and
retractile
claws
.
Lydgate
,
by
betting
on
his
own
strokes
,
had
won
sixteen
pounds
;
but
young
Hawley
's
arrival
had
changed
the
poise
of
things
.
He
made
first-rate
strokes
himself
,
and
began
to
bet
against
Lydgate
's
strokes
,
the
strain
of
whose
nerves
was
thus
changed
from
simple
confidence
in
his
own
movements
to
defying
another
person
's
doubt
in
them
.
The
defiance
was
more
exciting
than
the
confidence
,
but
it
was
less
sure
.
He
continued
to
bet
on
his
own
play
,
but
began
often
to
fail
.
Still
he
went
on
,
for
his
mind
was
as
utterly
narrowed
into
that
precipitous
crevice
of
play
as
if
he
had
been
the
most
ignorant
lounger
there
.
Fred
observed
that
Lydgate
was
losing
fast
,
and
found
himself
in
the
new
situation
of
puzzling
his
brains
to
think
of
some
device
by
which
,
without
being
offensive
,
he
could
withdraw
Lydgate
's
attention
,
and
perhaps
suggest
to
him
a
reason
for
quitting
the
room
.
He
saw
that
others
were
observing
Lydgate
's
strange
unlikeness
to
himself
,
and
it
occurred
to
him
that
merely
to
touch
his
elbow
and
call
him
aside
for
a
moment
might
rouse
him
from
his
absorption
.
He
could
think
of
nothing
cleverer
than
the
daring
improbability
of
saying
